We order the label sheets with our logo and contact info preprinted on one side. Our labels are text only, but labels with photos would be helpful for flowers and fruiting plants like tomatoes. I include the crop and variety name, a short description, and recommended spacing. They provide a template to format your own labels and print them with a laser printer. These are the most economical and versatile labeling product I’ve found, which is ideal since I grow so many different varieties. We label every six-pack and pot individually using printable pot sticks from Gardenware. Photos courtesy of the author.Ī good label makes a big difference, especially if you plan to sell any of your starts through consignment or wholesale. The author's stackable display rack full of plants. If you are certified organic, used pots may be problematic so check with your certifier. I purchase 806 inserts and empty 1020 trays from a local nursery supply company, but I get most of my 3.5” and gallon pots used from customers and a local landscaper. I also discovered 18-pocket carrier trays for 3.5” pots, which weren’t as much of a revelation but are convenient. Now I can treat them like any other flat (albeit a heavy one), and they are infinitely easier to manage. I used to move my gallons around individually by hand, and they were constantly tipping over. These are roughly the size of a 1020 flat, but with 6 round pockets sized to hold gallon pots. Gallon pots are heavy, and a real game changer was when I discovered shuttle carrier trays. For tomatoes, we put a 2’ bamboo stake in each plant, securing the plant with a twist tie around the main stem. This mix is cheap to make and cranks out large, healthy plants. I use spent potting soil, composted chicken manure, compost, perlite, and a universal fertilizer mix with mycorrhizal inoculant. Since the plants are already established, I am able to use a stronger potting mix. On our farm, gallon annuals are potted up from smaller plants, either 3.5” pots or direct from plug trays. Often the tomatoes and zucchini have already set fruit, which is a great selling point. Customers love the large plants and are willing to pay for them. We sell primarily tomatoes and zucchini in gallons, as well as dahlias, artichokes, cucumbers, and a few others. Initially, I sold gallons as a way to eke some money out of plants that didn’t sell at 3.5” size, but now I plan for them specifically. Gallon pots have become an increasingly important part of my nursery business. Some growers I know use extra deep jumbo packs and charge more for these larger plants. I’ve started experimenting with 1204s (12 four-packs per flat), which have the same cell size but give you more units per flat. The large cell size gives a long shelf life for my plants, a quality I’ve grown to appreciate over the years. Tray inserts are labeled by the number of packs and the number of cells: I use 806 tray inserts, which have 8 six-packs per 1020 flat (the common 10” x 20” size). Some of the author’s gallon zucchini and tomatoes in the greenhouse ready to sell.Ĭell pack tray inserts come in a variety of sizes. I grow alliums in 3.5” pots, sowing 20-30 seeds per container and instructing customers to pull them apart and plant them bare root. I use six-packs for lettuces, leafy greens, and most other herbs, vegetables and annual flowers. I sell solanums, cucurbits, and perennial flowers individually in 3.5” or gallon pots. Which crops go into which container depends on how they grow and how I expect people to use them. Sometimes I start seeds in plug trays and pot them up, mostly for slower growing plants started on heat. Having every cell full is important for start sales, so I sow my nursery flats hot (extra seeds in each cell), and thin those that particularly benefit from the space. (Side note: Though commonly referred to as “gallon pots,” they don’t actually hold a gallon and the accurate term in the industry is #1 containers). But for sale, I grow plants in six-pack tray inserts or 3.5” or gallon pots. When growing transplants for my own use, I use mostly plug trays. I wrote about adding vegetable starts to your farm in GFM in 2011, but I have picked up lots of new tricks since then so I thought the subject was worth revisiting. They are an easy thing to try out and could be a good fit for your farm. ![]() ![]() ![]() They have quick turnaround and low risk, and they fill out sparse beginning-of-season market stands. Vegetable and flower starts are a great source of spring revenue and an early draw for customers. Since then, we’ve increased our sales annually and I can’t imagine operating our farm without them. When we started our farm in 2010, the very first thing we sold were seedlings. ![]() Published originally in Growing for Market Magazine
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |