I'm thinking ahead here, I need some ideas on what to do with the extra plants I will have.. Couple weeks back I decided to start germinating 300, yes 300, hungarian hot wax pepper seeds and 67 jalapeno seeds. I thought I would have awful germination rates since I bought the hot wax seeds off ebay and got the jalapeno seeds from my peppers and put them into the soil right after I took them out of the pepper. Turned out that I had extremely good germination rates with the jalapenos (66/67 germinated/sprouted) and 91 hot wax seeds sprouted (more hot wax germinating as I type this out). Now that I have so many sprouted seedlings I do not know what I will do with them. Does anyone know if it is possible to ship them to people if I were to sell them or give them away? Does anyone know how I should package it if I do decide to send them? Anyone have any ideas on how else I can sell them? Thanks!
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What do you guys/gals do to get rid of your extra plants?
- Thread starter backyardpepper
- Start date
Well first when I have extra plants, I give the maximum to my friends,family,work mate and then I put the rest into compost. I know it can be difficult to throw your baby away buy you get used to it.
Talk with Justaguy. He shipped some very-newly-sprouted plants in little plastic tubes that were then placed in small shipping boxes, which were overnighted. He can tell you of his successes and challenges with that.Â
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That said, generally you cannot ship plants out of state unless you have the required postal permit(s). States like California make it even harder, as their desire is to protect their crops from both foreign pests and plants. (With "foreign" being foreign to the state.)Â
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This is the first year I had "extra" plants, and at that only because I started some for someone else who ended up not taking them. But that was only 3 plants. At peak I had 48 plants, which really was too many, given my circumstances. But, if I could grow in the ground here (N.E. Ohio), I would do that many plants again, from time to time. But as cold as this place gets and for as long as the cold stays, I can't grow anything except annuums in the ground. I always end up bringing plants indoors once the temps get too cold, to allow the pods on them to finish ripening. (And sometimes more pods come along, too.) I don't have enough indoor space for many plants. I now generally only have a max of 24 chile plants.
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I agree with charlesquick - if you can't find enough people and really don't have room for what's left after giving some away, just toss them. In fact, I'd say toss the ones that haven't sprouted yet, as you will have less emotional attachment to them at this point.
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For the future, though, I'd suggest doing what I do when I sprout seeds - sprout them in smaller batches. You want 10 plants? Sprout 5. Once those 5 have sprouted, do 5 more. If only 4 sprouted, either sprout 6 more or sprout 5 more, then sprout the difference in another batch.You pick the batch size for yourself, depending on the total number of plants you want and in roughly what time, but that gives you an idea of how to go about it. Â If I wanted 100 plants I would probably do batches of 20 or 30.Â
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That said, generally you cannot ship plants out of state unless you have the required postal permit(s). States like California make it even harder, as their desire is to protect their crops from both foreign pests and plants. (With "foreign" being foreign to the state.)Â
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This is the first year I had "extra" plants, and at that only because I started some for someone else who ended up not taking them. But that was only 3 plants. At peak I had 48 plants, which really was too many, given my circumstances. But, if I could grow in the ground here (N.E. Ohio), I would do that many plants again, from time to time. But as cold as this place gets and for as long as the cold stays, I can't grow anything except annuums in the ground. I always end up bringing plants indoors once the temps get too cold, to allow the pods on them to finish ripening. (And sometimes more pods come along, too.) I don't have enough indoor space for many plants. I now generally only have a max of 24 chile plants.
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I agree with charlesquick - if you can't find enough people and really don't have room for what's left after giving some away, just toss them. In fact, I'd say toss the ones that haven't sprouted yet, as you will have less emotional attachment to them at this point.
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For the future, though, I'd suggest doing what I do when I sprout seeds - sprout them in smaller batches. You want 10 plants? Sprout 5. Once those 5 have sprouted, do 5 more. If only 4 sprouted, either sprout 6 more or sprout 5 more, then sprout the difference in another batch.You pick the batch size for yourself, depending on the total number of plants you want and in roughly what time, but that gives you an idea of how to go about it. Â If I wanted 100 plants I would probably do batches of 20 or 30.Â
I would be careful selling the ebay seed plants, as you are not positive thats what they actually are and could be selling people a bunch of bell pepper plants. I would also suggest if giving them away make sure to tell the people you bought the hungarian wax pepper seeds but from ebay so you are not sure that is what they are. I only say this as to not have people blame you if they are not what they are supposed to be. Not saying all sellers on ebay are bad but some are so becareful. But man that is alot of plants! I gave mine to family, friends, and coworkers as well.
I went ahead and plucked out all the weak sprouts. I only left 6 hot wax and 8 jalapeno. I also got rid of the germinating seeds. It was so sad.. I raised these little guys only to kill them 
at least I got some experience with them. Next time i will only germinate the amount I need not the amount I think will getminate. Thanks for all the tips!
at least I got some experience with them. Next time i will only germinate the amount I need not the amount I think will getminate. Thanks for all the tips!
You could have done a gorilla grow. See if any would survive.
After I figure out how many extra I have, I sell and trade them. I prefer trading. That way I can get a bunch of plants that I had not thought to plant. Online is OK, but shipping plants is a pain. Swap meets are often full of plants in the spring. Lots of those folk love to trade at the end of the swap meet. Like me, they'd rather bring home something new.
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Gardening is so commercial these days. I hate that aspect. Dont mind selling what I have produced cause when you buy a mans produce you are giving him a compliment. Dont mind buying what another person produces either. But shopping the mass market places, Lowes, Walmart, Rural King, it just takes a lot of the fun out of gardening for me.
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Gardening is so commercial these days. I hate that aspect. Dont mind selling what I have produced cause when you buy a mans produce you are giving him a compliment. Dont mind buying what another person produces either. But shopping the mass market places, Lowes, Walmart, Rural King, it just takes a lot of the fun out of gardening for me.
I usually sell my extra plants. When I get something that doesn't look right, I give those away as gifts, usually to people who come out and buy plants. Tom