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How much is too much?!

Last season i had 15 plants of which 3 were given to my folks. This year i'll have maybe about 40 ranging across perhaps 20 varieties. i'll probably give away about 15 of those and end up with maybe 25.

Definately this year with say 25 plants i'll have more pods than i can consume. But hey, its a hobby... its what its all about :)
 
I'm harvesting more than I can use in a year, but I don't think I have too many plants. Next season I'll have many more because I want to taste new varieties and there are enough different chili types to keep me busy sampling for more years than I have left.
 
Right now I am trying as many different types as I can, later I will narrow it down but there are so many different varieties that that will not happen soon. I plan on having 50 next year.
 
I am gradually decreasing the number of different varieties I am growing year by year...some varieties just don't do well in this north texas heat and full sun...

the last 4 years have been just an experiment to see which ones grow best for me...
 
I plan to grow a lot less varieties next year too, and probably no new varieties. I want to simplify things for selling purposes and only have a few chinenses instead of trying to describe and explain multiple varieties that are fairly similar. I'll probably stick with person favorites and high producers
 
There is that 'selling' thang again....

I really must look into this some more. There are only two kinds of chillis readily available in the shops ~ red or green! Hmmmmm....
 
its a whole lot easier to sell plants than it is their products and a whole lot less complicated IMO
 
I was wondering about that, AJ ~

If it works the same as it does in my feeder insect venture, there's more profit in selling the products, but more hassle also. Might be wiser to take less profit and move the goods early?

Thanks for the input...
 
I will have about 40 chilli plants, and 5 capsicum plants this season. 25 of them will be in the garden and the rest will be in 10 gallon pots....

I give away alot of my chillis but most of it turns into powder or sauce.... I had 55 plants last year but I got rid of all my ornamentals which served on practical use to me....I will usually germainate 4 to 5 of each variety and keep the strongest 2 and give the rest away...
 
huntsman said:
I was wondering about that, AJ ~

If it works the same as it does in my feeder insect venture, there's more profit in selling the products, but more hassle also. Might be wiser to take less profit and move the goods early?

Thanks for the input...

The main goal of the business I am setting up is to sell seedlings at about 6-8 weeks after germination...I get 4 bucks each for the seedlings. A lot of the locals think 4 is high for a pepper seedling. What they don't understand is they can't go to walmart/home depot/lowes and buy what I am selling. I will start somewhere around 2000 seeds this coming year and since I will be retired, I can sell several days a week at the local farmers/flea markets. There are three markets within 15 miles of my house. One is open daily thru the week, one has a first monday (first weekend of the month), and the other one has a third monday...I am going to try and sell close to 1000 this coming year...

I haven't done a study yet on it but it seems that I am making more profit in selling the seedlings in 3" square containers because of the small amount of fertilize I use on them from the start....the longer you keep them, the more it cost to grow them...
 
I have a little less time during the week, and was considering selling any excess to a nursery, but they will certainly not pay top dollar...might be worth asking, though.

Nice to know about the size of the container, AJ - I'd thought to simply leave them in a grow bag, but I guess that will use far more potting soil, and will also be less pleasing aesthetically, than a small pot.
 
I don't sell many plants, but I've been selling off my extra peppers this year instead of going through months of mad processing. Actually I'm still going through months of mad processing, but now if I take a few days off I don't have to worry about my pods going rotten.
 
I've sold some to friends and family, and even some to online friends but this year I found a neighborhood farmer that sells all kinds of local products and I have others interested in selling my peppers at farmers' markets if I can supply large amounts. I'm not making much money yet but I'm starting to learn a few things and I'm hoping to have very little waste this year.
 
This year I only grew 1 pepper plant the douglah but next year I plan to have 23 varieties Then after that I will just keep the ones I like, but I wanted to try these different ones for flavor and heat.
douglah
naga morich
jamacan chocolate
yellow fatali
trinidad antillias
safi red
congo yellow
cono red
yellow 7 pot
brain strain
cappy 7 pot
white bullet hab
jonah 7 pot
roccoto red
yellow datil
dorset naga
thai chili
bahama bird
black chili
scorpion morouga
red carabean
orange paper lantern
mustard 7 pot
I have all these seeds right now but have just a handful started
so I don't have to over winter too many.
 
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