Thinking they were $15-16 last year.
Where do you buy your plants?
- Thread starter Bill G
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Guess that's not terrible increase then.Thinking they were $15-16 last year.
I do not have anything against them. It is simply a supply issue. They cannot supply what I am looking for.
I phoned three local nurseries Tuesday.
The firsts said it was too late in the year to seed peppers that will reach any decent size.
The second said she does not seed any peppers. She orders all of them as plugs and said it was too late to order any more plugs. She said last year's price was $15/48ct
The third is one just 6 miles away. She said the same thing. She does not seed any and buys plugs. She also agree with the other person in the fact that it was too late to order plugs. She said last year's price was $21/48ct
I called Bonnie's and it goes to a call center in India.that beats Bonnie's $3.95/Lowes for a tomato plant....
Nursery's here do not give any real discounts. If they did folks would pool together and buy in bulk. They also do not really discount much at the end of season as then folks would just wait to buy then.
I gave them a call but they could not help.
Bill are you close to Arthur IL.?
I assume you are hand planting those. If I could find a source of quality bare root plants I was considering going larger and getting out the old Holland transplanter for nostalgia. My sons have never had the pleasure of "riding" the tomato setter. It was all two people could do to keep up on a single row unit pulled by a AC WD as slow as it could go. At the end when folks were forced by Heinz to go to mechanical harvest the setter/transplanters were 6 rows. They were configured as 3 double rows in a raised bed. It took 12 people to run and it was pulled by a JD 4440.
Arthur is a bit south of Champaign/Urbana. It is about 4 hrs away and a bit west of the Indiana line. I am on the Iowa line right on the river. As I type this I look across to Iowa. It is not that far but not that close either
We use a mechanical transplanter. That's the brand. Just a 1 row model. Probably similar to your tomato setter.
I'm trying to find an Amish produce auction near you. They started them here near Lancaster 40 years ago and now they have spread out across the country. They sell lots of vegetable plants in the spring. Google Iowa produce auctions. Looks like several.Arthur is a bit south of Champaign/Urbana. It is about 4 hrs away and a bit west of the Indiana line. I am on the Iowa line right on the river. As I type this I look across to Iowa. It is not that far but not that close either
Parents Amish neighbor transplanter contraption does 2 rows... takes a Mule and a horse to pull it and 4 kids to tend it. Kinda funny watching them plant. 1 kid running the Mule and horse, 2 kids planting, one kid running back and forth with flats to jeep the 2 planting busy.
That is very similar. Ours is much older and is a pull type but the design is the same. When Grandpa bought the last one the only 3pt hitch tractor we had was a Ford 9N. Holland kept the same design for years. There is no reason to change what works.
We have a large Amish area about 50-60 miles west into Kalona Iowa. As you well know it is a interesting mixture of great folks. You have the traditional Amish that will not use a phone. You the ones that use the community phone, and those that have "secret cell phones". In addition there are the Mennonite. As far as I know they have phones and drive. After them are the Apostolic. They are very interesting. Up until a few weeks back I had not had much contact with them in 21 years. Years ago I taught High School Agriculture/FFA in a heavily populated Apostolic community. They are great folks but they definitely have some strong beliefs. My wife worked at a 1200 sow unit ran by them. I know they are getting modern as several weeks back a former student texted me and we talked for 3 hours on the phone.
As for the produce auctions Yoder's in Frytown IA used to run one. I called them and they are strictly doing farm toys now. She said there is an Amish group running one in Kalona (4 miles away) but she had no information on it. I found that hard to believe but I did not push as I got a sense there may have been some bad blood. I called the cattle sale barn and the woman there did not have any info either. I googled searched and found a link to a Facebook page about one in Kalona. https://www.facebook.com/TwinCountyProduceAuction/about
I am pretty sure this is the one. I called and left a voice mail. I am sure they will call back. If they do not I will write them a letter. I know letters are a dead item for most today but I still write them.
I'll try and get links when I get on the puter in the morning. Looks like Bloomfield, Elma and Lamoni have auctions.
I am familiar with Bloomfield There is a very crooked auctioneer down there (not Amish). It is about 2hrs 30 minutes. I have not been to Lamoni. It is south of Des Moines and about 4 hrs. I have not heard of Elma but in looking it is about 3hrs 30 minutes north up near the Minnesota border. That could be a fun ride.
Bill, look in Wisconsin too, there's a number of Amish that are moving to Wi. There is a good sized Amish community near me around the Nappanee, Indiana, then an even larger one near Shipshewana, IN. There is a produce auction in the Nappanee/Bremen/Wakarusa Indiana area too.
I might have to look up there. There are Amish in southwest Wisconsin. I am two hours south of the tri-state corner (Iowa/Illinois/Wisconsin) and have spent a ton of time up there over the last 25 years. For many years I raced vintage saws at the Baraboo show. There are not many towns around that corner I have not been through. I see there is an auction in Platteville which is 2.5 hrs. I will keep plugging away at it.
It looks like Platteville does sell bedding plants. They are closed now but will be open Friday. I will phone then.
https://platteville-produce-auction.business.site/?utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=referral
It looks like Platteville does sell bedding plants. They are closed now but will be open Friday. I will phone then.
https://platteville-produce-auction.business.site/?utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=referral
I couldn't find any links to any auctions near you Bill. My guess is most of the auctions won't have any vegetable plants other than cole crops and lettuce till early April. Ours usually starts out with flowers like pansies and such.
I dont believe that crap its to late to start peppers. Its two months away from planting after frost. Maybe even longer in Ill. Any ways, I just started my peppers and tomatos yesterday. Mine are inside a closed building under lights. Most around havent even started yet. As for buying bulk plants, you havent said what kind or how many you are looking for. Kind of makes it hard to search for something when you dont know what you are looking for. Most of the green houses around here are small. Bonnie on the other hand has large green houses stuck in every valley. One small green house can handle a 1000 plants, my suggestion is to find a small grower and make a deal for every how many plants you want and see if they will be able to accomidate your request. If you want enough plants to fill a small green house, I am sure someone would be willing to start your plants for you.
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