Back when I sold plants at the local farmers market I offered strawberry's with fruit in like quart pots. They sold but I wouldn't say they sold well.

The biggest buyers of them were children. I remember it because I also had butterfly food plants often with swallowtail caterpillars already on them. I though kids would enjoy them but instead most of them wanted the strawberrys instead. Their parents would see the butterfly plant offerings and drag the kids over to see if they wanted one, and then the kids would see the fruit on the potted strawberry plants and ask for it instead.

Around here I think most people that really like strawberrys prefer to go to the pick-your-own farms that ring the city. The few that want to grow them in their home garden want specific types and most often know where to buy them at wholesale prices.

For ornamental gardeners I sold more of the variegated leaved strawberrys and gold leaved strawberrys. None of them were what I would call huge sellers though.

Things might be different in your area. For me, I think you could make more money selling strawberry fruit then you will ever make selling strawberry plants.

thanks for your response. I do think that there are people around here who want to buy plants to grow themselves. My experience is that a lot of people have space for gardens and DO grow them. (this is a more rural area for the most part, mixed with a few decent sized cities all around (Macon, etc).

Last year I planted a gazillion seeds (which ALL grew) so I had more plants than I could ever plant myself. I grew every kind of veggie and herb in my "then NEW" greenhouse. I put local ads out and sold a decent amount of plants. About everyone who came spent $15 to $20. I probably gave away as many as I sold.

I will do that again with any strawberry plants that I get too. I do have some other options, and that would be to buy a smaller quantity of plants, PLANT them (I've got lots of room and could even use my mother in laws land if truly necessary). And could grow the berries and sell them at the same venue. I would just think however that it would be much more labor intensive to do it this way. But I think the fresh berries would have an appeal.

I may end up trying both options. Buying a smaller quantity of plants, selling as many as I dont have room to plant. and then selling berries (and plants for that matter) later in the spring.

I'm also planning on doing the same thing with blueberry plants I've ordered for January/February. Plants around this area are quite expensive at the typical box garden stores and so people do seem interested in getting a better variety at a better price.

I'm in zone 7b and I see that you are in zone 8. The good thing about growing strawberrys and herbs like mint, cilantro, parsley or even mini-roses was that I could pot them up in the fall or early winter and pretty much leave them alone all winter long. They always looked so healthy and happy by spring time.

The market I was at was very small so I didn't need to bring a ton of anything - I could just root the runners from my flowerbeds and keep them in pots. I rarely bought plants to sell.

The variegated forms were of the wild European strawberry which hates high heat so it failed in our summers, but they look really sharp in a glazed strawberry pot. I would snip a few and bring them inside the house for the summer just to keep some going.

Strawberry sale update, to date I've ordered 800 plants and have "pre-sold" 650 of them and have not gone to the Farmers market, mainly selling them on craigslist!!

I will order more when these are all sold out and will most likely pot these newer ones up and sell them in hanging baskets and individual containers. OR I"ll just keep selling the bare root ones, it's working well.

Hi There,

I just saw your post. Is your business still going well? I'm interest in reselling my bare root strawberry plants as well. I was wondering if you can give me any ideas on how to do this. TIA

When I first started with the farmers market, I bought some strawberry plants and potted them up in hanging baskets. They didn't sell well, but I was a new vendor and totally unknown. What didn't sell, I planted and picked fruit from them, and their runners for 6-7 years.

Last year, I sold sweet potato plants, not alot, but enough to reimburse what I spent.

I ended up selling close to 1300 out of about 1500 plants that I ordered, most were sold as bareroot, but when sales slowed some (and the plants started rooting in the containers I had them stored in)I potted them up, I had some larger shorter wider containers and did them in groups of 4-6 depending on the size, many were potted as singles. I then sold them for $1 each! and sold most of them. what was left over (about 200 maybe)I planted in my raised beds and into every open spot all over my property!

The blueberry plants were not as prolific sellers, but I did make back my investment by about double. and like someone mentioned, pot them up, keep them watered and I still actually have plants that I can keep on selling. AND i got a bunch of berries from all the plants this summer. put them up in my freezer.

I started out selling veggie and herb seedlings before the strawberry idea and it was successful too. I never went anywhere with them, just advertised locally and people came to me. It was very worthwhile. I sold most of what I had and for most of the ones that germinate prolifically, charged only 3 for $1, others were 50cents each and some herbs were $1 to a few dollars.

If you have the time and space, go for it. I would also consider just local online ads, start early, TAKE ORDERS

If you are talking about digging up your runners etc. it should work the same way, just pot them up individually (I got small and large styrofoam cups from the dollar store) or if space is an issue, group them into larger containers. most EVERYONE ordered at least 6 plants. and maybe give a discount for bulk orders?

Another tip for getting free planting materials. My Lowe's will give you the plastic forms that the gallon containers are shipped in, of course, these forms come in all different sizes, and once the plants are sold, they will give you these forms. They have holes in them already and are GREAT for starting seeds in. Also good for shallow rooted plants.

yes foam cups are cheap and easy to get. Holding them in place is another story. I would like to find a pot holder that holds large foam cups. If you know of one tell me the manufacture and part number if u can. thanks

the styrofoam cups in the picture I posted, are in one of the plastic forms that I mentioned I pick up at Lowes' garden center, these forms are the size that they use for the small single plants. They work perfectly. and they are FREE

I thought so, I just do not always have the time to make it 'free'. but may try to have them save them for me next year. I know a guy who works at Poppelmann Plastics here in town, they are a German company making all sorts of pots and trays. From what I have seen they just missed the recent tornado in Claremont. NC. I think I will ask what tray they have that fits large foam cups.

That is awesome that your plant business has taken off so well. We are planning to do a mini-Upick with strawberries. I'm wondering if you might tell where you got the bare root transplants??? We will need quite a few plants and would love to find them at a reasonable price.
Thanks in advance and wish you continued success this season!

The last place that I got bare-root strawberries was thru Daisy Farms, out of Michigan. I was very happy with the strawberries that I got planted. I waited close to 6 weeks after receiving them and of course some died, but even that long I still had 50% still alive (which to me was amazing). No, I did not do anything except open the box and separate the 2 varieties that I ordered. They were kept in a room that didn't have A/C but was not in direct sun.

I would buy from them again.

Marla

I buy bare root plants from Week's Berry nursery out of Keizer, Oregon. They sell only wholesale and have good stock. I used to work for a nursery that bought all their berries from them, so I'm continuing to use them now that the nursery has closed and I am on my own. I've order 100 Tulameen raspberry plants to pick up in a few weeks. I'll sell about half and plant about half. My raspberry patch really needs a renewal. Think I'll order some other berries and try selling them online. Hadn't thought of that before.

I done the same thing on craigslist with asperagus. I ordered three times what I needed and sold them all.
Now I'm thinking of doing it with strawberries. How much should I charge? I was going to offer a bundle of 10 and 25.
The varieties: Annapolis, Jewel and Seascape.

I don't know what they go for now, but when I first bought some, it was $5 for 25, but they were in a pot of dirt and then I divided them. That was 11 years ago. Have you considered maybe just a bunch of 5, for those people that want a very small patch or to put into baskets??

Marla

i am very happy with the berry plants i have gotten from Nourse (MA), Indiana berry and Krohne's (MI).

When reselling plants do know if they are patent protected it is illegal for you resell them. You need to get a license from the breeder/patent holder of that variety to sell them. Chances are you will not get caught but if you do the fines will be over $10K. So be sure to avoid buying plats that have pvp next to their name in the catalogs.

And i have noticed that there are few heritage/heirloom varieties sold in the catalogues.

I believe I will be selling bare rooted raspberry plants this spring as we need to dig up hundreds of them to keep them in check. We sell them in bundles of 5 for $5 a bundle, they sell fast.

boulderbelt, are they red or black raspberries? Since my sister has sold her part of my farm, and her part had most of my wild berries on it, I'll need to replace berries.

Marla

I may be interested in the raspberries if they are black.

boulderbelt I would be interested in several of them respberry plants as well

In my experience, black raspberries can sometimes be difficult to establish. I have purchased a number of bareroot varieties only to have them fail. On the other hand, nearly all of my local transplants have thrived. I typically like to know specific varieties, but honestly who cares as long as they produce well. My best variety came from a garage sale.

Brook

While we do sell them we don't do mail order so you would have to come to SW Ohio to get them and i have no idea what kind of numbers we are talking about as we have not gotten into cleaning up the beds yet this winter.

For me, that's not a problem, but I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing.

marla

I don't believe it is illegal to sell the patented plants AS LONG as they are bought from a wholesaler who is licensed to sell them. It is illegal to propogate them.

boulderbelt,

What part of SW OH? I'm in 45216 (northern Cincy).

Mike