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That's absolutely amazing & lucky. Do you supply locally or ship to wholesale markets? What size of farm?

I am working South of Detroit on 2 acres supplying only locally. Our Dalhias just started to bloom last week, its been a dreadfully cold spring

Neve Farms 5mo ago 💬 1

We only supply locally, growing on about 5 acres at the moment. I have had thoughts to sell surplus plants/bulbs via Nostr though.

Dahlias have been a good crop for us, they don’t ship easily so it gives local growers an advantage.

Weather wise we have had the same experience this year, everything has been delayed a few weeks. Our summers in NorCal are typically in the 80’s, we have barely had any 80+ days thus far.

Are you focused on dahlias or do you grow other things as well? From our experience, higher price items and specialty crops that imports can’t compete with are key to staying in business. We stopped growing roses two years ago because we can’t compete with South American prices.

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Discussion

Dan Wedge 5mo ago 💬 1

This has been our experience as well. We started with Dahlias and use them as our hero flowers in our boquets. We have found that we have the fantastic problem of keeping up with demand as we are a 1.5 person show. We did 5k tulips in the spring and sold them all for mothers day. We have really been trying to get Snap dragons going but are having issue with our seed starting(this spring didn’t help). As well we are expanding our peoony offerings to have something in june but are still 2-3 years away from full production. We are leaning into statis this year. have a huge patch of labs ear, Canterbury bells, and Zinnias. We are currently selling out of a trendy local bakery & this year added a Pilates gym.

We are also a no chemical spray/ no dig method so we have marigolds, sweet alyssum, and Calendua for pest control. From what i see of your photos your much better put together thsn us at the moment. This is our third season here and still have a young family so we are learning lots as we go through.

How many hands are at Neve farms & howd you get the name?

Neve Farms 5mo ago

Very cool to hear! Farming teaches you something new every year, learning and trying new things will be a constant. Mistakes and unforeseen accidents will happen every year regardless of how prepared you try to be.

Tulips are a popular crop for us too. Grow as much as possible for Mother’s Day, you will sell it all. We have also had success with freesias, ranunculus, anemone and iris for Mother’s Day. We grow statice as well, it’s productive, long lasting, and you can dry any extras and use it for dried bouquets or wreaths. We also do that with fever few and strawflower that we don’t sell. Canterbury bells last for weeks, we have had success with those too. Peonies are always popular, and you can store them in a cold room for up to a month. Our plants are 2 years old and in the process of bulking up too.

I’ve found it’s worth it to start seeds the germinate easily, like statice, strawflower, scabiosa, fever few. Some seeds need light to germinate and some don’t. I use heat mats with thermometers to control the soil temperatures and plastic domes to keep the humidity high. Things that are difficult for you like snapdragons, I would order from a plug supplier or broker like Ball Horticulture.

We have a full time crew of 6 people at the moment, and Neve Farms comes from our family name, we have been in the flower business for 4 generations now.