Charge a reasonable price for your flowers and you can buy reasonably priced vases.
I get upset with people who "don't want to make money" at growing, because you make it hard for people who are doing it to make a living to get a decent price for their product. No wonder you sold out last year...it sounds like you are giving the stuff away.
I don't mind if hobby people sell stuff if they are asking the going price. But you are doing a disservice to people who are working hard trying to make a living by giving your stuff away.
Sorry I can't be more positive in my response, but this situation just irks me.
Ann

Try the thrift stores. I saw vases in there for .25 cents. Have fun. Patty

Hi Joan,

Two things....

1-try garage sales and

2-welcome as a grower! Not all of us agree with anniew, in fact I thought it was downright rude to give such a response. Charge what YOU want...and what makes YOU happy.

I sell my plants at a reasonable price, I take pride in what I sell, and yes I am a hobby grower and proud of it!
Just because nursery X is selling at such and such a price does not mean I have to sell at that price. I am a small grower because I want it that way...I don't want to deal with the headaches associated with a larger business. My overhead is lower...my prices are lower....but my plants are NOT lesser in quality. If that irks some growers, so be it.

It is responses such as anniews' that irk me.

m

I hate to bring this up, but has anyone noticed how we seem to be lashing out at one another lately? It's the first time I've seen this in the year that I've been here reading, and learning from everyone's posts. I don't want to get in the middle of things, or pass judgement, but just wanted to remind everyone that this is a friendly forum, to ask questions, and even sound stupid sometimes, without getting too much grief about it. We are all entitled to our opinions, and they should be just that. Our own opinions. If we make a mistake on information, then by all means should be corrected.
I think Jeanne delt with the same problem, other vendors under-selling her at the market, and selling their flowers too cheap, but she overcame the problem with coming up with bigger and better bouquets, priced accordingly. This is just my opinion on the subject.
Cheryl

I know what Cheryl is talking about and I don't like it either. So, I don't want to be rude or offend Joan or anyone BUT I think anniew has a point.

Most people who are hobby growers have a "real job" which pays the bills. How would you like it if someone told your employer he'd do your job for half the money just because he enjoys the work? If your employer (the customer for your labor) took him up on it, you probably wouldn't like it much.

Also, hobby businesses sometimes avoid overhead by...well...tax dodging. My business is really small and still doesn't make a profit, but I still paid out hundreds of dollars in sales tax last year (in MI it supports local schools so I don't begrudge doing it). Again, not pointing fingers at anyone, just saying if I hadn't paid taxes, I would have made a profit last year.

I'm not saying everyone needs to charge the same price, or that hobby growers need to charge the prices of large nurseries. But if the "business" is just an excuse to grow and arrange more flowers and you don't really care about the money, why not grow and arrange all the flowers you like and give them away to hospitals, nursing homes, and churches? Guaranteed good karma and people will LOVE you for it.

OK - off my soapbox and will try to stay off it.
Cheers,
Kirk

Good point Kirk. I agree that if you are growing and selling flowers at the market, then it's a business, and should be treated as such where you try and not only cover your expenses, but also make a some extra money. I didn't make any money last year either, but then I didn't have enough flowers to do what I wanted, and it does take time to get establsihed.

Joan,
Please excuse my rudeness earlier in trying to express my opinion, and Kirk, thank you for supporting my point that almost anyone would not like it if someone came along and offered the same services/product for their "real job" at half the reasonable price.
Growing is the "real job" for a lot of people, and others who sell below cost (including labor) make life even more difficult for them (us). Please take that into consideration when setting your prices. Thanks.
And I'm sorry I upset some others who felt that my opinion was rude and upset the forum applecart, except to say that Joan and others will likely come upon other growers in actual marketing who feel the same way. This might have been an early lesson in reality...better here than a fight at a market. Again, sorry for any discomfort, but I think we should not always whitewash everything and encourage when we think there might be another side to a story.
Ann

Kirk made an excellent point! If you enjoy growning and arranging flowers, it would be great if you could give them to hospital/nursing homes/church. Believe me, bring flowers into the nursing home would absolutely THRILL the residents.

This exact subject came up on the Market Gardener forum last April.

And received pretty much the same comments and answers. And it was anniew who changed the "feel" back then, too.

Let me repeat what I posted back then:

"Hokey smokes! This thread has descended to the most base, all-too-common, and perpetual mythical arguments that runs throughout every industry: pricing.

If one firmly believes that price is the ultimate answer in getting and keeping business, then one is stuck with a customer base that does not truly appreciate nor respect your hard work, your innovative approach, and/or your top-notch customer service.

Mom-and-poppers have always battled intruders who bring in something at a lower price. Whether it was "the big box stores", the foreign cheap labor, the crazy hobbyist down the street, or some rich big company "buying market share", there was always someone out to take away part of the small guy's business.

I've been in this farming/horticulture industry for 34 years [35 now] and I've seen why small guys ("working hard to pay their bills") go out of business when the price cutters come into the area. The small guys either (a) spend all their time and energy working on ways to keep the price cutters out or (b) try to compete with the price cutters on price. Either way, they lose.

If a mom-and-popper is going to put so much energy into their livelihood, it should be through an approach that will actually make them more money with less time (ah, the ultimate dream, yes?).

Instead of fighting or competing on price, put your efforts into raising the bar when it comes to innovation or put your efforts into providing customer service that the whole community will talk about.

If the hobbyist comes in with cheap junky plants, let them. SO WHAT! [new emphasis]

Your challenge is to keep your quality level up and more importantly to provide either a great new array of the hottest, bestest, most excitingest, newest perennial plants (check Jelitto Seeds, for instance, for some great new stuff). [or new bouquet ideas or new flowers altogether]

Or to provide customer service of such a level that droves of new customers will start showing up based on word of mouth. Hand out 1/2-page instructions sheets on how-to and what-for. Share garden design ideas. [lots more ideas.]

Sure, these approaches cost you more money. But, guaranteed, you will get that extra 25 cents to a dollar per plant.

And sure, you will lose customers. You will lose those customers who want "cheap". I, personally, have never wanted them anyway. I got tired of the constant wheeling-and-dealing and complaints, and worse, the criticism of the situation that my plants were "too high" and maybe "not worth it". I hated that last comment.

You simply CANNOT be all things to all people. You'll lose your shorts, at worst, and, at best, you'll work your asses off from "payday to payday", just barely keeping ahead to "pay the bills".

Concentrate on innovation or service. Pricing will kill you.

Time to take the big step forward.

If you can't make the change, at least believe in the free market system that keeps EVERY economy alive."

[end]

Let me emphasize...

Let the hobbyists come in and have their fun. I suspect one of two things will happen:

1. They will realize soon that the money they lose each time (which will be the case) will start adding up and it will come to an end for them. You can all then say "good bye and good riddance". Or...

2. They will get the business bug and will actually start looking at costs and real ways to actually make money. You can all say, in this case then, welcome to this bunch of crazies.

I suspect that if you all offer constructive and substantial real advice in the beginning, you will be truly helpful in getting someone going in the right direction. And by doing so, you will make a synergistic ally. Or you can show your fears and insecurities and expose your own troubles and lack of good, progressive business skills. Your choice.

Joe

So sorry I posted here in the first place. Maybe I didn't communicate well enough. What I should have said and meant to say what that I am not in this to make alot of money.
Three dollars is a fair market price for my bouquets. The customer gets a nice bouquet, I make money. I don't understand why I should charge more than $3 when that is what it is worth. Isn't that being dishonest? What is wrong with this forum? Not very friendly.
Joan

Oh Joan,
don't take it to heart. I understand how you feel. Same as I did when I first opened my perennial nursery(my 1 gal hostas are the size of small waswhtubs for $6.00...last year,prices are going up this year and I'm going to a bigger town 20 miles south of here to their FM). I marked my prices way too cheap and even then I got people that would grumble and widdle to get me to lower my prices....which I would at the beginning not wanting to drive away a customer but as time went on I realized these people were not the customers I wanted anyway. I'm way to busy to conjole and pamper these people that you can never satisfy so now when they come in and complain they can get it cheaper at( insert superstore name here)I just say" have a nice day and thanks for stopping in" (when I'm thinking "good riddance,don't let the doornob hit ya in the a$$ on the way out the door)but as you go along and business picks up,it cost more and more and the days working your business get longer and longer so come out the gate charging a reasonable to cover your cost and put money in your pocket.

PP

PP,

Off topic, but can't resist -- I heard a blues song last week, and one of the lines was "Don't let the door hit ya where the dog should have bit ya".

Joan,

Please don't stay upset too long. This is a GREAT forum, and everyone on here is VERY helpful, and usually friendly.

