This is such helpful information. I love seeing what you considered to understand your costs. Thanks for sharing! One note about video “watchablility”, there is a light flickering quality on the picture in the far left side of the screen. It’s pretty consistent so I’m guessing there is a ceiling fan running causing shifts in light and shadow. I’m guessing if the fan were off that would make a big difference. I’m pretty sensitive to light so I was pretty distracted through out the video. I had to rewind a couple times to make sure I could take in your great assessment. Perhaps it wasn’t distracting for others like it was for me. Just thought you’d want to know for future videos. Thanks for sharing your hard won knowledge with us it’s much appreciated.
It’s the art! The TV is a Samsung frame and I realized only after it uploaded that images with white backgrounds somehow cause a flicker. Lesson learned for next time- sorry about that and appreciate the kind feedback ♥️
No nutrients are used but electricity for lighting is about $1.50 a day. While that adds up over 4 months, bc we’re looking at like 6k sellable stems, it’s actually not too much. I ended up adding an extra 30 cents on top of what I said in this video bc running the electricity for the fridge is actually more impactful!
Ahh, I did not cover this but I will cover it in another video! I found that attrition ranged from 2%-25%! The 25% tray was due to uneven watering, a lesson I should have learned last year. Generally, attrition significantly increases as time goes on so I'm curious to see how this plays out later in the seaon.
Labor costs are always so interesting because I see some farmers not using a market rate of labour but their desired rate. The flaw in the calculations that I see is: if desired gross revenue is X then to make that I would need to make Y per hour, which then becomes the basis for their labor cost. Desired revenue is a function of the market value of inventory, not hours worked. This often leads to farmers pegging labour costs far above the market rate for labour. But the market rate of labour is... Well, complicated 🤣
I realized that a nearby farm pays $20 / hour which I feel is a better rate. But I was talking with a flower farming friend who also works a good full time job and we laugh at how little we value our farming time since our full time job commands a much much higher hourly rate. But your point is well taken and there's merit to your point. Lennie Larkin who is publishing a book on profitable flower farming makes this point around how if we were to charge for flowers the real amount of time it takes to farm to make a good living wage, our flowers would be unaffordable!
@@bareflowerfarm $20/hr is very reasonable, especially in Jersey... which is quite agricultural. The economics of flower farming are so interesting... especially over you factor in that flowers... are part of the war on drug trafficking 🤣
Absolutely. This is why if you add up the cost of the bulb (let's say 40 cents) + labor (10 cents), that gets you go 50 cents. If i sell a stem for $1.95, we are now at $1.45. There is then the added cost of sleeves, rubber bands, utilities, etc that all bring that down by another 15-20 cents! The utilities piece is relatively minimal because it costs me $1.50 per day to run all my grow lights but across about 18 trays. We run on well water so technically water is "free". Technically I also have a mortgage, insurance, etc... It gets a bit hard to get to the exact detail per stem but I factor in about 10 cents per bulb for all of this stuff. Hope this helps!
I’ve been thinking about increasing this number to $20 but actually yes to $15. I wouldn’t be hiring them long enough to need to pay payroll taxes. Insurance is a different thing- that’s a tolerance of risk on the grower’s part. The $20 is more to attract and retain someone versus like having random help (ie college kid looking for side cash)
If you decide that you want to grow your business beyond where you're at, it's something you should think about. Sooner or later, you'll need a vacation.@@bareflowerfarm
Great video! When you started getting into hydroponic tulips, I looked into it a bit out of curiosity and the costs of getting those trays to my location on Vancouver Island was beyond pricey. No available sources in Canada unfortunately and bringing anything across the border is ridiculous. That, and the fact that our humidity in the winter is extremely high, all new houses have automatic dehumidifiers built into their systems, so that was another factor. It would be interesting if you reported on the difference of humidity the tulips create. Here's a link to a really interesting video on profit on a farm. Not applicable to flowers but another really interesting way of creating a profit/loss set up. Also, he's really entertaining; th-cam.com/video/lD4VW0lLYjE/w-d-xo.html
The trays do seem to be quite a barrier for many growers, especially those on the west coast or not in the US. I would think that as hydroponic tulips become more popular, someone will figure out that there's demand and money to be made! But to your point, if your humidity is high, you will risk stem topple in forcing which is not impossible to overcome but obviously requires more energy! And I have watched Gold Shaw Farms before but looking forward to seeing what they say in this video! Thanks for sharing as always.
@@Daisy-Hey-Hello When I saw your name "Daisybred" for some reason I thought it was Daisy the cow from "Next Level Homestead". Obviously not, just a moment of a creative brainwave taking over.
There are plastic injections producers in Montreal that could make the tray. It sucks that I don't have the money to create to mold to make those, if someone else want to try, there is a market
Such helpful information! Thank you and congratulations on all the ongoing success from your hard work!
I appreciate you taking the time to write this!
Thank you so much for all the work in collecting and sharing this info with us.
Appreciate your matter of fact details!
Thank you susan :)
I enjoy watching your success. Where do you obtain the hydroponic forcing trays
Thanks! They are from ball/Ednie!
Love this video! Is the shipping course you took specific to tulips?
