How to decipher a wholesale price sheet (& where to find weekly public wholesale pricing)

Wholesale pricing sheets. Might as well be Greek! That’s how I felt the first time I opened one. Where is the legend? What does all this shorthand mean??
In this video, we answer 3 questions:
1) Where can I get a wholesale price sheet (or sell sheet as I call it)
2) How do I read it? We will use Boston Ornamental Terminal’s sell sheet as an example
3) How do I use this sheet to make smart business decisions?
Weekly USDA release of Boston Ornamental Terminal prices: www.ams.usda.g...
Cornell University provides an archive of weekly Boston Ornamental Terminal prices: usda.library.c...
Lancaster Farming’s amazing blog post on all of those Country and State abbreviations! A lifesaver!! www.lancasterf...

[@k.millen4046]

Hi Jessica, Thank you for your amazing content. I have definitely put the cart before the horse in starting my flower farm. Your business advice /tips are easy to follow and will help me organize the business side of the farm better. Thank you again, please keep the info pumping.

[@bareflowerfarm]

Absolutely! It’s totally human nature to put the cart before the horse and sometimes I think that’s better than waiting forever to even start! Glad this is content is helping you get started 🙂

[@nataliesala7212]

The Netherlands has invested extensively into greenhouses, and irrigation so I think the ranunculus prices are reflective of them being able to temperature control/ water control their greenhouses to produce cold-sensitive bulbs/corms year-round compared to other places.

[@bareflowerfarm]

This makes a lot of sense! Thx!!

[@sarahlovesdonuts9601]

I was going to comment that France doesn’t have big commercial greenhouses. They naturally, in many regions, have much longer growing seasons outside. It seems like big Chateaux grow flowers to help supplement property upkeep/maintenance, vine, tourism etc.

[@brendarosenau5880]

This video was amazing! 😳 As a novice flower farmer, I have been looking for resources such as this. 🧐 You did a great job of explaining many of the questions I have in reading the pricing report. Many many many thank you’s!😉

[@bareflowerfarm]

So glad this is helpful and thank you for taking the time to give this feedback!

[@BBC12oz]

Geoff and Tracey from The Flower Farm at Homer’s Bay Art & Garden here. We’re second year flower farmers and have been drinking from a fire hose for all kinds of content. This information is very insightful and useful. We’ll be visiting you often.

[@bareflowerfarm]

I’m so glad to hear this! Best of luck to you in your second year! How was your year 1?

[@EvelynM-vlogs]

I believe the Feb. 8th blip in long parrot tulips is directly related to Valentine's Day demand. Also, as a side note, I found that my 1 gallon (3) peony tulips for $10/pot would sell instantly, this year that's the tulip I'm sticking with. Great vlog. I had no idea how to read a wholesale sheet - now I do.

[@bareflowerfarm]

Ah yes, that would make sense with Valentine's Day and the tulips though interestingly, some rose stem prices went up (though it seems like market demand has consistently been "higher" for roses). Very interesting with the Peony Tulips. What kind of pot do you use (ie material)? That's quite a great ROI!

[@EvelynM-vlogs]

@@bareflowerfarm I bought 500 used 1 gallon black plastic pots from a local rhododendron wholesaler. This means I only paid 50 cents per pot - excellent price. They were originally found by a friend for me on Facebook Marketplace, but I will direct contact them each year myself. I also make my own soil and advertise everything as organically grown so that people overlook the non-nursery soil aspect. This means no soil cost. I don't, however buy wholesale which means I pay more but will only pay less than $4.50 for 3 bulbs thereby at least at a minimum, recovering my costs x2. While this pays my labour, it does not give me any additional profit but does create the natural weekly flow to my roadside wagon at an early stage for later, more profitable sales. The bulbs lead into dahlia tuber sales, which have no upfront costs at all. In fact, the tubers are grown in the bottom of milk containers with holes punched in. They are sold as presprouted and ready to plant outdoors and people love that they don't have to do anything in advance. Those too go for $10 each.

[@bareflowerfarm]

Pretty smart. Having blooms early in the season, especially if you can recover costs is a great strategy to get people to come back for more later and buy things that are the true money makers. In my state (NJ), I would need to apply for a license to sell anything in pots so it's out of question this year. But great idea none the less!

[@EvelynM-vlogs]

@@bareflowerfarm I live in BC, Canada, so yes, rules would be different.

[@martiee6882]

Thank you for everything you are doing!