All the advice you've been given IS helpful, and you need to think seriously about the words they wrote.

One-half acre is a BIG amount of land to cultivate, sow, weed, water, and harvest. It will take a LOT of seed or plants to fill that land, and those seeds and plants are going to HAVE to start costing you more money, as you find new plants you "must have", and then you realize how expensive those plants/seeds are. At some point, you might want to be doing it for the money, if only to recoup some of your investment in seeds plants and water. And then your bouquet prices will go up, or the size of them will get smaller.

To grow flowers, make bouquets, and have fun at the market IS a good and wonderful thing--enjoy every minute of it. But if any of your competitors at the market (if you have any) give you snarly looks, your lower prices than theirs, and your wholesale bought flowers might be the reasons. Many of them ARE in it for the money, and take their investments and products very seriously, and are proud that they grow what they sell. Buying wholesale flowers is sometimes okay and necessary for wedding work or if you provide bouquets year round to restaurants and don't have anything growing in the winter, but I'd think it would take the "real" out of having flowers at a farmer's market. It would be like a vegie farmer going to the wholesaler,and bringing back a truck load of Chilean bright red tomatoes and saying he/she grew them himself. Not right. The other farmers at the market KNOW, and the customers will, eventually.

I DON'T mean those words "meanly", just stating facts you might encounter.

There are 3 books you need to read, and a newsletter you need to subscribe to. The books are: "Organic Flower Farming" by Lynn Byzenszky (spelling is off), "We're Going to be Rich" by Frank and Pamela Arnosky, and "Specialty Cut Flowers" by Alan Armitage and Judy Laushman, 2nd or revised edition. The newsletter is "Growing For Market", you can subscribe at growingformarket.com

ALL of that literature is GREAT for any cut flower grower, newbie or big time professional grower. If you haven't read those books see if your library has them or can get them.

Hope you stay with us. We'd like to include you in "our gang". Let us know where you live--at least, which state. If you have questions about which crop will work in your climate, knowing where you live would help our answering.

Good luck with your flowers! We ALL need good luck--there's WAY too many bugs, drought,flood and cash flow problems for all of us to NOT wish good luck to EVERYBODY!

Susi.

Joan, stick around, read some old posts, you will learn alot. Not the least of which will be that the people here are great. So willing to help you with their knowledge and experience. I've been lurking on this forum for a couple of months. Just moved to a three acre property and love to grow flowers. I am going to experiment this year and see what will grow in this sandy soil. I will give away what I am growing this year but would like to if at all possible make a bit of money doing this. The people here knock my socks off with their knowledge and graciousness.

JOAN, we started out doing much like you did, a lot because we had no support group like this, and also beause we doubted out abilities. We also sold quite small bouquets. Before the start of th next season, a local grower of -plant starts gently expained the ethics of the plant growing community to us, and told us to raise our prices..that our bouquets were beautiful and definitely worth much higher prices then we were charging. NOt wanting to get in trouble with the growers who are all "neighbors" on our small island who were doing this as a livelihood, we did raise our prices from $1 a small bunch to $3, and started doing larger bouquets for $5. Now these are not the big bouquets that would fill a hallway or desk top. These are posies like one would put on their dining table for a family meal. Our big bouquets we charge $15 for now, though we started at $10. OUr small stand bouquets always have something special in them like a dahlia, a rose, a lily, fancy tulips or daffodils. We also try to include a sprig of fragrant herb like mint, rosemary, etc. THese bouquets also have foliage from our woods or gardens.
We lost a few customers but we gained new ones and a lot more respect. We still occassionally will put out a little bouquet of pansies or similar for a $..our "Just for kids" bouquets.We advertise that our flowers are all homegrown, fresh picked, and organically grown.

I would suggest that you think carefully about what you want your image to be. IF you are mixing tired old commercial flowers in with your fresh picked (Do you know how to condition your flowers?) then it will be pretty for a day or two but lack that special something that locally grown field flowers have.

I was forcibly reminded of the difference recently. It being JAnuary, I was taken by a bouquet of blooming cream colored oriental lilies at my grocery store. I bouqht a premade bouquet of these for about $10 and was thrilled withthe fragrance. 3 days later the petals started falling off and shriveling. A few more days and I was left with bare stems. And then I realised...IF I had sold that many lilies.IT would probably have been 2 or 3 stems covered with many buds. THey would have gradually unfurled for 2-3 weeks, and I would snap the old flowers off as new ones opened. But these lilies were grown on baby bulbs who only produce 2 or 3 flowers a stem, so are then gathered into bouquets of many stems. WHen the 3rd lily goes,,,,the boquet is dead as a doormat...and far uglier. (he commercial grower would then sell those bulbs at low prices to unsuspecting gardeners who would wonder why it produced so poorly for them! IT would take several years for it to bulld up to its true beauty.)