Hi! The shipping course was specific to live flowers shipping, so not just for tulips! It’s by Little Farmhouse Flowers 🙂
This is such helpful information. I love seeing what you considered to understand your costs. Thanks for sharing!
One note about video “watchablility”, there is a light flickering quality on the picture in the far left side of the screen. It’s pretty consistent so I’m guessing there is a ceiling fan running causing shifts in light and shadow. I’m guessing if the fan were off that would make a big difference.
I’m pretty sensitive to light so I was pretty distracted through out the video. I had to rewind a couple times to make sure I could take in your great assessment. Perhaps it wasn’t distracting for others like it was for me. Just thought you’d want to know for future videos.
Thanks for sharing your hard won knowledge with us it’s much appreciated.
It’s the art! The TV is a Samsung frame and I realized only after it uploaded that images with white backgrounds somehow cause a flicker. Lesson learned for next time- sorry about that and appreciate the kind feedback ♥️
How much expense is there in electricity and nutrients?
No nutrients are used but electricity for lighting is about $1.50 a day. While that adds up over 4 months, bc we’re looking at like 6k sellable stems, it’s actually not too much. I ended up adding an extra 30 cents on top of what I said in this video bc running the electricity for the fridge is actually more impactful!
Apologies if you covered this and I missed it but how did waste factor in?
Ahh, I did not cover this but I will cover it in another video! I found that attrition ranged from 2%-25%! The 25% tray was due to uneven watering, a lesson I should have learned last year. Generally, attrition significantly increases as time goes on so I'm curious to see how this plays out later in the seaon.
Labor costs are always so interesting because I see some farmers not using a market rate of labour but their desired rate. The flaw in the calculations that I see is: if desired gross revenue is X then to make that I would need to make Y per hour, which then becomes the basis for their labor cost. Desired revenue is a function of the market value of inventory, not hours worked. This often leads to farmers pegging labour costs far above the market rate for labour.
But the market rate of labour is... Well, complicated 🤣
I realized that a nearby farm pays $20 / hour which I feel is a better rate. But I was talking with a flower farming friend who also works a good full time job and we laugh at how little we value our farming time since our full time job commands a much much higher hourly rate. But your point is well taken and there's merit to your point. Lennie Larkin who is publishing a book on profitable flower farming makes this point around how if we were to charge for flowers the real amount of time it takes to farm to make a good living wage, our flowers would be unaffordable!
@@bareflowerfarm $20/hr is very reasonable, especially in Jersey... which is quite agricultural. The economics of flower farming are so interesting... especially over you factor in that flowers... are part of the war on drug trafficking 🤣
Do you factor in utilities (electricity & water) costs?
Absolutely. This is why if you add up the cost of the bulb (let's say 40 cents) + labor (10 cents), that gets you go 50 cents. If i sell a stem for $1.95, we are now at $1.45. There is then the added cost of sleeves, rubber bands, utilities, etc that all bring that down by another 15-20 cents!
The utilities piece is relatively minimal because it costs me $1.50 per day to run all my grow lights but across about 18 trays. We run on well water so technically water is "free". Technically I also have a mortgage, insurance, etc... It gets a bit hard to get to the exact detail per stem but I factor in about 10 cents per bulb for all of this stuff.
Hope this helps!
You value your time at $15 per hr. Could you hire someone including taxes and insurance for that?
I’ve been thinking about increasing this number to $20 but actually yes to $15. I wouldn’t be hiring them long enough to need to pay payroll taxes. Insurance is a different thing- that’s a tolerance of risk on the grower’s part. The $20 is more to attract and retain someone versus like having random help (ie college kid looking for side cash)
If you decide that you want to grow your business beyond where you're at, it's something you should think about. Sooner or later, you'll need a vacation.@@bareflowerfarm
Great video! When you started getting into hydroponic tulips, I looked into it a bit out of curiosity and the costs of getting those trays to my location on Vancouver Island was beyond pricey. No available sources in Canada unfortunately and bringing anything across the border is ridiculous. That, and the fact that our humidity in the winter is extremely high, all new houses have automatic dehumidifiers built into their systems, so that was another factor. It would be interesting if you reported on the difference of humidity the tulips create.
Here's a link to a really interesting video on profit on a farm. Not applicable to flowers but another really interesting way of creating a profit/loss set up. Also, he's really entertaining; th-cam.com/video/lD4VW0lLYjE/w-d-xo.html
Yes, i like watching Morgan Gold... 😀
The trays do seem to be quite a barrier for many growers, especially those on the west coast or not in the US. I would think that as hydroponic tulips become more popular, someone will figure out that there's demand and money to be made! But to your point, if your humidity is high, you will risk stem topple in forcing which is not impossible to overcome but obviously requires more energy!
And I have watched Gold Shaw Farms before but looking forward to seeing what they say in this video! Thanks for sharing as always.
@@Daisy-Hey-Hello When I saw your name "Daisybred" for some reason I thought it was Daisy the cow from "Next Level Homestead". Obviously not, just a moment of a creative brainwave taking over.
There are plastic injections producers in Montreal that could make the tray. It sucks that I don't have the money to create to mold to make those, if someone else want to try, there is a market
@@YanickaQuilt A custom mold sounds expensive. Not something I'm up for.