Our Amish auction friends are already bringing in mums. Usual colors are yellow, burnt orange, maroon, with a few others. Selling at auction for about $2.50 each at this time, one vendor was selling these at $4.50 each.

that sounds right for whole-sale "auction price" as far as retail, here they go for abought $5.50 to $6.00 each in a 8"(mum pot)

still looking for colors that sell better then the others?
realy dont want to get stuck with a color that dosent sell or not have enough of a color that dose..

P.S. thanks myfamilyfarm your always there to respond...

What colors don't sell well, they don't plant much again. To me, the autumn colors seem to sell the best. The vendor that was selling at $4.50 was at a farmers market, but I think he always prices his stuff much cheaper than he could.

I try to help whenever possible.

Marla

white and bronze don't sell for me. White isn't a fall color, and bronze it's too close to the color of a pumpkin, and all my customers seem to want to sit them by a pumpkin. Red, lavender, yellow and purple sell well for me. I don't know why lavender and purple sell well, they aren't fall colors. Decoratives sell better than daisies.

thank you sandy,
have you started selling mums yet? what do you charge for them?

here in new england we just started getting cool nights and the kids go back to school next week.

im going to pick up some mums next week and re-open the stand on Sept 3rd.
I didnt like having to close for August, but by the end of July it was way to slow for what i was selling (annual, perennial, herbs, and hanging baskets).

reopening with mums,potatoes(we are a potatoe farm), pumpkins, corn, squash, straw-bales,herbs, and a some perennials...
P.S. this is the first year for the retail-stand and its not located on the farm.

I was just wondering about buying 4" pots at W*lmart and potting up to 8". How fast do they grow? Do you think they'd double in size in a month?

Bad year for tomatoes, my peppers aren't ripe yet (bell peppers are just thimble-sized!) and I'm trying to figure out what I can bring to Sept markets. Thanks

Ajsmama, I'm glad to hear from you, hope you didn't have much damage.

Thanks Marla - I should post on the Irene thread but I hijacked Jay's Labor Day w/e thread ;-) How's your family?

I changed my mind on mums (I think). I want to put some of the peppers I have in 3qt mum pots in the ground, take out some Thais in late Sept and put those in pots and sell them as ornamentals at the last market. What do you think?

I'm good at saying, what you it cost you? If not much, why not try it. You may just figure out a new item to sell.

I have the pots (from mums, and bigger ones from roses) I bought in the past. I'm going to try to overwinter the Hinkelhatz since that is rare and also late-bearing, cold tolerant type (I'll keep it in house overwinter but figured I wouldn't have problems setting out in May). But the Thai hots are pretty easy to find, I have more seeds, and they're very pretty so thought maybe someone would like them as house plants (and give them an early start in garden if they're interested). I have 8 Thais (and some of the serranos are pretty too). I would just have to buy more potting soil but it's pretty cheap. I did have 1 lady at market ask me what type her Vietnamese neighbor had in her garden b/c they were so pretty - even if they're too hot for Yankee tastes someone like that might buy one as a houseplant.

I sell my mums usually for $6.50 for a 9" pot or 3/17.50, a little higher than most but I normally have really nice ones. I can't see picking them up for around $3 and giving them away. If you're buying them at auction, don't buy too many at once since they have seasons and some of the early ones will finish up before you sell them if you're not careful.
Thai hots sell well for me in 8" mum pans, for anywhere from $5.00 each to 3.00 each depending on how desperate I am not to carry them home that week.

Thanks Sandy - I have 5 Thais in pots already (2 bigger and 3 8" mum pots), it's about time to start thinking about pulling some out of the garden (partial row, if I pull them we can put conduit and plastic over to try to extend season for the serranos, bananas, and others in full rows). Maybe I'll take the 3 smaller pots to market this week and see what happens. Only 3 more markets left!

We have until the end of october, then we have once a month markets indoors on the second saturday of each month. So ours isn't really ever over, but it sure does slow down!