[@traceyrigney8742]

Thank you

[@thecakepopsistars]

incredibly enlightening information Jessie, thank you so very much! I've been trying to search up a similar reference sheet for Toronto Canada

[@bareflowerfarm]

Ahh I am of no help for ex-US :(. I'm sure all of the terminology is also different too. I found alot of the terminology on our USDA website, maybe there's an equivalent for Canada?

[@thecakepopsistars]

@@bareflowerfarm thanks for your reply💗 my search continues

[@cindyseeley2]

Brilliant content as always. I'm new to flower growing and I have an interested florist and pricing is so important. I want to ensure a fair price for both of us x

[@bareflowerfarm]

Absolutely! Glad this was helpful ☺️

[@Sullivan_Owen]

NL doesn't necessarily mean that the flower was grown there, the global auction house FloraHolland is a major exporter of flowers from Europe.

[@bareflowerfarm]

I've actually been trying to research this and from my understanding, USDA classifies "country of origin" as the country in which the plant was harvested. This pertains to their "COOL" or Country of Origin Labeling regulations, but I have yet to read anywhere whether this is applicable to their produce reports like Boston Ornamental Terminal. If you have seen otherwise, would love to see/read on it!

[@Sullivan_Owen]

@@bareflowerfarm COOL from USDA does not apply to cut flowers, Cut flowers are regulated separately and procedures vary based on the country shipping the products. the Netherlands is the worlds flower market, they have procedures for all flowers coming in to auction and can export easily. The risks with flowers are mostly limited to pests and bacteria. Separately from the USDA, I know where my flowers come from and have spent a lot of time with growers around the world. NL doesn’t export a lot of anemone or ranunculus as cut flowers. they produce the corms and bulbs which are also not regulated the same way as cut flowers. NL does ship out cut anemones and ranunculus from France and Italy, I’m sure some are grown there but they are not a big export.

[@amyrickford9174]

Any tips on how to price greenery? This was awesome, thanks and very helpful.

[@msplantscapes]

Again thanks for your videos. Much appreciated since I am new to flower growing in quantity. You mention a farm in Vermont where they are offering a course on growing tulips. What is their name?

[@bareflowerfarm]

It’s called the tulip workshop! I haven’t finished the entire online course due to my move but so far it’s clearly been helpful on the pricing front for me. They are opening registration for their next class!

[@allisondhabalt4408]

Thank you for this informative vid! So many questions answered! Can you share what 'long' and 'ex long' means in inches or does it vary with each variety?

[@bareflowerfarm]

Hi! I think it's relative to each variety. I'm making this assumption because that's the case at our co-operative. Some flowers can grow really tall like larkspur, foxglove in a way that other flowers never could if that makes sense!

[@drtlovr11]

Is there a standard for extra long? What exactly does that mean?

[@bareflowerfarm]

It’s a good question and I have yet been able to hunt down a definition!

[@kristenmaness1102]

You should look to verify, but after 3 years in the game I’d bet all flowers are cheapest in July. July is super duper slow in the flower business. Weddings are in June Everyone is on vacation in July.

[@bareflowerfarm]

Makes a whole lot of sense!!!

[@msplantscapes]

I found your video on pricing sheets very helpful. You mentioned there are resources “down below.” I can’t seem to access them. Can you help. I did subscribe. Michele

[@bareflowerfarm]

Hi 👋🏻 there! The info is is in the description. If you’re on mobile, you just click on the name of the video and it will expand into the description!

[@emmyhusfloen]

At time stamp 23:29 - February - Valentine's day - Jack those prices up!!! 🤣

[@bareflowerfarm]

😂 I was just confused bc some stems went up but others went down!

[@mistylenox1511]

If you are a farmer wanting to sell to a local wholesaler, what % of the wholesale cost would you use to sell to the wholesaler? Anemones 10s at $15 wholesale. Would the farmer sell at 50% 7.50 for 10s?

[@bareflowerfarm]

I unfortunately don't have too much experience selling to a wholesaler. But Lennie Larking of Flower Farming for Profit refers to wholesaler price as 0.6x of the florist price.

[@floweringevergreen3584]

According to Lancaster Farming, IS is Israel not Iceland.

[@bareflowerfarm]

3 years into farming I'm like, what possessed me to thinking that was Iceland with Israel being such a big cut flower production country? Lol. thanks for calling it out, hopefully others see this in the comments!

[@floweringevergreen3584]

​@@bareflowerfarm That's why I left the comment. Otherwise this information is FANTASTIC! I posted it to a FB group of flower farmers.

[@bareflowerfarm]

@@floweringevergreen3584 Thank you! ☺