IT IS fun to play at bouquet making...but we all belong to communities and other growers are part of our family. If we all charge a fair price and give a fair product in exchange
then it strengthens our bonds. And our customers learn what the value of our work, and therefore ourselves, is. We are floral artists.

As to low cost vases...do you have a thrift shop in your area that supports a health center or senior center? we can usually find as many vases as we need for about $1 each. However, at our stand we use big peanut butter jars, or plastic juice bottles with the tops cut off. Our vases go out with our very large special gift bouqoets, or are exchanges weekly with our subsrciption customers. The stand flowers are in sleeves and several to a jar. We also provide zip-lock baggies for people to transport them in...just small baggies like for a sandwich. IT keeps them from dripping all over them and they can add a little water if they aren't going right home.

I, too, am caught in the middle where pricing is concerned. I have been selling at my self serve road side stand for years. I don't charge as much as I probably should. However, the more I listen to my customers and the more I look into prices, I find that I am TOO CHEAP. Yes, I openly admit it. But alas, I plan on changing this. My prices are going up. This year when I start selling at the farmers market, I hope to talk with the other two flower growers and find out their prices. I don't want to under cut anyone. However take into consideration what types of flowers you have in your bouquets. I tend to put alot of fillers with only a few main flowers. I try to stay away from the high end flowers so that I can keep my prices relatively low and still make a profit. And YES, I do make a profit! I also find that the longer you are in business, the easier it is to charge what your product is worth. Good luck to everyone on this upcoming season. Even when the HEAT IS ON in this forum you are all still great. HEIDI

Last summer, I was at a FM and overheard an interesting conversation. Two women were selling lovely flowers in one booth. They were talking about another seller, a hobby seller, a doctor's wife. She used her husband's money to grow her flowers, then undercut the ones who were trying to pay the bills with their business.

You've seen what happens when Wal-Mart moves in: it drives the other businesses out of business. Pretty soon, all there is is WM. You really can't buy much in season, a lot of their stuff appears to be seconds, they only buy American if they can't get it anywhere else, their stuff isn't really as cheap as they try to get you to believe, they treat their employees like dirt ("full-time" is 28 hours), and their vendors likewise, yet.... millions of people are lining up to pay for their junk.

Is the lowest possible price all there is these days? Has America come to be the Japan of the '50s & '60s?

Sue

Joan, to get back to one of your original questions, I get my vases from Goodwill and St. Vincent de Paul and other miscellaneous thrift stores, and friends and coworkers. Once you get the word out that you will happily re-use/recycle vases, you'll be amazed by how many people will give you vases! Almost everybody has some old florist vases sitting around that are too good to throw away, but they don't know what to do with them. I don't sell my vases. If you're going to do that, you'll need a more reliable supply, probably a wholesale florist warehouse - but you'll have to bring your prices up a lot to make up for what they cost wholesale. You could use Mason jars, too. Lots of sellers do.

I use a whiteboard and colored markers to display my business name and some basic information. Most of my bouquets are displayed in vases, at many different prices, so I use small Avery label stickers on the vases for pricing. That way I don't have to put prices on the sign. If you're only going to have a couple of price levels, you could put that on whatever you're using for a sign, but make those prices screamingly obvious. If customers can't figure the prices out easily and quickly, they'll just move on.

Are you figuring the costs of your seed, soil amendments, pesticides/herbicides/fungicides (if you use them), tiller, tools, water/watering system, and most of all, your labor into the cost of your flowers? Once you do that, you'll know what they're worth and won't be willing to work for nothing - which is often what's happening when prices are too low.

The way I see it, there are two problems with too-low prices. One is very bad feelings between merchants at the market. The other one is that once the customers have been paying so little for awhile, they start to believe that's all flowers are worth, ever, everywhere, and won't be willing to pay the more reasonable price of a grower who knows their own costs and prices accordingly. And when the low-priced grower tries to raise his/her prices to a reasonable level, the customers stop buying! You can raise prices, but only very slowly, if you don't want to lose customers. If you start too low it takes years to catch up.

