My hope for a business

W

wordwiz

For months and months, I've been planning a way to make a little money on the side selling stuff I raise. This spring wasn't bad - I sold about $600 in plants. So far this summer, all I have really sold is basil (~$100) but a guy today wants to buy somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 pounds of tomatoes a week, along with some basil. I sell the basil at $12 per pound for just leaves or leaves with very few stems. The toms go for a buck a pound. The price goes up 25ยข per pound on toms, $4 per pound on basil once I have to start using heat.

My biggest concern is being able to walk the walk come this fall/winter/spring. I figure my greenhouse, which I have been working on and is 192 sf. can support close to 50 tomato plants and six, maybe twelve basil plants. Everything will be grown in hydro, which is a new learning experience.

Mike
 
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Pepperfreak,

I will have fun! And I hope to surpass last year's tomato harvest before I get the first ripe one from my garden, although that may be hard. I'll have to average 18 pounds of maters per plant.

Mike
 
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What an educational few months. I have learned a lot and though I fell on my face, as far as harvesting tomatoes this past winter goes, it's not bad. One cannot grow tomatoes in a GH in Cincinnati from mid-December to mid-February. Simply not enough light. I suspect that if one had a large GH on a farm where there was plenty of wood to use to burn it would work. Adding lights and heat makes the cost of growing economically unfeasible. If one only needs to add lights, that's doable.

But, as I said, I have been educated. If I can find a place to rent, one large enough to raise 600 plants for $400/mo. rent, I can make a decent income raising tomatoes - if I learn how to grow them in water. Not including the lights, buckets, hose, pumps, etc., I figure it would cost about $4,600 over a 4-month period in heat, electricity and rent. But during that period, if I can get 25 pounds per plant - not a great yield - I would take in well over $18,000 - about enough to pay for the light fixtures. But for the other three grow periods, my expenses would go down (no need to heat and A/C would only be necessary during the very hottest time of the year.

That's my game plan. I need to get the lights and buckets this year and next, as well as get growing maters indoors something I am very proficient at. If I can increase production by 10 pounds per plant, by finding the best plants and best growing methods, that would be even better.

The other thing, growing 1800 plants a year would make a lot of compost and compost tea. Something else to sell.

Now all I need to do is to do it!

Mike
 
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well it all sounds good on paper. Good luck with it . There are very few places selling compost tea in my area. I've been told by one of the local garden centers that it has too short of shelf life for them to stock it. An idea I had (when my daughter and I were raising worms) was to set it up with a couple of local schools to do a fundraiser for them. You have the schools take orders for the tea and set a delivery date. You sell it to the school for $X amount and let them charge a lil more per2 liter. That way you make money and they make money. Best of all you have the school supply empty 2 liter bottles hence keeping your "bottling" costs down and doing the environment good as well. You show up on the set delivery date and fill 2 liter bottles for them. Just an idea!!
 
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