slo, Our gardening club has a plant sale (non-profit) and we sell both hybrids and heirlooms for $1.50 for a 3' peat pot.
We start at 8 am and we are sold out by 2 pm.
If I was planning 1st year (for profit) my question would be how can I get the best product at reasonable cost to me? i.e. What varieties excel in this climate so that word of mouth is your major marketing tool. Below would be a starting point.

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Kingdom

I had a garage sale last year that turned into a tomato seedling sale. I had probably 50 extra seedlings on hand. Around here in the early spring seedlings run about 2-3$ a seedling at the local nurseries. Of course you can go OSH and get seedlings a bit cheaper but the selection is very limited especially with heirloom selections. I charged 1.25$ a seedling and sold all 50 in a couple hours.

Damon

I should have mentioned that I have all the seed that I need from trades/swaps/saving from my garden and I got the pots for practically free, so my cost per plant will be minimal. Worst case scenario, I give away a bunch of unsold seedlings to friends and family.

In addition to the good advice above, try to beat the local big box stores in having plants available. Planting too late is a chronic problem in your zone as the plants aren't available except at the "traditional" planting times and that is often too late for fruit set to beat the coming heat.

Cut your costs by using bulk purchased disposable plastic or foam cups and 4" pots is bigger than you need for seedlings. Track your costs meticulously and don't forget to include potting mix, water, container, and any heating/watering costs. After year one you'll have an exact per plant production cost.

We sell out of the greenhouse and at the Farmer's Market for $2.00 each regardless of variety but will likely go to $2.50 this year IF that is what all the others do - it all depends on what your local customer is willing to pay. Here $2.50 will likely max out our market but nearer big cities higher prices are more tolerated. Check out what all the other suppliers are selling them for.

In our small operation we sell anywhere from 300-350 seedlings in an average year depending on the weather. Your locale, competition, and traffic pattern will determine your numbers but your rep for being helpful and having disease-free quality seedlings will come back 10-fold the following year by word of mouth advertising alone.

Some of the first ones are lost when they don't sell early on but we just re-root cuttings from them for later in the month sales.

Don't overwhelm customers with choices - their knowledge of heirlooms is limited and they tend to go to names they recognize. So limit yourself to 8-10 varieties that you can be VERY well informed on for sale purposes.

Provide, in some fashion that goes home the plant, the name, instructions on how to plant deeply, details on the size, color, and if determinate or indeterminate (explain what that means to them), and an estimate of how many days till harvest, fertilizer needs, etc. You can download pics from the net and print out paper labels with pic for each cup.

And have some plants ready to go in 6 packs - smaller plants, only 1-2 varieties in the pack, $5.00-$5.50 for the pack. Many prefer to buy them that way rather than individually.

Good luck! ;)

Dave

We sell 3" pots for $3.00 each. The types that sell best are the ones that we favor. Customers will ask what your favorites are, and buy what you recommend.

Also - you will most likely sell more with a price break - say $3 each, or 4 for $10

I agree with "ones that we favor"

slo, I might be wrong, but I would imagine that most people that buy seedlings are not that savvy about varieties.
And people that are, would grow their own.

I would think that they would want fairly fast varieties, why cherry is popular.
And would be turned off if you tell them 75-90 days.

I would 'recommend' early and early mid varieties.

Even the ones that I over-sprout and try to give away, the first question is always "how soon".

Corrie

I am sort of in this boat.
I give my 'customers' plants. About 10 people.
All were gained through word of mouth/relatives.
I 'sell' about 6 per person on average.

ALL only want something that tastes good.
All ask for at least one cherry.
Most ask for 1-2 roma/paste style.
Many ask for slicers.
A few ask for Big ones
1 or 2 ask for smaller plants due to space considerations.

Consider what grows well in your area rather than what's neat.

Time it well. If the plants stay in 4" pots for
too long, they will start to look sickly.
I have no idea what's too long, but I know I did it
to some last year.

I guy up the road sell them on a semi busy highway.
He plants about 200 and most sell.
There is heavy local competition.

One year I had about 40 extra plants so I posted
'free tomato plants' on (500 person)work email. They were gone inside an hour. The people were almost as appreciative as if you gave them a free sixer of beer.

