Advanced Crop Planning For Profit (Part 4)

Plan

Feb 15

Welcome back to the 4-part Crop Planning series! If you’ve missed the first three posts, go back to the blog homepage and read them.

Today we’ll be discussing the final part in the crop planning series: your GREENHOUSE PLAN. We will also discuss other in-season considerations about your crop plan.

· Part 1: Financial Projections

· Part 2: Sales Projections & Marketing Chart

· Part 3: Production Plan & Field Map

· Part 4: Greenhouse Plan and In-Season Considerations

A GREENHOUSE PLAN EXPLAINED

Your greenhouse plan is essentially a planting schedule that tells you exactly when to start your seeds, when to transplant, when you can expect to harvest your flowers, and how much of each to seed & plant.

Taking the time to create this document upfront will save you loads of time, stress, and overwhelm during the “busy season.” Truth be told, I would be completely lost without my greenhouse plan.

It is such a relief to do all of the scheduling ahead of the season, and put everything into my calendar & planner for the entire year. Then, as the year rolls by, all I have to do is open this document or my calendar each week to see what has to be done. Being this organized is a GIFT on a busy, chaotic farm.

I imagine most folks have some version of a greenhouse plan that outlines when to start seeds. However, I am willing to bet that most aren’t based off of their financial goals, detailed productions plans, bouquet recipes, and their marketing projections. I’m going to teach you how to do that now, in order to avoid massive overproduction (or underproduction), excess waste, overwhelm, and dis-organization.

We will essentially be working backwards from our projected harvest dates (from your marketing chart) to calculate your seeding & transplant dates, as well as the number of trays to seed. Refer to your marketing chart for these numbers. I also use a lot of my intuition for this part of the process. There is a more technical way to calculate your greenhouse plan, based on harvest date projections and harvest windows, but I mostly rely on my experience and knowledge to plan.

Before we start, I want to explain a few key parts of the greenhouse plan.

On my farm, everything is planned by the WEEK NUMBER. Each week in the year is assigned a week number starting with the first week in January (week #1) through the last week in December (week 52). If you order plugs or bare roots through a supplier you may already be familiar with this system, but I wanted to explain it in case you are not.

On your farm, you may choose to plan everything by the exact date instead of by the week #. I also calculate everything based on WEEKS TO MATURITY and WEEKS IN GREENHOUSE, instead of the more commonly referred to DAYS to maturity and DAYS in greenhouse. Feel free to customize as you see fit (instead of weeks to maturity : days to maturity, instead of transplant week or sow week: transplant date and sow date, etc.).

GREENHOUSE PLAN

Step 1. Open a new tab in your excel crop planning spreadsheet. In the left column, paste your flower crop list. Then, in the top row, add the following columns:

Step 2: Copy the # of plants needed from your production plan into the “# PLANTS NEEDED” column for each flower crop.

Step 3: Refer to your marketing chart (from part 2) and input the harvest target week # for each flower crop while considering each flowers particular harvest window and succession planting. For example, If I look at my marketing chart, I will see that I need 200 bunches of stock over a 2 week period In June, from week # 23-24 (June 5-18), so I will put week 23 down in the HARVEST TARGET WEEK column next to stock. I know that one planting of stock generally has about a 2 week harvest window, so I will only plant one succession.

Alternatively, if (according to my marketing chart) I need 20 bunches of zinnias each week over the months of August and September, I will begin by putting week 31 in the HARVEST TARGET WEEK column (week 31 is the first week of August). At this point, my internal Spidey-senses begin to alarm. I know that my zinnia plants will not produce quality blooms for 8 weeks straight. Knowing this, I will plan to plant 2 separate successions of zinnias (and harvest from each for consecutive 4 weeks). In this scenario, I add another zinnia row below the first “zinnia” in my crop list, and assign succession #1 and succession #2 to each respectively, under the “SUCCESSION #” column. Since my first target harvest week is week 31 for my first succession of zinnias, I will count forwards 4 weeks until I want to start harvesting the second succession: “week 35” will be put into the “HARVEST TARGET WEEK” next to “zinnia succession #2.”

You may find it handy to keep a “succession plan” close by to refer to how many weeks apart you usually plant your successions by flower type. Like I said, I can easily remember this information and don’t have a need for it, and use my experience and knowledge to fill in this part of the greenhouse plan, but it’s okay if you need to have a reminder document.

