Hey regards from New Jersey,

I feel for you. It's always a bummer when expectations are not met. I'm no expert but maybe you have to get the plants to where the people already go. I've found Craigs List to be quite unreliable from both a buy and sell perspective (ever try to sell a used car). Anyway, maybe you could "consign" them to a garden center or supermarket (outside), anywhere that people go.

Good Luck & don't sacrifice the plants just give them away (schools, church, community garden, etc) to increase the good karma in the world. And you never know what opportunities may show up. Lord knows we all need alittle of that with all the unnecessary negativity out there.

Where are you putting your ad? Try Farms and Gardens, and General too. I sold all mine on Craigslist the couple of years I had extras. I also put a stand out in my driveway on Saturday/Sunday mornings combined with Garage Sale stuff, and sold a lot that way, but I don't know how much foot traffic you have. You could also see if a local paper has a "free under $50" section or something like that, and put an ad in the paper.
Weather in CA has also been unfriendly to gardening, so just be patient and keep trying, because your tomatoes aren't going anywhere!! The people who missed the big plant sales are going to want tomaotes in a couple of weeks, plus a lot of people don't even think about it until it hits 80 degrees.

Carla in Sac

I would not drive to someone's house to buy tomatoes, but if I were in a neighborhood and saw a sign for tomatoes, I would stop if they were out in the yard like a yard sale situation where it is easy to look and no pressure to buy. What do you plan to do with your tomatoes this summer? Will you have excess to donate? If so you might ask if a church will let you set up a table outside on Sunday with a promise to donate your excess this summer to crosslines or similar charity.

I agree with everyone else. Try a different way to sell them. Have a yard sale or see if someone you know is having a yard sale and will sell them for you. Go to one of those free Home Depot gardening classes and afterward ask in a friendly way if anyone would like to buy a plant.

See if any businesses in your town have a corner in their parking lot you can use. I'm in a small rural town and local farmers park their trucks and/or set up small tables with produce in lots near intersections and they get good business. I see plant sales done the same way. Just take a couple folding card tables and find a good corner(but get permission first, of course). Take an overall sample of what toms you have, let people know that you have more and see what they will come back for.

Thanks for the advice but I am not going to take these plants off my property. I may put them on a rack in my driveway though and see if I can sell them this weekend. Maybe if passersby can see the plants they will stop. Right now they are at the back of my house on my patio hidden from view. I haven't checked into it, but I would guess I would have to have a business license to sell at the local farmers market, plus probably pay an entrance fee, so for the small amount of plants I have it wouldn't be worth it.

If you can't sell them you can still donate them to a charity and deduct the expenses of purchasing the equipment, percentage of utilities, seeds etc. Keep your reciepts, attach them to a donation letter from wherever you might donate them and knock it off your 2010 taxes. The only thing you cannot deduct is your labor.

T

I agree with trudi_d, I'm sure you could find a community garden, youth group, or church who would love to have your seedlings. My church grows a garden for a local food bank and they are getting some of mine!

or even your local extension? You had a nice set of plants for sure.

I know you were looking to sell them, but if some of them don't sell you can donate them. I have already started a lot of pepper & tomato seeds, and later cukes, they will all donated to my local senior citizen center. I am sure the elderly people enjoy caring for them and the added bonus of fresh veggies. So just a thought I would toss out there for anybody that has extra plants...there is always somebody that would love to have them and really appreciate them...

Grew 3,000 Heirloon tomato plants last year in my new GH and tried Craigslist and sold a few, went to our local spring street festival rented a space for 3 days and sold a few, but the weather hurt us, Then i put a sign out at the main road and put them on a trailer in front of the house with another sign and sold almost all of them that way. I probably only lost a few hundred that were left unsold by the time i'd had enough, and they were pretty cruddy looking by then. I'm growing quite a few less this year and will only sell them in front of the house. It was the most productive and easiest. In a few years i look to steadily build up the local clients. The best part was i met a lot of very nice neighbors i wouldn't have, had i not sold them.

I agree with trudi -

The past few years, I did the Craig's List/sit in the driveway thing.

