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Old November 20, 2017   #4
joseph
Tomatovillian™
 
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: Cache Valley, N/E of The Great Salt Lake
Posts: 1,244
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I sell tomato plants at the farmer's market... People are primarily looking for one or two plants. Therefore, I stopped growing in 4 packs or 6 packs, except for my own use. You might get different results in your area, or if selling at the Feed-n-Seed.

Therefore, I sell plants that are about 6 weeks old in 24/flat pots, or that are about 8 weeks old in 3.5 inch pots (18 per flat), or that are about 10 weeks old in 3 quart pots. I upgrade the pots as plants over-grow their previous pots. At my farmer's market, none of the farmer's sell tomato plants in packs.

I base prices on greenhouse space/time... The longer a plant is in my greenhouse, preventing me from growing other things, the higher the price needs to be. With that said, there is a standard price for plants in the local area. If I ask more than that, they don't sell. I can get that price at the farmer's market, but only about half that if I sell to local stores. It's easy to fill a flat with soil, and then dump it out to measure how much soil goes in flats with different sized pots. But the cost of soil is a tiny fraction of the cost/labor of growing a plant, so I ignore soil costs. I opt for premium quality potting soils, cause it sure beats fussing with irrigating with nutrient solutions.

I try to have a variety of different sized pots available each week. Some people want instant gratification, others would rather get 3X as many plants for the same price.


Last edited by joseph; November 20, 2017 at 03:25 PM.
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