Does your market allow resale? A lot of farmer's markets, including the one I go to, don't. Some do.

That said, welcome to the loony bin!

Jeanne

Oh, and Lynn Byczynski's book is 'The Flower Farmer'. Get one or borrow one, you won't regret it.

Joan, welcome! Don't let a little healthy debate or different perspectives sour you. There are many wonderful people here- all willing to share their advice and experiences as you can see. You can learn alot.

I would have the same problem pricing my flowers because our local markets are so populated by big families who sell huge bouquets of flowers for $5. I would never part with my blooms for those prices, but they have children to work in the fields and at markets, lots of land and I don't.
But if you can be happy selling lots of bouquets for your prices in your area: I say good for you!

Back to your question about vases: I go to Goodwill too- usually a dollar, sometimes more, per vase. Another excellent source to check is area nursing homes or hospitals. The staff and patients get indundated with gifts of flowers and you can score big just by asking. They are usually glad to get rid of them for FREE! If you'd be so kind as to bring in some bouquets as a 'thankyou' in summer I bet you will have a vase source for life.
Poochella/Annie

The woman who runs the farmers market in our town informed me that the prices are set by the growers and she keeps an eye out to see that no one is undercutting anyone else to get the business. So if everyone is selling bouquets at $5, no one would be allowed to sell at $3.
When I first started going to farmers markets, I'd wander around trying to get the best "deal"- and found all the prices were the same. Sure they might be off by a little bit, but basically they are the same.
Joan, welcome, and I don't think anyone intended on being mean, but the sale price has to reflect the work put into getting the flowers- not just the seed time, but the soil prep, seed, watering, picking, fertilizing, time spend traveling, etc etc. You might find a post here, someone broke it down very nicely once.
Good luck with your growing!
Susan

Joan you never did mention how big your bouquets are or what type of flowers. For a 10 stem bouquet of filler (baby breath, larkspur, statice, bachelor button, wild flowers) $3 might be about right. If you are using lilies, peonies, iris, sunflower, cockscomb, delph, etc or have over ten stems $3 is low. BUT like you see on this forum, we all have different markets. Marketing should be everyone's number one thing. Almost anyone can grow a flower. It is another thing to sell it for what you want and sell all you grow.

Good luck.

I will admit though the forum has expanded and has become rough at times lately.

Bryan

P.S. 1/2 is alot. I grew 32,000 stems of statice on 1/10 of acre last year.

honeybunny wrote:

"The woman who runs the farmers market in our town informed me that the prices are set by the growers and she keeps an eye out to see that no one is undercutting anyone else to get the business. So if everyone is selling bouquets at $5, no one would be allowed to sell at $3."

We call that collusion in our neck of the woods. This is more anti-free market than allowing some hobbyist into the fray.

Joe

Not to wax too philosophical. We are limited by our own insecurities. An old friend once told me many years ago that we are all insecure. It is how we handle our insecurities that really matters.

At one of our markets, we have a lady who has been bringing produce and small flower bouquets to market for probably 40 of her 65 years. She sets up kitty corner from us. She has been there a lot longer than us. Her bouquets were $2.50 when we first started going to market 6 years ago. I think she raised her price to $3.00 last season. They are lovely bouquets. Last season I noticed she would sell a few while we were selling; but, wouldnt sell many until we were pretty much sold out. We donÂt have any $3.00 bouquets. I canÂt say that we never had them because we did in the beginning. Sometimes people want small bouquets for table decorations for parties. And, they want them to look similar. If one wants to get involved doing this, itÂs really your call; but, it is a lot of work for little money.

I am not degrading the $3.00 bouquets. There is a niche for them. There really is. At times customers want just a small bouquet for their bathroom, guest room, or kitchen counter. They buy these from the vendor across from us; and, they also buy bouquets from us for their formal entryway, dining room table, living room, etc. I think it is all about finding your niche at market.

I have also had experience with a market setting prices as indicated by Honey Bunny. The market is in a state south of us, and solely owned by the farmers. Their market rules state that a daily vendor must walk the market and cannot sell any lower than the lowest vendor on the market that day. If the vendor owns the stall, they can set whatever price they desire. We learned this one the hard way. I canÂt remember what we were selling. Small herb plants I think. When we made our sign we transposed some numbers. So, instead of 2/$3.00, the sign read 3/$2.00. A VERY irate vendor went straight out. We got a stern talking to by the market master. This situation is rare. Most markets are run by the city, or Chamber of Commerce; and they are usually on public property. They cannot control price for the same reason Joe mentioned. If they tried, one might imagine someone would be keeping Martha company right quick.

