If you have the ability, do a flower stand in front of your home. It is surprising how much a humble flower stand can bring in with no man power, just an honour cash box. For example. My first year I grew 60 dinnerplate dahlias only. I purchased a garden wagon with sides, an umbrella stand and umbrella. Poster board for signage and asked my friend for all their empty drink cans. I put 8 plastic buckets into the wagon with 4 drink cans inside each bucket. Each drink can held 1 dinnerplate dahlia cut flower for a maximum total of 32 flowers, although it was usually less as that became too crowded. I sold the single stems for $4 each or 3 for $10 and marketed them as organically grown so the recycled drink cans made sense as a low impact container. In the 3 months the dinnerplates where blooming I brought in $3200 from these single stem sales. It is important to note that dinnerplate dahlias are huge and worth the money. They are also not sold at florists and while so many people say the vase life is really short, my customers said they got an average of 6-8 days which is perfect for weekly sales AND I don't bother with the expense of flower food.

I love that you don’t shy from the financial aspect of flower farming!

This is what most new cut flower farers don't think about. Hence why we hear so much about them still working their 9-5 jobs. This is my 1st year flower farming and my other business is fronting the costs, plus a little bit of help from my friends. (ie: free land to grow it on and word of mouth). I also decided to sell some of my extra seedlings, because yeah, I am a seedaholic, but I can grow stuff so before I can even plant out I have sold $500 in seedlings of only 2 varieties. Word of mouth, letting people know what you are doing. I have 3 businesses that are wanting cut flower bouquets to sell in their shops. I have spent maybe $2000 so far but I am a hustler and super frugal. And just in 15 CSA's /wk / 17 weeks I am bringing in over $5000 for the season. It can be done but don't grow faster than you should, especially if you have never grown plants before

Thanks for talking about the financial aspect of things. Too many flower farmers on KZfaq are showing seed hauls that could get FOMO buyers get into debt before even starting. I liked and subscribed to your videos. ☺️ Also, Happy Lunar New Year 🧧! 🎉

Ok..OK... where were you when I was getting started!?! 😅 Yep.. I spent waaayyyy to much my first year. Enjoyed your video. 🙂

Hi Jessie - new subscriber here. Just wanted to commend you on doing a great job sharing your journey! My husband and I will be growing cut flowers for the first time this year and your videos have been helpful so far! I’m also a new mom (baby girl is now 9 months) with a passion to see read awareness of sustainability. It’s refreshing to “meet” someone of similar interests and in a similar season of life. Take care! Lydia Sweet Kings Garden

This video is so good! Thanks for breaking down the financials for flower farming. I'm currently not selling my flowers, but this was helpful in just planning my garden budget. I wish you a ton of luck!

Hey, I just started my upick flower farm last year and it all added up quickly to over 5 figures. If you need extra help I found that Facebook gardening groups in my area ppl were willing to trade their service for bouquets. For example, this weekend I am having 8 people help me plant in my annuals. Some I am paying but some just want a bouquet in return. I also had a couple people willing to help out without any compensation, there are kind people out there! Good luck with your farm!

You are an angel, no one breaks it down like this, which is what I was doing in a gsheet XD

My farmers market is only $75 for the year! Whoo hoo!

Brilliant video

Thanks so much for addressing this almost taboo subject. The practicality of it is vital to be successful!

Excellent (and realistic) video breaking down the costs.

I found this video very helpful. Thank you.

I am so grateful you made this video ... I can not wait to see more. I would love to learn about any experience you have selling to florist also and pricing ideas.

new subscriber! really enjoying this first video i stumbled across! love your realistic approach and how you are breaking this down. last year was my first year technically with a business and i wasn't taking it seriously - this will be my first year including flowers at the farm and im pumped! thank you for breaking this down. my bookkeeper thanks you ;)

This is such good info! I love how your brain works & breaks this all down.

Thank you for mentioning booth fees! So many great points.

Hey I have to tell you ... my local bakery grocery store was more than happy to give me there white buckets. I was so shy to ask, but after thinking of how much $ it would cost not to ask -- I did and I was so happy. They pails are so nice!

Love how you talk about the financial part of Flower Farming... I am just looking forward to growing, eventually selling.. I'm nervous to start but everyone needs a starting point, Right..

Very well done. Jessie at Living on a Prayer Flower Farm says herself that it is ridiculous how much money she spent. I would like to add that the costs you mention are variable according to the size of the property being cultivated for the farm. You might want to reconsider your use of "sleeves" and instead get the squares. Those are easier to work with and can be sized for your bouquet. You can buy them in bundles of 500 at quite a few places (Johnny's is one). I thought I was going to spend about $1500, but then I splurged and got raised beds rather than dump on the ground. Another cost many people don't factor in is licenses and permits. Most states require an Agricultural license ($165), which gets renewed annually. Many also require a florist license and possibly State and City licenses. Those can easily add up to $500 annually.

Thankyou for this . It certainly concentrates the mind .

making your own compost would be a great cost saving, you can utilise your kitchen scraps, any green waste from the farm, all pruning, etc. you can get wood chipping dumped by tree surgery companies, can collect manure from stables very cheaply or free. councils produce compost and sell it cheaply. also don’t overlook collecting your own seeds and not buying seeds, majority of annual flowers have viable seeds and tons of it, one zinnia flower will give you near hundred seeds. just need to make sure its not F1 hybrid.

Finally got it to work. Love your videos

Good content and very important side of any business of what you can profit now, not a five years from now. There are expenses “ must have” and “ nice to have”. I think that you will double your estimated revenue projections :)

Also business fees, licensing, insurance, etc. really can be costly too!

Such a good video,

This is great!!

Thank you so much for your financial aspect of growing a flower farm. Most people do the "growing" videos really well but not so much about the money/accounting side of it. Do you have any about accounting? Most of us can grow but we like it outside rather than inside diligently entering all of our numbers (how dull)!

I have seeds that are from 2019 and have 100 % germination.. every issue I have had is user error.

I might have missed this but do you plan on using landscape fabric for planting and if not do you have a secret to deal with weeds? I think weeding will take so much time!

you seem so passionate about business but I have to tell you as someone with over a decade in flowers and 20 years of major retail business experience, you are greatly overestimating sales. The reason so few flower farms make money is that while the idea of becoming a flower farmer sells well, the demand for flowers doesn't align with the idea. I do wish you all the best and hope you'll find other outlets to sell your flowers but it is a very hard thing to do profitably.

Would you do bouquets on door dash ? I keep seeing the ad lol

Thank you for sharing your numbers and knowledge. My day job is as a financial assistant and I am analytical by nature. How many acres will you be farming on?

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What is a csa?