Cost of started plants?

[Randy]

I'm debating whether to start everything from seed or to buy started plants this year. The last several years I've been just buying started plants but for the life of me I can't remember how much they cost. I know it wasn't a whole lot. I usually get two or three six packs of tomatos. So how much does a six pack of tomatos about a foot tall cost in your area? I have started from seeds but it's been many many years ago. Just trying to decide if all the extra work is worth it to save a little money.

 

[dickiebird]

Not worth it if you just want to save money. Last year I started about 300 plants in our back room, due to my lack of knowledge at plant starting and all the things required to get a plant from seed to the garden, I probably only got 25% into the soil and only about 1/3 of those actually produced anything.

The thing about starting your own plants is the enjoyment of doing so.

I think this year I will do a lot better now that I'm aware of what not to do. One of my biggest problems is I didn't harden anything off, and thats very easy to do so I hope to have a better success rate this season.

I also didn't even try to start tomato or pepper plants.

I've not seen tomato plants for sale around here that are a foot tall. The ones I bought last season cost about 89 cents each.

THANX RICH

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

The huge tomato blight of 2009 was mainly caused by commercially grown/sold tomato starts. Folks who started their own were not hit as hard.

For saving money, you can save money if you are pretty good at starting your own seeds and diligent not to let them croak. Plus you might be able to get and start seeds for plants that are not commercially available.

I personally start all my own plants. If you figure you get 30-50 tomato seeds that are good for up to 5 years for the cost of 6 plants, well, you can see the savings.

 

[curly_kate]

I definitely think starting is cheaper, but buying starts is not too expensive. I think the biggest benefit to starting your own is that you have a much wider selection of varieties to choose from. Catalogs offer TONS of different options that even our best garden center does not.

Plus, I think it's fun!

 

[HiDelight]

first off never do all of anything in gardening!!! Mix it up and then you can assure yourself success and fun all summer long

I do both and find that while I am not a super duper saver of money on any of it ..
I do well and did not have to purchase any (but the odd special anything citrus or something I have not grown like cranberries or avocados)
produce for 10 out of 12 months this year!!! how cool is that?

so money was saved because we eat a lot of produce!

I love starting things from seed more and have found if we buy together..as in three of us here ...are splitting a bulk order for snow, sugar snap and garden peas by the lb also onions...
then sharing total cost you can not beat that imho ..

the same thing some plants we will buy one and split the cuttings up off of it like herbs especially you can do really well breaking an herb plant up and sharing it

some things are much cheaper for me to do from seed and some from plants..

all peas beans lettuces greens of all kinds ..beets all of that from seed much more economical for me ..it would make no sense to even think of growing a green of any kind here from a start because you literally toss a seed in your bed and jump back ..same with peas and sunflowers ..fennel ..all those things ...

but for tomatoes ..well it is such huge deal to me and I honestly grow everything I grow out of love but tomatoes ..they are the shining moment in the summer for me and I want a sure thing!
I love the nursery where I buy the plants...and try to reserve some of my efforts to stimulate our economy by purchasing my tomatoes from them... they are a small business ...grow/sell wonderful hardy healthy plants and the prices are so reasonable
I want them to stay in business so I buy from them..and send other gardeners their way as well

I know the exact number of plants I need to supply my fix
so while I do start a few tomatoes from seeds I find for me it is more of a sure thing to buy the plants ..it is good if my self started ones reach the same size as the nursery's plants because then they all fit nicely in their boxes ...


another thing I will probably never start from seed again are onions ..took me two years to grow golfball sized onions and that was just way to long to make it worth it

good luck

 

[boggybranch]

I really enjoy starting from seed. You can buy a pack of seeds cheaper than one "started" plant (usually), you don't have to worry about bringing 'nursery' dieases into your garden, the plants (started from seed) tend to be less stressed (than the gardener....LOL), many more different choices when going with seeds.

I do, however, buy started plants when conditions (sickness, weather, ect.) have hindered seed starting or have had a batch with poor germination (always a remote possibility).

You just gotta do it the way you have to or feel more confident in.

Six of one or half a dozen of the other....it'll work.

 

[obsessed]

I start most of my veggies from seed and do a pretty good job of growing things. But flowers..... never got a flower into the garden... I don't know what the difference is.

 

[journey11]

I can get 6 packs of tomato seedlings at the farm co-op for less than $2, however, I have a very hard time finding the varieties I want. If you start your own, you have a whole wide world of tomatoes open to you that you would never get to enjoy otherwise unless you bought the seed yourself. For the love of a good tomato, I prefer to start mine!

I would say too, that I have found tomatoes to be one of the easiest things to grow from seed. They just want to grow and you'd have to be very neglectful to kill them!

 

[vfem]

While trying to save money, some people (like myself) tried starting everything from seed... to learn several things don't transplant well, several seeds were too complicated for how I had the set up in the house, and ordered way too much seed anyways.

I found a few things directly sown made me a happy woman, like all my root veggies.... beans and corn should go directly in the ground!

Then there were a few complicated ones I could not get right... like only got a handful of tomatoes going, and lost about half of them trying to get them to adapt outside... it was easy to go out and just buy a few started tomato plants and they weren't too expensive because I didn't need 20 of them, only 3. Eggplant and peppers were much easier to just buy started then to try myself... I wasted money on peat pots for 12 eggplants that never sprouted.

Then there were items I found a total waste of money to buy started. Lettuce... just get seed... herbs... seed is easier.... cabbage... again, just get seed!

I would only advise buying these if you are very LATE to plant that seed, and you are buying very few. Probably won't save you any money and may even cost you more in the long run.

Good luck!

http://fromseed.blogspot.com

 

[curly_kate]

I start most of my veggies from seed and do a pretty good job of growing things. But flowers..... never got a flower into the garden... I don't know what the difference is.

I have the exact same problem!! It seems economical to grow flowers from seeds, but I never have any luck. I don't know how old the flowers are that garden stores sell, but mine never look ANYTHING like that!