Saleable plants

[vicki]

Hi All,
By reading the other post about perinnal flowers needing to be at least a year old. I found a nursery who sells 4" pots for .65 a piece, seems like the in-between way to go. They specifically say suitable for 1 gal. pots. Thought alot about going with seed but decided on the above. Now which ones!?:D I want to plant them for eventual stock plants, more than repotting and selling.
Just some thoughts.


P.S. I thought a 1 yr. perinnal (flowering or not) should be worth at least 4.00 min. When everyone else sells them for 7.99 & up.:)

[Jim Lang]

Vicki - depends on where you are, who your customers are and which perenial. Last year I started about 20 different ones inside in March, moved them to the Greenhouse April 1st, and outside about the end of May. Rubeckia bloomed in the fall. The others will bloom this year. I start herbs the same time and sell them in the spring. I am not saying you can't sell them just that they sell better when big enough to bloom. I am in zone 5 in Ohio, south of where Mike is and without the benefits of Lake Erie.

Buying them or using asexual propagation methods is necessary with many varieties and hybrids because either they won't come true from seed.

[Log Cabin Pat]

Vicki
I plant about 2500 4'' pots a season and sell them for $2. I do cuttings and seeds, perennials and annuals. Most of the perennials I do, flower the first year, although I would rather they not bloom in the small pot. I found out by putting a 4'' rootbound plant into a 5-6'' pot with good fertilizer it only takes another couple of weeks to fill the pot. These larger ones I sell for $5. I started doing a few annuals for the blooms, to bring attention to my tables but they sold, even thou people can go down the road and by sell packs much cheaper. Buying plants seems to be an impulse item and sometimes the price does not matter. Also in a few plants that bloom the second year you can take cuttings from seedlings and they willl bloom the first year. Gal pots seem to go for around $8-$12 depending what it is.
Hope this helps.

Pat

[vicki]

Pat,
Thanks, I will be buying the 4" pots for .65. I think that is a really good price. The nursery is here in Mich. so instead of shipping 20 flats, I hope to go pick them up. I would like to do hanging baskets. They sell her for 10.99-12.99. Between my friends and family (large) we all like our flowers. My friend who has more money than time, spent about 500.00 last year on flowers! Nice size plants, i do gardening for her and she says I can have all the starts I can get without impacting her plants. She bought perrinnals for 12.99 a gal.! She is a knowlegable gardener, but still just the thought of pruning, alot of people don't like, they just don't realize how good it does the plants!
I like the idea of a wider variety, than just flowering bushes.

Well have a great day!

[Log Cabin Pat]

Vicki
Yes 65 cents a pot sounds like a pretty good price. What kind of plants of plants are they? I have tried hanging baskets but they take up so much room in the truck that I don't make as much money when I take them. We also don't get enought sun in the late winter to get them very big. It is still not to late to get some cuttings of perennials that stay green all winter. I have several friends that have really nice expensive plants in there yard but won't let me cut on them, they think I will kill them. I think container gardening will be big this year, I'm starting to read about it in some of the pro magazines. I thinking about doing some, If I can find big pots cheap.

Pat