At another market we attend, we have a vendor who walks the market each and every week to see what other vendors are pricing their flowers, strawberries, corn, peaches, apples, whatever. Then, she sets her prices 25 cents less. She has her share of "tire kicking" customers. We figure let her deal with them. We refer to them as "Jane runners." Those customers are usually pretty high maintance. She is welcome to them.

Last year there were a couple of times that I can recall when a customer had purchased one of JaneÂs bouquets, brought it down to our stall and asked if we could add flowers to it. One was a special birthday gift for a grandmother. We took JaneÂs bouquet apart, added our flowers, and wrapped it in pretty tissue. The young girl was a happy camper.

It just takes all kinds to make this world go round; and, it makes for interesting after market conversation at home.

Good luck with your venture Joan.

I have not posted for some time. My market started today. I was able to find some nice vases for my bouquets at garage sales and thrift shops. Thank you to those who provided that information. I do not sell junk bouquets and I am not a hobby grower. After giving it some thought I have decided to continue selling bouquets for $3 or 2/$5. I don't get snarly looks from other vendors. They are all friendly. Customers love my bouquets. Most of them usually buy two. Sometimes four. I make good money doing this. I love what I do.

Hey, Joan - to expand a little on LizaLily's comments. I use non-zip type sandwich bags to avoid the "drippies," or the gallon-size for multiple bunches or longer-stem items. (It seems the non-zips are cheaper, but the zip-types may be stronger if you need to splash in some water.)

Except for regular customers who live just minutes away from market, which is in town, I always ask if folks are going straight home. (Now, doesn't that sound nosy!!!) But, I try to find if they intend to do other shopping, etc. which will mean the stems will be out of water -- amazingly, some folks think nothing of allowing the bouquets to sit around for quite a while. Also, certain flowers wilt much more quickly, such as sunflowers. Those I never let go without water on them. I keep handy a handful of small soda bottles with the narrow neck trimmed off, clean glass jars not suitable for canning or something similar, fill them with water and tuck in the flowers. Remind the customer to recycle the bottle when finished. Now, if you are selling dozens and dozens of bunches, that system would be prohibitive, but it does work. For long stems and large quantities, you will need a somewhat larger container.

There is one customer of mine who often buys two or three smaller bunches to go in a container for tailgating. They bring it back with the little cut-off bottles inside, pick out new bunches, we add water and they are off to the party. Go Team!!!

I overcame some price changes by introducing a two-tier approach. Added different items to the growing list. Then, when glads, lilies and other pricier things are available, the bouquets get a higher ticket price. Thought there might be resistance, but found the larger items were just what a different group of customers wanted even in this small market.

As the market season approaches are some of you growers changing pricing on bouquets? Because of increased costs of greenhouse heating, supplies, gas, and other costs I wonder if you are factoring that in and raising the costs accordingly. Also do you think $6 is a good pricing point for a simple bouquet? I'm talking about flowers at the farmers market and a stand in front of the home.

Last season was a pretty good season. I am doing well. And I raised my prices last year. No complaints.

I look forward to your input and appreciate all the help you have given me.

Thanks,
Joan

Hi, Joan

I'm new on this forum and have just finished reading this thread. Pricing is an issue for me too. This is my second year growing cut flowers and after our market meeting (today) I pretty much decided on $6.00 a good sized bouquet (10 to 15 stems with fillers) and then offering a deal for 2 bouquets, maybe $10.00. Your market will dictate your pricing and you seem to have a good handle on your market. This year is going to be more expensive for everybody so everybody is going to be rethinking their pricing. Your customers will not be surprised to see an increase, they probably will recognize your good business sense. Good Luck.