This is my first year of selling plants; I'm planning on eight varieties:
Green Sausage
Beefsteak
Red Zebra
Golden Monarch
Riesentraube (Cherry)
Roma
Delicious
Siletz (Early)
in both the 2x2.5 cells and 3" square ones (both 3.25" deep). To help, I will have a printed sheet that describes the tomato including a small picture, how long it takes to ripen, whether it is determinate or indeterminate. Hope to have about 600 plants plus another 700 from peppers (hot, bell and banana), some flowers, strawberries and a couple other plants.

Mike

I grow about 100+ kinds, although I keep trying to cut the list, LOL! I then transfer my seedlings from flats into large styrofoam cups, so I can write the name on the side. I pick at least one from each of the kinds I have and sell the rest on a weekend, with an ad on craigslist with all the varieties I have for sale. I start at $2 each, 3 for $5, or 8 for $10. By the end of the day I reduce them to whatever will sell, $1 or 50 cents, because I don't want to have to keep watering them and watching them grow taller and taller. Although SOME of them might be available at the local nursery, most of my varieties are unavailable at any store, and I think the price is a good deal.

Carla in Sac

Thanks for the input, everyone. I know the biggest challenge for me is going to be cutting my list of varieties down. I can't do it for my own garden, so I don't know how I'll do it for selling (LOL).

I don't agree with cutting the list down. The more varieties you can offer the more choices and better sales. I encourage the customers to look over 100 varieties by grouping them and posting laminated pictures with discriptions by groups: black, bicolor, pink,red,cherry, etc. I also have a "buy4-get 1 free" policy which will keep people looking for the 5th plant. When a lot of people are shopping they draw others.
In the end I do seel far more of the standard red hybrids because many are novices and want my advice for the few plants they are able to plant. My advice for those people is for them to go with the "workhorses" first. By giving good advice I find that I have repeat customers.

By offering many varieties I have those same plant buyers coming back as produce customers throughout the season. They want to taste a few fruits from unplanted varieties and some will relate their hardships. I remember the Brandywine plant buyer this summer that said he would be happy if he could even pick 3 tomatoes from his plant. I'll suggest 10 different pink varieties for him this year.

I'll pass on the first 2 Ques because others have given siutable answers for that. The biggest variable will be your marketing strategy.

Sold tomato seedlings today. I charged $3 each or 4/$10. Sold out (~175 plants of 30+ varieties) in a few hours. Some observations:

*No one complained about the price. A few people said what a good deal it was. If I do this again next year, I'm definitely charging more.
*Surprisingly, the "exotics" (black, green, white, and bicolors) and orange/yellow went first, and the pinks were the last to go. I was worried about having enough enough reds and cherry, but I had some until the end.
*I had several people buy who sold produce at the farmer's market and someone from a local Italian restaurant (He bought the last 8 plants and said he would have bought 100 plants if I had them!).
*Most people relied on my advice about varieties, as opposed to having something set in mind to grow.

I hope that this is useful for anyone is thinking of selling plants.

I have about 30 extra tomato seedlings and put an ad on Craigslist trying to sell them for $1.25 each. These are beautiful plants, stocky, dark green, really healthy looking, in four inch pots filled with Pro-mix with micorize, and a combination of heirlooms and the best varieties of hybrids, head and shoulders above plants selling for three times as much in the big box stores or nurseries. I got several responses but not a single person showed up to buy them. People were buying tiny wizened tomato seedlings at the Fullerton Arboretum for $2.75 each, but not a single person has sense enough to even come look at these superior plants at a bargain price. So I am giving them away to my neighbors.

californian,

$1.25 is a great deal for a tomato seedling! I think my sale worked so well because I did it garage sale style in front of my house on a Saturday. One day only, no early birds, etc. I posted on Craig's List and sent an email to my local friends and contacts. The piece meal stuff will kill you, waiting for indivdual people to show up at all hours. Double your price and set them out front of your house on a Saturday (with posting on Craig's List and signs on the street.) They will fly out the door.

Thanks for doing this slo_garden. It looked like you were busy! The Cerise Orange is in its own little 18 gallon pot beside in the middle of the flower garden. My wife may not approve, but I'm sure she will once she gets to eat some.

I'm also excited to try Neves Azorean Red!

structure,

Small world! I'm glad you got one of the NAR. For some reason, I had poor germination with that variety, so I only had a few. I think tomatoes and flowers mix quite nicely. Hopefully, the missus will be on board also. Enjoy your tomatoes!

