6 Ways to Grow More Tulips on a Budget
Does growing your flower farm seem impossibly difficult? Is it hard to imagine ordering bulbs in bulk?
We hear this concern from a number of new growers each season and, quite frankly, once upon a time, we were in the same situation, too! Because we started as a small start up flower farm, we know the feeling. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you work to grow your business.
The bulbs you order for next season should match the growth you want/expect next season. If your goal is to sell a certain number MORE of flower subscriptions or to join a new farmer’s market or to sell more wedding jobs - you’ll need more flowers to make any one of those things happen. So, make some thoughtful projections (don’t go crazy) and plan your bulb order accordingly. Our first order of tulip bulbs was for 6 crates (3,000) bulbs.
Don’t be put off by the minimum quantity of bulbs (500) in a single crate order. Wholesale tulip bulbs are sold by the crate, unmixed. We sometimes hear requests for mixes or smaller quantities. But those kinds of additional services and packaging will drive up prices. If you’re intimidated by the quantity of bulbs in a crate consider this: one crate of 500 tulip bulbs results in roughly 50 bunches of tulips. If you sold those flowers over 3 weeks, thats about 16-17 bunches per week. Or- if you sold them at two farmer’s markets, you’d have only 25 bunches per market and nothing left to offer for holiday sales (like Valentine’s Day, International Women’s Day, Easter, or Mother’s Day) or for other special events in your community like graduations, dance recitals, school plays, etc.
Consider bulbs sales! A great way to be able to order more tulip varieties is to offer a retail bulb sale to your community/regular flower customers. Determine which portion of bulbs you need to sell off at retail prices (about $20 for 10 bulbs) in order to cover your bulb bills. Offer those bulbs to the public. This way, you can be more confident entering the winter, knowing that all sales from your cut flowers in the spring are going straight to the bank!
Choose a naturally long season of flowers. For whichever plants you’re considering do a little research and figure out which varieties bloom earlier than others. For example: Instead of purchasing all single early tulips, intentionally order some single early, single late, double early, double late, and mid-season blooming tulips. This is the simplest means of season extension and it only makes sense to broaden your growing season as much as possible.
Practice bulb forcing. Field grown tulips can be susceptible to unpredictable weather/climate changes. Typically, a field of tulips (if it includes early, mid-season, and late varieties) will be in bloom for about 3 weeks. But a proper bulb forcing regimen can provide cut flowers for months on end. Our earliest tulips begin blooming in early to mid December and they continue through to about mid May. Be spreading out our growing practice over a longer period of time we significantly lower the chance of the waste we see when tulips blow open in field plantings with unseasonably warm weather. For a detailed course of study in tulip forcing, we recommend The Tulip Workshop.
Place a group order. Work as a team with other growers and have one person submit a larger order on behalf of the group. When the bulbs arrive they can even be split up so that each grower has a chance to try each variety on the order. This is a nice way to sample different kinds of flowers and learn your preferences before placing your own first big order. Some helpful tips: Choose a single person to be responsible for the order submission, payment, and substitution, and shipping choices. It’s not reasonable to ask your bulb company to split payments, divide shipments, poll the group about substitution choices, etc. If you can choose a leader for your group and trust them to do the job well, everyone can benefit from a group order.
Have a question? Let us know in the comments below. We’ll do out best to help you.
Best,
The Team at Ampersand Bulb Co.