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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Unschooler AT lrec.org, Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] fall vegetable transplants
  • Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2010 17:17:22 -0400


On Oct 10, 2010, at 3:34 PM, Leslie Moyer wrote:

On Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:28:02 -0500, kathleen timperley wrote:
Does anyone know where I can get fall transplants, like broccoli, to put in
my hoop houses?

This was from a long time ago, but I was looking for something else in the archives and came across it. Due to some other research I'm doing, I recently came across some answers to this question, so I thought I'd post them for other people in the future.

There are commercially available vegetable transplants available from wholesalers. Most wholesalers like this sell flowers, but some also sell some vegetables. These would be places that sell to retail nurseries, big-box hardware stores, farm stores, etc. All of them require minimum orders, however some of their minimums aren't too high. One near me, for example, has a minimum of only $250. Another, however, is $900. Others are even much higher. [ . . . ]


Talk to operations in your area that sell nursery plants and have greenhouses. Many of these start some of the vegetable transplants they sell. There are several retail nursery/greenhouse operations within an hour's drive of me that will do custom orders of as little as one flat or even 1/2 flat per variety with no minimum order (you probably have to pick them up yourself, they may not be set up to ship.) The cost per plant may be higher than from the big wholesalers, but it's likely to be less than retail prices; and your actual cost may be lower because of no minimum order or shipping charges. (Also, the plants will be less stressed as they won't have been shipped; and you may be less likely to bring in diseases from out of the area: presuming of course that your local operation knows, and cares, about what they are doing.)

The downside of this is that you need to talk to them before the plants need to be started -- possibly far enough before the plants need to be started that you can order the seed and get the seed to them, as if you want something that they don't usually carry they may want you to supply the seed. So this is probably too late for this year -- but over the winter you could probably find someone who will do this for you next year.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale







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