Ultimate Guide to Get Cheap Bedding Plants!
30 Year Eastern Market Guru - Tells How To Find The Best Flower Deals!
Top 15 Tips For Getting Eastern Market Garden Flowers For Less!
TIP 1 GREENHOUSES TIP 2 FUNDRAISERS TIP 3 BAD WEATHER TIP 4 LATE IN DAY TIP 5 END OF SEASON TIP 6 GROUPS TIP 7 LANDSCAPER PURCHASE TIP 8 ROADSIDE STANDS TIP 9 PLANT COUNT TIP 10 DISTRESSED PLANTS TIP 11 TWO FOR ONE TIP 12 PLUG CULTURES TIP 13 EARLY MORNINGS TIP 14 OVER PRODUCTION TIP 15 HOSTAS TIP 16 SEEDS TIP 17 GERMINATION STEPS 1-2-3
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ABOUT - FLOWER GEEKS GUIDE TO SAVING MONEYsimple tips
could save you $100 this year alone. (Jump straight to Tips below at anytime.)
USING TIP 9 ALONE COULD EASILY SAVE YOU 50-80%!
Paying high prices for garden flowering plants can become a thing of the past.
SAVING TIPS flower day at the eastern market.
STARTING FROM SEED VS BUYING
HOW? SEEDS ARE CHEAP
PLUG CULTURE
GERMINATION - EASY AS 1-2-3
I grabbed one of those empty clear plastic egg containers I kept after using all the eggs—these things are miniature greenhouses.
I fill the twelve cells of an old plastic fruit container with soil,
inserted some collard seed,
added a little water–spray & mist the soil every few days—just make sure the soil doesn’t totally dry out.
You don’t need to watch the seeds every day or several times a day.
Light does not become relevant until seedlings break through the soil,
then move your homemade container greenhouse to a lighted window sill or provide artificial lighting.
FLUORESCENT LIGHTING
LINKS TO GET YOU STARTED: Starting Seeds Outdoor - MSU Ext
Seed Germination Basics Indoors - MSU Ext
FROST DANGER TO PLANTS? Solution? Sprinklers –I observed how farmers with acres of open fields full of garden plants they simply used a special protective cloth to cover their gardening plants.
I noticed them using sprinklers to wash the frost right off the garden plants—must be done just before sunrise and the outdoor plants do not get damaged from frost. You see, it is not the frost that dam- ages the leaves, it is the reaction of sunlight combined with the freezing that causes the frost damage.
Wash off the frost before sunrise and...presto no frost damage.
This Tip works on flowers and vegetable plants also.
In the future, you need not panic at a frost alert warning.
Don’t lose all your flowers, you can do the same thing at home, just use your hose to wash off any frost off all your garden and plants in one easy spray of the hose before sunrise.
Eastern Market
More Saving Tools
Flowering Bedding Plants Eastern Market
100 Ways to Get Bedding Plants
Greenhouses,
FUNDRAISERS
TIP 2 Local Flower Fund-raisers
One very rainy day occasion, I drove by a school that ran an annual ower sale fund raiser. It was a gloomy rainy day; overcast and clouds killed the ower buying mood. I stopped by and chatted with the participants, giving honest compliments on all the great looking plants they had on display. There were lots of backyard hostas and other expensive perennials. I had a good time talking with the event hosts. I started to buy a couple of items, but wait! This moment represents an opportunity for bargains, deals, and discounts! I estimated there was several hundred dollars worth of retail inventory of perennial plants, tulips, hostas several varieties, pachysandra, lilies, black-eyed Susan’s, asters, lavender, and others. It was near the end of the evening, rainy, and gloomy. I didn’t have my truck but made an offer to buy the remaining inventory for $200 if the guy with the pickup truck will take all this stuff to my house. They gladly accepted the offer because nobody wanted to load all those muddy plants back into their vehicles.
I gladly tipped the driver $20 for a ten-minute drive.
Reminder - Flower Searching Routine
Drive around, check for street banners, small town local papers, make Local Flower Fund Raisers part of your flower hunting routine.
Cash Talks - Bargains, Deals, Discounts
Quantities
BAD WEATHER EQUALS BARGAINS
TIP 3 Rain Means Opportunity
Get the best deals during cold, rainy, or excessive hot weather.
Bad Weather Bargains
Extended bad weather of consecutive heat and rain can present the opportunity for bedding plant bargains, deals, and discounts. Several successive hot days can cause plants to grow rapidly, stretch, and become root bound in those small plastic cells. A small retailer or commercial growers are the best candidates for discount negotiations. Their options are limited as to how to recoup their investment in these flats; run a mower over the flats if on the ground (this crude process increase the risk of damaging some flats and leaving plants tattered, and unsightly for several days un- til they grow new foliage. Options 2; staff must hand prune by pinching each plant back a couple of inches, and still must wait till plants sprout new foliage. In these instances,
A cash discount offer of $2.00-$5.00 for 20-50 flats is a serious consideration because it provides the opportunity for the retailer to replace a sure loss instantly re-coup the money spent for those particular flats (“it’s as though I never bought those flats in the first place.”). They are happy to have that cash back in their pocket so they could go and purchase 20-50 more fresh gardening flowering plants that they can retail for top dollar.