I also did the "I'll deliver" thing - 40 plants minimum. Drove all over Denver and then the people weren't home. The weather was really warm and the plants suffered. I spent/wasted my day and people complained.

Last year, there was a neighborhood garage sale so I sat with the plants. I did sell a few but again, a waste of a beautiful day.

This year, I found a local church with a garden. ONE delivery, get a receipt and recoup some costs. Brilliant. The church can sell some wonderful, heirloom fruits in the fall.

Good Luck -

triple the current asking price

get two 18 year old girls in bikini tops and daisy dukes to sell them out of the back of a pickup truck

you wont be able to keep up with demand

I sold plants last year on a Saturday morning in front of my house. I put an ad on craigslist under "Farm and Garden." I put one day only, no early birds (just like a garage sale). I also spread the word with people I knew. I sold almost 200 seedlings in under 4 hours and more people kept coming. I could have sold twice that if I had them. Set a date and time and they will come! (It is still a little early in the season, though). I didn't do my sale until the first week of April.

slo: I like that idea. I may have to do something like that if I can't end up making it to my local plant swap in 2 months. =)

Not everyone is as enthusiastic about gardening as we are. most people wait untill it is warm and fuzzy outside before even thinking about gardening.I too live in ca and i havent planted any vegies in my garden yet. I still have all my cold crops coming in and will not plant out untill the end of march or 1st week of april. I think in the next couple of weeks or so you should get some interest in your plants, you will probably do great so just be patient. good luck

californian,
If your local ordinance and neighbors won't object, the best way is sell them right at your drive. Have signs like
garage sale type , set date and time (eg, sat,sun ... 10am - 2pm).
If you have unusual tomatoes, say that out laud on the ad.

For the "garage" sale:

Many people may not have heard of your varieties. I printed photos with a description and laminated them (shipping tape over the paper). This helped to keep them dry and intact.

Listing varieties in an ad is a great idea. I had many spoken for before the people arrived, and MOST actually showed up!!

I agree that it may be early for the non-garden freak but if the plants are hardened off, many will be willing to tend to them at home.

If I could find someone locally to grow/harden off the plants for me, I would prefer to buy them early and tend to them myself.

I live on a busy street. People often do successful garage sales. Just stick a big sign by the curb. I sold all my tropical plants that way.

How about getting a stall at a flea or farmer's market? There is a famous farmer's market in Los Angeles.

Yippie Ya Hoo, I just sold my first four tomato plants for $2.50 each. The buyer saw my ad on Craigslist but turns out he lives just around the corner from me. He even gave me some old fluorescent light fixtures and bulbs he had sitting in his garage that he didn't want. I went and took a look at his garden, he is making raised beds.
Some lessons learned, I think I started my first plants about two weeks too soon. For Orange County I think the ideal time to start plants if you intend to sell them would be the first or second week of February, but for your own planting the last week of January would be good, especially for early varieties.
One warning, if you put an ad on Craigslist expect to be inundated with spam from con artists trying to con you.
The next two days here are expected to be cold and windy, but it is supposed to warm up Friday so hopefully my sales will pick up this weekend. BTW, my tallest plants are now around 11.5 inches tall and growing fast. I bought 11 strawberry plants in one gallon containers on a 75% off clearance sale, and after I plant the strawberries I will reuse the containers to repot my biggest tomato plants if I can't sell them, and then try to get $5 each for the one gallon sized plants.

Check with your local extension office and see if any Master Gardeners hang out there.They're usually in the know about who's buying.

I didn't read all the posts, but the ones I read didn't mention a Farmer's Market. Early in the year here, a lot of plants of all types are sold at the ones around here. You've got to get them out where gardening types are congregating and a Farmer's Market is a good spot to try. They most likely won't come to you, but you can go to them.

Dennis checked on the local farmers market here in Fullerton. He says they charge a $35 fee to sell, so for the small amount of plants I have to sell it wouldn't be worth it. And I don't know if one also has to have a business or nursery license.