One nice thing I did last year at the 2 FMs I do was to take a survey of what new flowers they would like to see and what cost they would pay. Right now my bouquets are $8. Most customers said $10. I will be raising them up to at least $9 and if no other flower grower shows up to undercut then $10. :)

Bryan

I am still using my $5.00 price for bouquets this year. However, keep in mind that I am NOT using lilies, dahlias or other "high end" flowers in these bouquets. I find that I didn't do well selling large bouquets for $8.00. This year however I did plant a row of astiatic lilies to use for some higher price bouquets. Maybe I'll have beter luck this year. I seem to do very well selling sunflowers. I even had a local Large produce farm stopping by the farmers market every week to by me out of sunflowers. There store is about 1 mile away from the market, they would show up to buy me out aas soon as the market would open. However, My market customers are very important to me , so I would keep several buckets of flowers out of sight(yes, I'm sneaky like that, hahaha). After they left, I would pull out my other buckets for the market customers. I know they were bring the flowers back to there store and selling them for a lot more money. I finally confronted them and told them that if they want me to grow sunflowers for them, please let me know early this year so I can order twice as many seeds. I can't wait for this season. Heidi

I raised my price from $5 to $6 and have had no complaints and no one has left less then the $6 in my cash box. However, I am not selling much at all yet. Hope as my specialty daffs come in my customers will too!

I just put a note on my box that bulb prices were up and that I was no longer subsidizing their sales tax so the price was going to be $6. I figure at a self serve stand that amount has to be even $$. Just having them pay their own salestax will help out a lot! THe first few years e we didn't charge sales tax but since our business grew and went legitimate I have been covering it out of income. Now it is their turn! So that gives me a $.45 raise on thetax plus $.55 more for me. I also hope to try some larger bouquets for $10+tax when the lilies and roses come in. That is if I get to move them to the new farmer's market in the back of the store with the security camera!

Every market is different and some of them (mine) do not attract high end clients. I sell at a HUGE flea market where most of the customers don't speak English. They come every weekend. They come with money in their pockets. They come to socialize and shop. I love building a relationship with these people and I have to keep in mind the limits of their resources. I try to tailor my product size to the price they will pay rather than force larger, fancier product on them. It seems to work. Every weekend I see new vendors trying to sell some homemade product and getting frustrated with the lack of sales. I try to explain that open-air vending is different, a certain type of person will be coming to this site. They shop for different reasons, they value things differently than most people. What you think will sell may not move at all. If something gathers lots of interest but few sales then it is time to re-evaluate the price but rather than slash the price or raise it drastically, pull the item from the shelves and bring it back next weekend repackaged a different way so that you make money and the customer sees it as a better value.

What works for one vendor at one market may not work for another somewhere else.

Never posted on this forum. Just dropped in to see the scoop. And my what a discussion......flower power...I say!!! You all are great... Maybe I'll grow some cut flowers in my veggies so I can visit here every now and then! Take care Sugars!
Deb

My husband has been selling veggies at the local farmers market for a few years now. This year he wanted to sell some flowers and wants me to find out all the ins and outs about selling. This post has been valuable as far as pricing. I don't think we had any flower growers at our market so we probably will be the first, My questions. do you sell by the stem or always in bouquets? What is the best way to keep them fresh for market? do they sell better in vases or I've heard of plastic sleeves that hold water? I am coming in this as a newbie so any suggestions or advise I am open for it.

Some of the BEST places I have found CHEAP but great vases for my bouquets have been Hospice House Thrift Stores, Goodwill, yard sales, flea markets....they clean up beautifully in the dishwasher ( like new) and sell quite well. As for pricing.....ahhh..it has been discussed ever so ardently here, but one HAS to keep in mind your own geographic location. What works well for ONE part of the world, state, region, MAY not work so well in another area. If I were selling out in our lake area, I could command a higher price for my commodities ( bouquets, potted perennials and herbs,etc)) BUT, when I sell at a different region of our state, I would not get the same price from that particular clientele. You have to find your NICHE....and what works for you in your area of the world. And if someone ( meaning a competing vendor) starts a ruckus at a market about your pricing, that tells me they lack not only some basic coping skills, but professionalism and maturity as well. Get the Market Manager to handle that issue.

We don't use vases when we sell at our Farmers' Market.

We wrap our bouquets in a wet paper towel then insert that in "colored" baggie-type plastic.

That works fine, is very inexpensive and people don't seem to mind. It's the flowers that count.

In addition, I would experiment with pricing. We started out selling very low but have now raised our prices.

It all depends on your area, the type of clientel and the beauty of the flowers.

Don't sell yourself short . . . charge a fair price and people will not be upset.

PS: Some Farmers' Markets have rules about pricing . . . which eliminates under-cutting others. So if you want to sell flowers and there are other vendors doing the same, provide a BETTER bouquet at the same price and you may be OK.