LATE IN THE DAY
Tip 4 End of Day
Everybody should know this one; late in the day bedding plant bargains, deals, and discounts. Local farmers hate to re-load flats back on the truck. So just wait around or arrive at the end of the day looking for a farmer loading the truck. Compliment how pretty the flowers look and offer to buy 10-50 flats for $5-8 depending on the type of flats; begonias, impatiens, usually gets top dollar. Remember, we are talking about premium flowers, not damaged. Keep an eye out for those expensive vinca vines, and spikes.
END OF SEASON
Tip 5 End of Season
Everybody should know this one as well; the end of season bedding plant bargains abound. Local retailers, farmers, and commercial growers rather get rid of bedding plant inventory than maintain the merchandise. With cash in hand, and a sincere com- compliment make the discount offer, $100-$200 bucks for remaining inventory(make sure most are a healthy amount of perennials worth $400-500. So just wait around until the end of the season & evening looking for the right opportunity, at the right seller to get the best bedding plant bargains, deals, and discounts.
GROUPS, NEIGHBORHOODS
TIP 6 Groups, Families, Organizations
It is possible to approach a local retailer or commercial greenhouse with cash in hand, with a sincere offer, to bulk buy plants for groups or neighborhood organization. 100-200 flats will get the attention of any serious retailer or greenhouse grower, with the potential opportunity for a $2-4 dollar discount off each at. Keep an eye out for good hanging baskets to throw in the mix.
LANDSCAPER TO PURCHASE
TIP 7 Landscaper to Purchase
Many of your landscapers have relationships with local greenhouse or garden centers. This can provide opportunity for your lawn maintenance person to make bedding plant purchases at discounts prices. Keep an eye out for growing medium, and organic dirt to throw into the discount mix.
ROADSIDE STANDS
TIP 8 Search For More Money Technique
Offer a great opportunity for bargains, deals, and discounts.
Over the years many customers use this technique I’m about to disclose on me at my small garden center. It took me years to notice the Effects of this approach. Whether their actions were intentional or natural, it worked–it got them a big dis- count.
A customer walks the yard selecting all their bedding plants, hanging baskets, and vegetable plants–gathering them into one spot. At the same time they are complimenting how beautiful all the flowers look.
After collecting all their flower products, I came over to write them up, in most cases, give them their bill let’s say for $120.
Here’s where their strategy begins. They might respond with something like... “that’s not bad!” They hand me $90 and start fishing around in purses or pockets for the balance. They come up with an extra $10 or so; after a few minutes of more frantic-like searching, I absolve them of their obligation...” that’s enough, I’ll get the rest next time–of course I never intend to.” These same old customers used the same old trick on me every year. They always managed to get an extra $2.00 knock off the cost of each at every year without asking. It was fun, these rare customers were both pleasant, and skillful at getting the best deal. Some were occasionally great tippers.
Also, their sincere smiles & compliments went a long way.
PLANT COUNT
TIP 9 Check Plant | Cell Count, 18, 36s, 48s?
Forty ears ago, a flat of plants contained a total of 96 plants. Over time that count slowly reduced from 96 plants per at down to 54 plants per at, then 48 plants, 36 plants, 24’s then down to 18 plants and at most big box stores, 12 only plants. It is not uncommon to find a measly six 4” pots sold as a flat in today’s market for a whopping $24 or $4/plant!
LITERALLY GET 2 FLATS FOR PRICE OF 1
You can gain an immediate 50% savings simply by observation. Don’t buy 18, 24 plants when you can get 48
PLUG CULTURE
TIP 12 Plug Can Lower Bedding Plant Costs
Surround your entire house with highest quality garden plants and flowers this year. You don’t need to spend several months germinating your own plants; you can jump weeks ahead or start later in the year and still get a full garden of bedding, and vegetable plants. How? Plug culture!
Commercial Greenhouse Growers utilize this amazing method of nishing bedding plants to get an advantage during the cool weather months. These plants come in weird at sizes totally unfamiliar to the gardening public. They range in plant count from 36 cells, 128, 162, 288, and 512 cells/plants! Yep 512! That’s like Six Flats of 48s, Twelve Flats of 24s.
Let’s use the 512 plant example for savings:
512 x .05(cost of each plant) = $25.60 per plug flat!
512 plugs = 10.5 flats (of 48s) = $2.40 per flat!
Most commercial plug growers will Airship plugs by the box to the local airport; you arrive at the airfreight terminal, pick up your shipment. Or, delivered home.
Order your plugs online if you can’t find plugs at your local greenhouses. It helps to have a business to order direct from wholesale plug growers.
Buy by the Box & (Or Inquire at Your Local Greenhouse to buy single trays.)
EARLY MORNINGS
TIP 13 Early Morning Flower Buying
Retailers, landscapers, co-ops, apartment managers, small roadside nursery buyers are all walking the market. They come in extended 48-foot long semi-trucks down to vans, and station wagons. Early morning is the best opportunity to grab 10-20 premium flats, and hanging baskets at wholesale prices. Just walk up, pick out your products, pay the grower/vendor.
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