Selling plants?

[sewer rat]

Calcs for growing 3" pot veg for sale;
1. Cost of 3" pot (bought in bulk commercially) 2p
2. Cost of Compost (ditto) £2.74 per 75 litres for compost, filling 330 pots (allowance for wastage built in) works out at approx 1p per pot.
3. Cost of seed ( also bought commercially) - variable, from negligible to 32p per seed, say an average of 2p per seed.
3. Cost of photo labels - 3p per label
5. Cost of carry / shuttle trays - 3p (returnable from GC)

This gives me a total cost of 11p per plant. But remember, 3p of that is for the shuttle/carry trays, which can be re-used. Seed Costs vary from negligible (lettuce, herbs etc) to 32p (cucumber).

Wholesale, I will get between 40p and 80p per plant or tray of 12 cells, if I sell them myself at Farmers Markets etc, they will retail at £1 - £1.25 per pot or pack of 12.

[NOG]

no not necessarily. There is an earnings threshold before you have to make any declaration. I doubt the scale that OWG is talking about would go anywhere near this.

Arr but you now have to declere yourself self-employed.

[Alice]

Hello Wizer, I'm a bit defeated by the arithmetic here. I make the cost of your 3 litre pots 20p each (not 2p) but I can't think what to sell in pots that size - trees maybe. Most plants at the baby stage are fine in 3 or 4" pots - so a lot less compost required. I think Rat has the costing about right.

[WiZeR]

I apologise, as I said above I worked it out a little quickly. My intention was to get OWG thinking about the costs involved with selling plants to the public. It was not meant to discourage. The 3ltr pot was basically used as it was the first pot I found with an indication of the amount of soil it held.

[smallblueplanet]

Hello Wizer, I'm a bit defeated by the arithmetic here. I make the cost of your 3 litre pots 20p each (not 2p)....

I thought it was only me that could add up! LOL!

If you're only using up 'left-overs' this year OWG its worth trying it to see how it goes? Who will do the plant watering/care?

[lyndap]

Yes, you have to register with inland rev and claim an exemption certificate,if your not expecting to earn up to a certain amount.

[SimonCole]

The solution is to have a stall outside your sister's shop run by you. She can watch over it for you. I don't think you can sell in the same shop without declaring it.
Plus, as stated above, you need to make sure your earnings don't exceed a certain amount, or you pay tax.

[OverWyreGrower]

Oh! This is all so complicated! We were only thinking of selling a few plants (since we've got 25 pepper seedlings growing away merrily)...

Re plant care/water... since my sister is at the shop every day (has animals to feed etc) she'd water them for us.

[Flummery]

Would you need to register if you sold at a car boot sale?

[bramble]

I think thats a very good idea and as far as I am aware, there is no need to register.Unless anyone else knows otherwise.