I live in a rural area so I am gonna sell my xtras in front of my trailer at the trailer park (180 trailers here ) 179 potential customers here alone .Four signs along the road pointing the way to spot at the trailer park and lot # .
I hope to recoup a few bucks for electricity and some soil and I'd be happy spreading the tomato word .And I started early so the ppl that get the early tomato itch can get it scratched,. This is my first try ,(second at growing )to sell and I am not relying on any of these funds to feed me .

Have you posted pictures of your plants on Craigslist? That would make a huge difference for me if I were in the market for new plants.

People on Craigslist are also looking for deals. Are you offering any discounts for large sales?

Sounds like all your energy has gone into babying your plants, I want to say this kindly, some of your energy could also be channeled into a marketing plan that extends beyond Craigslist.

I think the Farmer's Market is a great idea for many plants. I looked into it last year and not a SINGLE market organizer returned any calls nor emails. I was unsure if I needed a license and no one with the state could tell me!! I gave up. I sat for hours and hours in my driveway and sold most.

This year, donation - YEAH!! I'll spend 30 minutes max delivering plants.

In CA you don't need a licence or resale permit if you sell stuff less than twice a year. Check your local tax laws.

Ania

Sales are slowly picking up, I sold 12 plants so far and half a dozen people Emailed me saying they were interested, but haven't shown up yet. I think we just needed the weather to warm up, the last two days were cold and windy. Plus the Fullerton College sale is over and the Fullerton Arboretum sale won't be for a week or two. In fact I got so enthused that I just ordered $40 more worth of seeds. I am also growing peppers and eggplant. I may plant some Kabocha squash too, I saved a lot of seeds from the best ones in the Korean market.

Last year, I did a web page as well as a printed page of my different plant-s, listing the type, description, Days to Maturity, Scoville rating (for peppers) - that stuff. I sold close to 100 Siletz which no one had heard of - but they liked that it was nearly seedless, early and decent producer.

Mike

Well things are looking up, sold 62 tomato plants this week, most of them today, and most of them to people who saw my ad on Craigslist but did sell 8 plants to passersby. I put my plants on a rolling wire rack cart and set them on the end of my driveway. Almost everyone opted for my four plants for $10 offer, so most plants were sold in sets of four. Everyone was happy with the plants and many commented on how healthy and stocky they were, and no one complained about the price or tried to bargain me down. So I have just about paid for the $90 I spent on seeds and $58 I spent on Pro-Mix and $9 I spent on pumice, and still have a lot of seed left for next year and the year after. I still have to sell enough to pay for my pots and trays and amortize the cost of my lights and wire rack that I have over $200 invested in. But I don't think I will ever get back the value of my labor.
I sold almost all my big plants except for some assorted cherry tomatoes. I sold out on Black Krim and will have to buy some more seed for that. I have a lot of Marianna's Peace, Cherokee Purple, and Opalka seedling that are about three inches high now and will probably be ready for sale in about two or three weeks. I also gave away ten plants to friends.
I think I will have to take the suggestion and make a scrapbook of pictures of the tomatoes to show customers. I was showing them the pictures on the seed packets. I also need to get more organized because I had the plants all mixed together which took time to find certain varieties, but that was because I don't have enough trays.

Do you have feed stores? If so, you could ask the owner to take on consignment. I will NOT buy any corporate plants ( Ie. Chef Jeff, Bonnie) I only buy local grown. You can tell buy the tags.

If you shipped your plants, we could trade for them here at DG....or if you really need the $$ I am sure someone here would buy a few to get a head start. I also live in CA, but in NoCA, so it is early to put out tomatoes, as it snowed yeesterday and the day before as well. The snow has melted and it is supposed to be nice for a week. I am sure that you could sell these 'maters during the nice week, as your weather should be a lot warmer...good luck!

Here's what I did:
I always have extra tomato plants even after I give them away to friends and relatives. I used to just drop them off at the local community garden with a sign FREE PLANTS. A few years ago, I started labeling all my plants with plant info, my hobby farmÂs name and email address on each plant. Two years ago, I took all my spare plants to the local community garden and posted a sign FREE on them. The difference is this time I stayed with the plants for a few hours and handed the plants out along with information. Most of what I raise are heirlooms so many of the community gardeners were unfamiliar with them.

