Am I too cheap?

[seedcorn]

Can't go west, sounds like I can't go east. Stuck in Midwest.

Although for large city, $20/flat not out of line.

 

[journey11]

It's been so long since I've bought tomato plants, I can't recall exactly, but I believe I've bought them about $2 for a 6 pack at the feed store. Now I have seen the larger plants go for maybe $4 or so at Walmart. I wouldn't pay $2 unless it was a big, healthy plant. $2 is what I'd pay for a seed packet.

 

[thistlebloom]

Seedcorn, I will send you my address and you can ship me a flat of tomatoes.

That's a low price! I was at the Big Orange Box today and they want 3.59 for tomatoes in 4" pots. Depressing. I'm gonna need a lot of tomatoes due to an instance that I'm too embarrassed to relate here.

 

[seedcorn]

$12/flat now. Don't be embarrassed. I killed my whole garden one year with a stronger fertilizer than I had used before. I was so mad at myself.

 

[annageckos]

Can't go west, sounds like I can't go east. Stuck in Midwest.

Although for large city, $20/flat not out of line.

I would hate to see the prices in the city. I'm more in the suburbs I guess. Not city. Hate city.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

A 4'' pot at Lowes goes for about $3.50 at the cheapest (sometimes cheaper but not often) prices like $4.50 or even $5 are more common. I have not yet made it to one of the small greenhouses here, it's been too busy and we don't go out often. I'm in a very rural area (OK, it's mostly the mega-farmers cornfields. Still no huge skyscrapers or cookie-cutter houses though.)

 

[so lucky]

I can understand charging a premium price for plants like tomatoes and peppers that take so long to sprout and grow, but I can't get over seeing cucumber and squash plants for those premium prices! These kind of seeds germinate and grow so fast, I don't really understand why anyone buys plants. (But that's just my innate cheapness, I guess)
Seedcorn, if those tomatoes you spoke of were $2 for a 4-pack of small starts, that's not bad. When I was selling plants 15 years ago, we were getting $1.99 for a 6 pack, or .89 for a 3 or 4 pack from a different grower.
the mark-up is not what one would think in those starter plants, either.
Bonnie Plants puts them in on consignment. What doesn't sell, or what dies from neglect on the shelf, they give the store credit for. The profit on a pack from Bonnie is miniscule.

 

[seedcorn]

Understand profit on plants at $.30 each is extremely small. Why I don't start them myself. At $2/plant, I would. Especially for heritage since I could save my own seeds. The individual that was at $2/plant sells only heritage plants where they save their own seeds. I am not upset as I believe they should get what they can. It's just that I'm not paying that. With 30 tomatoes and 30 pepper plants, I'd have over $120 in just 2 types of plants. By buying flats, I've got about $20 in plants plus eggplants, sweet potatoes, onions, etc.

 

[Jared77]

Out here it's usually $12/flat for veggies and you can mix & match. The trade is that some things come in a 4 cell pack & some in a 6 cell pack depending on what it is. The individual 4 or 6 packs are priced based on what they are.

Tomatoes & peppers only come in 4 packs. Most of the usual suspects of tomatoes are in 4 cell packs. Better Boy, Early Girl, some kind of VF1-blah blah numbered paste variety etc. Sometimes you might find some heirloom varieties, that were not big enough for 3" pots for sale in a 4 pack. But you have to hunt for those and often times they are just not available.

Usually though all the heirlooms are already in 3" pots and are $2.50 a plant. They will also have all the usual suspects in that size pot along with the cherry & grape varieties for sale in 3" pots.

Herbs have their own pricing and you can mix & match flower flats too at $14 a flat. You can even buy a mix of veggies flowers and only have to pay the flower flat price instead of individual cell pack prices.

It's a decently sized family run operation and I always try to buy everything from them because they are a local family business.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Seed I get some plants from a guy like that, starts his own and only sells open pollinated plants, usually from seeds he saves, though he gets some seed from Totally Tomato and Seed Exchangers. He's a bit different but fun to talk to. Doesn't always tell the truth either. You should of heard the bull he was shooting a customer on flea beetles. He has to know better to be in that business. Still, it's where I go.

I can't remember what I pay, but $2 a plant is certainly in the ballpark, could be a bit higher. But I got one pepper plant and two tomato plants from him, not 30 of each. I started most of my tomatoes from seed myself. Main reason I go there is he has a basil I really like. I could save seeds and start my own basil, but I don't. The other stuff is more "impulse" purchases of things I like to try.

I also go to a local Mom & Pop gardening store for a lot of my plants. They start a lot of them themselves, but buy some. Their sweet potato slips come from Steele in Tennessee, I recognize the tags. Still the prices are closer to what So Lucky is talking about. That's where I buy in volume.