Where do you buy your plants?

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Bill G

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I am looking for a new source of plants. We raised tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and cabbage commercially until the mid/late 1980's. Most of the time we bought from Evans Plant company in Tifton Georgia, A few times from Piedmont. There were times we might order 50,000 plants. I can remember years in which we would get 1 million plants in on a semi but that was to divide among several large operations in the community. Those days are all long gone and will never return.

My question is where are you getting small amounts of plants today. I have ordered small batches (500-1000) from Evans over the years and was happy. It seems Evans has changed hands and in doing so things have changed. The plants I ordered last year were very small and not hearty at all. I just checked their website and they are not even pricing plants for this year yet. I looked up Piedmont and they are now just selling single plants for $4. There still has to be some companies selling bare root vegetable plants. I realize many folks start there own but that is not feasible for me. I am hoping some fine folks have some sources of getting good quality plants. When I order plants I am not looking to get a 3-4 inch plant. We no longer use the mechanical Holland setters but for gosh sakes if I had wanted to with the last batch I got it would not have been possible
 
I help out a friend each spring with his greenhouse. I can grow as much as I want and also can take a share of what he is growing. It's a lot of work planting and caring for the plants, and the whole place is forced air wood heated

Think about how much wood late winter early spring in New England.....


1 greenhouse inside.JPG1 greenhous.JPG1 greenhouse plant starts.JPGDSC_0087.JPGDSC_0085.JPGDSC_0086.JPG1 greenhouse furnace.JPG
 
I talked with County Farm Plant and they will not ship. They said to called Oelschig's. I did so and they said to try Titan Farms. Titan only sells vegetables and said to call Cold Creek nursery. Cold Creek does not ship. It seems no one wants to ship bare root plants. I called Piedmont in South Carolina. What a great man. We talked for an hour. He could not help. It turns out the Piedmont plant company we used to buy from was in Alabama and has no relation to them. They are long out of business. He suggest Bonnie plants so that is next on the list.
 
I talked with County Farm Plant and they will not ship. They said to called Oelschig's. I did so and they said to try Titan Farms. Titan only sells vegetables and said to call Cold Creek nursery. Cold Creek does not ship. It seems no one wants to ship bare root plants. I called Piedmont in South Carolina. What a great man. We talked for an hour. He could not help. It turns out the Piedmont plant company we used to buy from was in Alabama and has no relation to them. They are long out of business. He suggest Bonnie plants so that is next on the list.
Just curious Bill. Why do you want bareroot plants and what types?
 
I'm guessing the volume of plants that he gets, it's a bunch cheaper $$ wise getting them bare-root.
Yeah I understand that, but he mentioned he didn't have time to start his own,making me assume it's lower volume. Either way, looking local would be the first step. Bare root kinda went the way of the dodo bird from what I could find.
 
Yeah I understand that, but he mentioned he didn't have time to start his own,making me assume it's lower volume. Either way, looking local would be the first step. Bare root kinda went the way of the dodo bird from what I could find.
I don't know anyone that uses bareroot plants. Plants in trays went through the roof this year. A 72 count tray of peppers is $18-20. I ordered 12 trays.
 
I am looking for a new source of plants. We raised tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and cabbage commercially until the mid/late 1980's. Most of the time we bought from Evans Plant company in Tifton Georgia, A few times from Piedmont. There were times we might order 50,000 plants. I can remember years in which we would get 1 million plants in on a semi but that was to divide among several large operations in the community. Those days are all long gone and will never return.

My question is where are you getting small amounts of plants today. I have ordered small batches (500-1000) from Evans over the years and was happy. It seems Evans has changed hands and in doing so things have changed. The plants I ordered last year were very small and not hearty at all. I just checked their website and they are not even pricing plants for this year yet. I looked up Piedmont and they are now just selling single plants for $4. There still has to be some companies selling bare root vegetable plants. I realize many folks start there own but that is not feasible for me. I am hoping some fine folks have some sources of getting good quality plants. When I order plants I am not looking to get a 3-4 inch plant. We no longer use the mechanical Holland setters but for gosh sakes if I had wanted to with the last batch I got it would not have been possible
what is the numbers count u are needing... today?
 
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