I gave away to my neighbors about half of the tomato plants I was trying to sell for $1.25 each but not a single person showed up to buy them. Then I decided to try one last Craigslist advertisement but jacked the price up to $2.00 each and sold all the remainder. Guess if you make the price too low people think there is something wrong with what you are selling. But even at $2.00 they were a bargain considering what one could buy for the same price at a big box store.

slo-

Where are you in the Bay Area? Maybe a few of us can get together and produce a whole bunch of seedlings. With multiple people germinating them we could have a lot more of many different varieties for people to choose from.

I'm on the peninsula and there's quite a few "farmers markets" around here. Also the College of San Mateo has a farmers market twice a week year round, I believe.

Let me know if you like to join forces.

Thanks for all posting who sell their seedlings.
Didn't know they selled what I consider high, as I have always started my own from seed.
To think, I ask all the friends and family how many plants they want for this season and I am growing and extra 75 or so for free!

I planted 6-8 each of some 50 varieties over a four month period, beginning with the "cool tolerant earlies," in December, and cycling through groups of black, colored, red, patios and the bigs. Fortunately or unfortunately, I had almost a hundred percent germination and very little damping off and was swimming in plants.

I kept one or two of each, gave away as many seedlings as I could possibly foist off on friends and still had many many plants left over. The first ones were transplant-ready long before the season started at our 2500 ft. altitude and I had my keepers growing in the hoophouse, the sunporch,and the living room.

I advertised the rest in the nearby Palm Springs (Zone 10) Craigslist. For a small (Prius-sized) delivery charge I arrived at a customer's home with a selection of plants; and talked to them about their plans and about the virtues of the different tomatoes. I usually sold more than they had originally thought they wanted, and I always gave away one or two freebies.

Now that our high desert gardening season is underway, I have put a sign at each end of the street and when I am going to be home for a stretch of time, I put another sign directly in front of the house and leave the plants on a table in the driveway. Customers stop, look them over and ring a bell or knock on the door if they are interested in buying.

I sell them at $3.00 for large styrofoam cups and $2.00 for the small. I also sold a few small Sprites in three-gallon grow bags for $5.00. When the last plant is gone, perhaps I will have earned 4 hundred dollars at a leisurely pace over a several week period.

I'm having a wonderful time meeting fellow gardeners, telling heirloom stories, and seeing the delight when i throw in a specially selected extra plant or two.I have also had the great pleasure of teaching newbies about growing vegetables in general and the best reward of all was having a customer say he felt like he had just gotten a hundred dollars worth of gardening advice for the price of 4 tomatoes.

Lessens learned:
(1)I could have sold more cherries, more romas and many more plants in grow bags, ready to be dropped into decorative pots, if only I had had them.
(2) People intending to buy A single tomato plant almost always left with more. At a minimum, they would take an one early-ripening tomato, and something else that was noted for being heat tolerant.
(3)Some people seemed to know about heirloom tomatoes in general, but the only specific varieties requested by name were Green Zebra, Purple Cherokee, Super Sioux, and (oddly to me)two requests for a white...Great White, I think.
(4) When someone says, "I never have any luck with tomatoes," they are begging for the tomato-growing 101 lecture. A sure sale will follow.
(5) Gardeners are the nicest, friendliest people on the face of the earth.

mr potatohead,

I'm not in the Bay Area. I'm way south of you in San Luis Obispo. I guess "The Central Coast" is quite a large stretch of coastline.

I gave up on heirloom, people around here only want names they have heard of Better Boy,Supersonic, Jetstar etc. One person asked if I made up the names on heirlooms. They want hybrids, that's what I grow. They reject anything with ribs and colors other than red. I got tired of preaching about better taste. I have a few good ones in my garden.

That's interesting, maternut.

I wouldn't give up on the heirlooms completely. Some people seemed to know next to nothing about them, but had suddenly developed either a GMO/Monsanto fear, or an interest in gardening for economic reasons and wanted OPs.

Maybe next year you could straddle the fence with by offering some stable hybrids that have been found to return true from seed?

jan

A newbie here and enjoying this thread very much. I am in
my first attempt and am growing 920 seedling of 5 heirloom
varieties in 4" pots. I plan to sell at $5 ea or 5/$20.
(So. Calif. prices) Additionally, I hope to put on a
presentation to 3rd grade classes in our area and give each
student a plant with instruction that necessitate the parent
to get involved. I hope to sell half at swap meets and
craigslist to cover expenses. I built a hoophouse and two
hot houses and had 97% germination of the first batch.
Anyone with advice on my project, please e-mail Alpinejims@yahoo.com. Thanks.