Contact Us  |  Site Map

« Back to: Farm Management Home Page « Greenhouse Costs of Production Budgets

Table C: Geranium Seedling Production Costs

Item	Conventional			Plug
	Small	Medium	Large	Small	Medium	Large
						Non-auto	Auto
Fertilizer	$0.01	$0.01	$0.01	$0.01	$0.01	$0.01	$0.01
Seeds1	85	73.67	46.55	23.2	19.72	18.1	18.1
Tray	0.46	0.34	0.25	0.4	0.32	0.31	0.31
Medium	0.58	0.42	0.32	0.13	0.1	0.1	0.1
Labor	0.55	0.61	0.46	0.48	0.6	0.37	0.37
Interest on Variable Costs	0.78	0.68	0.43	0.22	0.19	0.17	0.17
Overhead Costs2	0.95	0.69	0.68	1.59	1.15	1.13	1.13
Total Costs per Flat	$88.33	$76.41	$48.70	$26.03	$22.08	$20.19	$20.19
Total Costs per Seedling	$0.11	$0.10	$0.06	$0.12	$0.10	$0.09	$0.09

¹ 1,000 seeds planted per conventional flat and 273 per plug flat. Germination rate is assumed to be 80%.
² Overhead costs are calculated at $0.194 per sq.ft. week x 1.64 sq.ft. per flat x 3 wks. for conventional flats and 5 weeks for plug flats. See Table A2 for more detail.

Table C1: Labor Inputs for Seedling Geranium Production

	Time (Seconds per Flat)
Item	Conventional			Plug
	Small	Medium	Large	Small	Medium	Large
						Non-auto	Auto
Seedling Stage
Fill Flat	35	37	22	24	49	47	47
Seed and Move to Germination Area	144	162	85	103	140	81	81
Move to Greenhouse	16	40	33	36	29	14	14
Irrigate	14	14	6	14	7	5	5
Move to Work Area	40	30	67	46	51	25	25
Total	249	283	213	223	276	172	172
Finished Flat Stage
Fill Flat	45	120	35	36	44	66	4
Transplant and Move to Greenhouse	280	240	256	100	252	183	144
Irrigate	99	78	62	84	66	53	53
Spray Growth Regulator	14	10	2	14	10	2	2
Spray Pesticide	14	2	2	14	2	2	2
Total	452	450	357	248	374	306	205