I received several emails over the course of that season from those gardeners, many were thank you and some were with questions. I saved every one of those email addresses. Then 15th of March of last year, I sent out emails to all those gardeners, plus my entire address book offering tomato plants for sale in time for spring planting which around here is Memorial Day plus or minus a week. I told folks what I was raising and that I would be selling them this year.

I gave folks the option of reserving plants or taking their luck first come, first serve on the 2 sale days I would be having at my house. I got a few checks and a lot of emails. Then as the "Sale Days" approached, I posted the dates on Craigs List.

I potted all the plants up to 4" pots about 2-3 weeks before the sale, hardened them off and charged $4 each for them, 4 for $15, 7 for $25. The pots were beautiful 4" pots I got 10 for $1 from Christmas Tree Shops.

I sold every plant and added to my database with new email addresses from the Guest Book I had out at the sale.

Wow, 4 for $10, 4 for $15?

You guys are doing good, I usually end up with leftovers at 3 for $5 in 3.5'' deep pots! Must be the local economy... of course, I can stll buy 2 baked subs/hoagies for $9 or prime rib roast for $3.99/lb and tenderloins for 50 cents more!

What types of tomatoes did you grow? I started growing a mix of hybrids and heirlooms after no one seemed to offer local heirloom toms.

I think folks buy hybrid big seedlings in May when they don't know about the benefits of heirlooms. And those interested in heirlooms grown them from seed (as I do) because no one offers them. If I were to sell mine, I'd charge $2.00 each (this is in St. Louis). Expect to take a few years to develop your customer base.

Pictures pictures pictures! Make sure your Craigslist ad has alot of pictures. (I think you can upload as many pictures as you want on Craigslist.) People looove pictures! Once they see how beautiful and lush your plants are, they won't be able to resist! And you could include pictures of the actual tomatoes from each variety, so people can envision the delicious fruit that awaits them!

I am no longer disappointed, in fact I am almost sold out. I started out with 20 different varieties and only have four varieties left, Marianna's Peace, Cherokee Purple, Opalka, and Brandywine. I sold 139 tomato plants and have 23 potted up plants left, the smallest ones. I also sold eight pepper plants and two eggplants. I also planted 16 tomato plants for myself and gave away a dozen plants. I have reached part of my goal already. I completely paid for the $95 worth of seed I bought, and $100 worth of Pro-Mix, pumice, and peat moss I bought, and the $55 I spent on a case of 4 inch pots. I have about 100 seedlings I haven't potted up yet, and if I can sell them all I will also be able to pay for the $250 I have invested in 21 fluorescent light fixtures and a wire rack to mount them on.
I bought most of my seed in large size packs so will have enough to last for several years if I keep selling plants, plus I have enough pots to last me several years.
Thanks to everyone for the advice and hints and encouragement.

This was an encouraging thread and fun to read, thanks Californian, and continued Good Luck to you!

There's a saying in the farmers' market trade, "Pile 'em high, kiss 'em good bye!"

You can't quite pile tomatoes high but a good display means a lot! And, colorful photo's on craiglist probably mean a lot also.

There's another saying that goes much farther than a farmers' market, "In life, timing is everything!" The timing of sales may not always make a lot of sense to you but you are only one-half the equation.

Good weather is critical - it inspires! There isn't a whole lot we can do about the weather (even tho' everybody talks about it). But, as you say, you have learned something about timing this season and can capitalize on it, next year.

Paying for your labor? You know that this is ag labor we are talking about, right . . .

digitSteve

Here's an other for sale site (free) thats better than Craig's list,,see if your area is on it.

http://www.kijiji.com/

Well I am happy to say I sold 162 tomato plants and ten pepper plants so far, and only have three Opalka tomato plants left to sell and then I am completely sold out. However I started a second batch of seedlings that I am just starting to pot up now and they should be five to nine inches high in about two or three weeks so I can have a second sale. I bought another $20 worth of seed so now have $115 invested just in seed. Also had to buy another bale of Pro-Mix BX with biofungicide, which I like better than the Pro-Mix PGX.