cost of plants

I am curious as to the cost of plants.
I have been growing my own from seed for a few years now so have not bought any and am thinking of trying to sell a few at the farmers market because you never get heirlooms unless  you grow your own and I thought I might try to INTRODUCE people to the wonders of very great tomato plants
However not sure how much they would cost in 4 inch pots OR in the big 6 inch....I think they are quart size??   
I know there are deals at the box stores, but I wonder at markets.. etc

HD has basic tomato, chili, etc. on sale for $2US right now in 4" pots. Normally they are $3.89US. So if you're selling pretty nice plants you don't normally see at the box stores, maybe $4.50-$4.75US would be my guess.  You could check your local nursery and charge slightly less, since you don't have the same overhead expenses.

Our local grange is having a sale this week, four 4x4 pots of veggies for 5 bucks. That's pretty cheap for around here, but they have tough competition around here. The tiniest plants in what most people think of as seed-starter trays get sold for $1.50 a four-pack. Those are sold by a local (and believe it or not, fairly small) non-profit that plants 2.5 million seeds per year. It's only when you get to the one-gallon pots that it becomes less of a mass-volume operation. Then you're up to $3.50 to $5.00 a pot.

My understanding is that sometimes a considerable bit of it is down to timing, too. If you are first to market (you have a greenhouse) you do better, whether it be with seedlings or more developed plants. Basically one of the key selling points you can offer the customer, at least in climates like ours with a shortened growing season, is time. What can you give him that he can't give himself? Most people don't have greenhouses. So if you offer someone a greenhouse-grown plant started when it's still cold outside, you essentially extend his growing season by a month or two, greatly increasing his chances of an early yield and of a prolonged yield.

If you can provide some unique value like that, you'll be ahead of the game. If you can only provide spring seedlings at the time all the stores are full of spring seedlings (or, worse, full of plants that are already two months old), you'll have to sell to a much more narrow market.

I guess my hope was to provide heirlooms, which are different than what most of the stores sell in bulk.  I have given brandywine plants to all my neighbours the past few years and they all figure they are the best tomato ever....
I have most of the in gallon containers now, but I guess I need to research locally as well

Marc,  Did you ever take any business classes?   Offer something not offered elsewhere. Timing. Good points.

good point sanderson  

Timing. Good points.