I have been growing tomatoes from seeds ever since I was about 10 years old. I learned most what I know from my mother and a bit from books and videos on gardening .
Every year for the past 8 years our family prepares for this tradition of selling tomato seedlings in the spring time. It is a lot of work but we actually enjoy working together with plants.
This year we sold close to 400 plants in three days and I think we could of sold much more if the weather didn't turned bad.
The first step of your sale is having a ton of fresh healthy tomato plants of course . You can grow all of them from seed your self or you can buy the seedlings from a grower.
Growing them from seed your self is not that difficult but you must know a bit of starting seeds indoors and have the right tools to start.
Buying your seedlings from a grower is probably the easiest for any one that want's to sell tomato plants as an extra income on the weekends.
I grow the seedlings myself , this way I have more control of the process and varieties to grow. People love the cherry types and that's what I sell the most. Another good type that I sell a lot is the beef steak kinds.
Below is the poster banner that we use for advertising our products , this was done last year:
After the seedlings have their first set of leaves I transplant them into 16 oz beer cups ( about 3 to 4 plants per cup ) . Then later as the plants are hardened off and had grown to 8 inches tall they are ready to be transplanted back into the same 16 oz cups but this time one for each container.
The soil that I use is called " Pro Mix " and it comes in a 3.5 cuft bale, I usually use one and half bales for all my potting ups.
As you transplant make sure you also give the plants a good drink of " 10-52-10 plant starter fertilizer " at a rate of 5ml of powder fertilizer to 1 liter of water.
After all the plants have been transplanted and there is no sign of frost in the weather forecast , I set the tomato plants into boxes and leave them outside over night and all day as much as I can, always watching for danger of frost.
From this point on all you have to do is post a sign on you house some where that your costumers will see and know where to go and buy your plants.
There is nothing fancy here, your plants will do the selling for you , make sure you get yourself some extra money to make change , there is a lot of costumers that will give you big bills and just buy a few plants but that's ok.
My plants display is on a latter sitting on two plastic containers plus I place plants on my deck for easy pickings.
Don't let your plants go dry, keep them always looking fresh and healthy.
This is the basic profit formula that I use to calculate the price of my plants:
Cost of materials ( divided ) by plants ( times ) 2 = Price per plant.
So if it cost you $100 dollars for cups, seeds, growing media etc., and you have 100 plants , that's 1 dollars , ( times ) 2 = $2 dollars per plant to sell.
My experience with selling is that I will sell for $3 to $4 dollars per plant.
If you are interested in growing and selling your tomato plants next year let me know if I can help you with the growing your own seedlings.
Thanks for reading.