To grow Iris . . . or to grow Dahlia? That is the question.

I'd like to grow Iris or Dahlia, and sell them to people here at my place.

I have a small start of Iris, maybe 6 different kinds and maybe 6 different Dahlia's.

I'm not that young anymore and don't know if I want to go to the extra work that Dahlia's need. i.e. dug up in the fall, tagged, stored away, and replanted in the spring.

Iris, on the other hand isn't so much labourious. BUT, Iris is so darn expensive to start out with.

Next is, "How do you sell a Dahlia Tuber or an Iris Root while it's still in the ground? I'm sure as heck not going to dig up the entire plant and hand it over.

So, if you were going to grow and sell, what would it be? What is your favorite? Iris or Dahlia? Both?

Pictures with names would be nice.

Thanks a mill, Darrell

Dahlia!! They can be planted from storage right into pots(we do) and sold for whatever price that size pot is worth. I would pay more for a dahlia than I would for an iris. More bloom for the buck, so to speak. Iris bloom for only a short time so you'd have to have good tags whereas dahlia bloom all summer. people are more apt to buy a plant in bloom than they are to buy a pot of iris leaves and pray it was tagged properly.

WOW!

You have some good points. Although I know those points, I forgot them. Glad you reminded me of it.

Well, that pretty much takes care of that.

You're right. I sold a few Dahlia this past summer in pots. They all sold. Once they started blooming, I had blooms all the time.

I still had Iris left and took care of them all summer but didn't sell one of them after the blooms had gone.

There is a place I found for Dahlia Tubers in the Garden Watch Dog.

I know they had some deals like, 50 tubers of their choice for around $200.00

I've have more than 50, 5 gallon pots that I could grow them in. Those pots would be to grow more tubers and not for resale. Then, the next year, 2009, I could grow those new tubers in smaller pots and sell them.

I like this.

Thanks.

Darrell

You're welcome.

I will agree that it will be hard to sell the iris past flowering. I see a few places sell dahlias around here, but I only know the the business from the buying end.

That's a nice one! bigcityal

Do you know the name of it?

This message was edited Jan 19, 2008 12:38 PM

That's Bonaventure.
Have you stored tubers and divided them to sell them before? That would save you a lot of money.

Not really. I sold almost all the plants this past summer. The plants I kept back for myself, in order to save the tubers for next year, this is what I did:

Cut the tops off down to the ground about 4" from the soil.

I lifted the tubers a week or two later.

I got as much soil off as I could and left them to dry out a littile outside on a garden rack.

Then I was able to get the rest of the soil off, once they dried a little more.

After that, I cut off the tubers from the main tuber. I tried to take tubers that looked like the tuber I bought. i.e., size Although there were a lot of small tubers and I did keep them, just in case they will grow this coming season.

I put the tubers in onion bags and hung them up in a storage closet I have for seeds.

That's all I've done. I do think I shouuld have stored them in something other than onion bags, but they were handy.

The place I'm looking at to buy tubers is, Ferncliff Gardens, for Dahlia's.

They are good, expensive for me down here.

Your storage method might work well enough.

We always until they get the first frost. Dig em up and let em dry for a couple weeks. We store them in a cool, dark closet in brown paper bags. Plant them up when they start to sprout...usually towards the middle/end of February. Or, if we're lazy or lacking room, we let them be until after the last frost and plant them in the ground.

This message was edited Jan 19, 2008 1:28 PM

If you plant them in February, when do they bloom for you?

Usually well before we can safely put them out.

Isn't that something.

I wouldn't mind having blooms at the end of May. So, how does the end of March sound for blooms at the end of May?

Can't see why not...even the ones we put in the ground end of June are blooming by the first week or so of August.

For me the choice would be Iris. I could walk past a dahlia, no problem. An Iris, I would have to stop and have a look and a sniff. If I didn't have it, I would buy it. First love is the beardeds, then there could be good opportunities with setosa, Siberian, versicolor and spurias.

I don't see why you shouldn't try both and see how it goes.

I'm looking at Ferncliff and wondering if getting the collection of 50 tubers is a wise choice. Maybe I'd be further ahead to pick and choose $200.00 worth of tubers rather than taking a chance on what they select.

What do you think?

I like Iris too. I guess that's why I've had a hard time choosing Iris or Dahlia.

Personally, I like them both.

Dahlia multiply faster than Iris. I'm in business to make money. (Like all business people) I'm also concerned about what is more popular, i.e. Iris or Dahlia.

It would seem they are both popular and so it boils down to my work load and money.

Iris has less work to it than Dahlia. = more time available for other things
Dahlia multiplies faster than Iris. = more sales - more income

Still thinking.

Iris!!!! So why not have both

That's a NICE! flower. What is it called? Did you get it from Ferncliff?

I have room on the property for both. But they're so darn expensive. Some of them are $20.00 each. Then for me to make or show a profit, it means I have to mark up the price. I don't think people would put up with that.

And they don't multiply as quick as Dahlia.

I haven't completely discounted Iris. Don't get me wrong. I need to come up with a plan though if I'm going to sell Iris here to my customers.

For example:
I'm growing Perennials from seed. Some will bloom the first year and some won't.
I don't mind waiting another season for the perennials to mature to the point they bloom.

The reason I don't mind waiting for another season is because I started them from seed, and the profit margin between the price of each seed that turns into a plant, is high enough to cover the lost year they didn't bloom for me and weren't for sale.

Planting Perennial seeds every year would give me a constant flow of perennials each year, after the first year.

Take Iris as another example:
How many years is it going to take to get 20 new roots? or even 10 new roots?

If I could find an Iris Wholesaler, that would be an entirely different story. I could grow a few for stock and sell the rest.

My thinking is; "If I can't show a profit within the first two years, of any given plant, then I'm doing something wrong.' I'm talking about Iris, Dahlia, and Perennials. If I spend $200.00 to $500.00 on tubers, root stock, or perennial seed, then I better get my money back within 2 years and show a profit that covers both years. i.e. the first year I didn't sell them while I'm waiting for them to multiply, reach maturity, and the second years growth.

On the other side of the coin:

I love them both, (always have), and would really like to have them for myself and not sell any of them.
I want my cake and eat it too.

The iris is Change of Pace with I purchased across the Border.
I sell small amounts of iris rhizomes for $3.00 plus shipping. Not all my iris need dividing,but I do know some that need it. And I will have to wait till summer to know others.

Lynn

If you have a fair bit of room on your property darrell buy a few named irises each year; before you know it you will have lots to sell. I started with 5 about 4 years ago and now i seem to be dividing every year (giving some away and starting new beds with others)

I agree that the iris doesn't have the longevity that the dahlias have in the blooming department but they are so early and so beautiful that i can't resist buying at least one new one every year. Even when they are on their last blooms in the nursery; i can see what they are going to be next year.

Dahlias are like the begonias though, sometimes i get distracted and forget to get them out before a really big freeze or a foot of snow and then i am starting all over again.

Inveterate plant buyer of all kinds - Lynn