I'm hoping you all can give me some helpful advice and your opinion.
A little while back, a local hydroponics store that also sells plants offered to purchase chili starts from me for a dollar a piece. That deal went South when they played games with me and tried to get a huge discount. I've been in sales most of my life, and I can tell when someone is trying to pull something on me.
Meanwhile, another local nursery would like to buy my Superhot and Habanero starts, but is also offering me only $1 per start. This nursery has difficulty getting any of their Superhot seeds to sprout, and last year sold out of their 180+ Ghost Pepper plants before the season ended (the manager told me he only has a 16% germination rate).
And yet, just in my daily life I hear things that make me wonder if I should sell my starts to the public instead. A worker in one of Home Depot's Garden Dept. told me that he has a couple of friends who couldn't find anyplace to buy Ghost Pepper plants locally, so they are going to try to grow some themselves with seeds bought over the Internet. Just a few days ago after work I went over to World Market to purchase a bottle of Melinda's Naga Jolokia sauce to try. The cashier loves hot peppers, and when I told him what I'm doing, he asked if he could buy a plant from me.
By the way, I have a few hundred hot pepper starts that I need to do something with soon!
So, here are my questions:
Should I sell my starts for a buck a piece to the nursery? I paid $0.20 a seed, $0.19 per 3 1/2" plastic pot, and had one H*ll of an electric bill last month from running heaters in my greenhouse and grow room. Should I ask for more than a buck a piece? How much more?
Should I place an add on Craig's and other resources and sell direct to the public? Again, how much should I charge per start?
I value your opinions!
Thanks
A little while back, a local hydroponics store that also sells plants offered to purchase chili starts from me for a dollar a piece. That deal went South when they played games with me and tried to get a huge discount. I've been in sales most of my life, and I can tell when someone is trying to pull something on me.
Meanwhile, another local nursery would like to buy my Superhot and Habanero starts, but is also offering me only $1 per start. This nursery has difficulty getting any of their Superhot seeds to sprout, and last year sold out of their 180+ Ghost Pepper plants before the season ended (the manager told me he only has a 16% germination rate).
And yet, just in my daily life I hear things that make me wonder if I should sell my starts to the public instead. A worker in one of Home Depot's Garden Dept. told me that he has a couple of friends who couldn't find anyplace to buy Ghost Pepper plants locally, so they are going to try to grow some themselves with seeds bought over the Internet. Just a few days ago after work I went over to World Market to purchase a bottle of Melinda's Naga Jolokia sauce to try. The cashier loves hot peppers, and when I told him what I'm doing, he asked if he could buy a plant from me.
By the way, I have a few hundred hot pepper starts that I need to do something with soon!
So, here are my questions:
Should I sell my starts for a buck a piece to the nursery? I paid $0.20 a seed, $0.19 per 3 1/2" plastic pot, and had one H*ll of an electric bill last month from running heaters in my greenhouse and grow room. Should I ask for more than a buck a piece? How much more?
Should I place an add on Craig's and other resources and sell direct to the public? Again, how much should I charge per start?
I value your opinions!
Thanks