If you need a consistent amount/continuous harvest of a particular flower throughout the summer growing season, you can simply plan to add a succession every 2 or 3 weeks (or whichever interval you succession plant at). Keep adding successions to your “crop list” as you go.

A side note about successions: A common mistake I often see growers make is they just succession sow EVERYTHING in an effort to have a continuous supply of each flower type all season long. I used to do this, too. But then noticed that I wouldn’t harvest or sell all of it. That’s when I started planning my CSA/mixed bouquet recipes and making projections based on a detailed marketing chart. I challenge the theory of blindly succession planting all summer annuals - do you really NEED a continuous supply of sunflowers/ageratum/dara/etc.? Can you REALISTICALLY sell that much ageratum, continuously, week after week? Maybe the answer is yes, but often for me the answer is no. This is why we create a marketing chart - to zone in and closely project what we will ACTUALLY need and can ACTUALLY sell.

Go through each flower crop in your list and add your target harvest dates and successions as needed. When you finish, you should have target harvest week numbers (or target harvest dates) entered for each succession.

Step 4: Fill in the varieties you choose for each flower type in the “VARIETIES” column. Feel free to add notes about colors as well.

Step 5: Enter the weeks to maturity (or days to maturity) for each flower crop & variety under the “WEEKS TO MATURITY” column. This is the number of weeks it will (ideally) take from transplanting until your first harvest. This number should ideally be based on your past years records. The DTM/WTM (days-to-maturity/weeks to maturity) listed on seed packets or seed companies websites are not always very accurate, and vary vastly depending on which part of the season you are seeding. If you’re unsure, these dates are a good place to start but you definitely should be keeping your own records for accuracy.

Step 6: Fill in the “WEEKS IN GH” column for each flower crop. This is the number of weeks your starts will be in your greenhouse, from the date of seeding until you are ready to transplant them into the field. You can also find some of this information online, but generally will need to depend on your own experience. Most flowers stay in the greenhouse anywhere from 4 weeks to 10 weeks. You may want to consider adding time for hardening off, or add another column with time for hardening off on this spreadsheet. You may also need to consider potting up if you bump up any plugs during the greenhouse process.

Step 7: Now for the SATISFYING PART! Instead of counting backwards “by hand,” simply use excels formulas to help you calculate your transplant dates. Calculate your transplant week number (or date) by entering a formula into the “TRANSPLANT WEEK #” column. Subtract the # of weeks to maturity from the target harvest week # to get your TRANSPLANT WEEK #. For example, if my target harvest week for my first succession of zinnias is week 31, and the WTM is 8 weeks: 31-8 = 23. I will have to transplant my zinnias on week 23. Calculate your TRANSPLANT WEEK # for each flower crop and succession #.

Step 8: Calculate your SOW WEEK # by entering a formula into the “SOW WEEK #” column. Subtract the # of weeks in the greenhouse from the TRANSPLANT WEEK # you calculated in step 6. For example, in step 6 I calculated that in order to harvest my first succession of zinnias on week 31, I will need to transplant on week 23. In order to transplant on week 23, I will subtract the number of weeks in the greenhouse it will spend (4) from 23. Week 23- 4 weeks in the GH = 19. I will need to sow the zinnias (start the seeds) on week 19. See? SO SIMPLE AND EASY!

Continue this step for each crop and succession #.

Now you know exactly when to start all of your seeds & when to transplant them, based off of exactly what you have projected you will need throughout the season. How amazing is that??

I recommend that you look over everything at this point and make sure it looks realistic. Often, we will get overjoyed with the thought of flowers and want to harvest flowers very early in the season. …But often, that will mean that we will have to start certain seeds in January (when its expensive to heat a greenhouse) and transplant them in March (when the ground may potentially be frozen)… turns out, it may not be a great plan after all.

Know your earliest transplant date (average last frost date) for tender annuals and check to make sure you haven’t accidentally programmed to transplant them before that. If you find an issue, simply tinker with the numbers until you get it right (you can count back from your “safe to transplant” date to figure out when to start seeds). Keep in mind that doing this will affect your target harvest date, so you may need to make changes to your marketing chart. As an experienced grower, you should have an idea as to when cool-loving or heat-loving flowers like to be planted. If planted at the wrong time, they will obviously perform poorly.

Next, we will determine exactly how much you should seed for each succession/planting.

Step 9: Consider how many plants you will need for each succession based on your marketing chart & yields. At this stage, a detailed marketing chart would be very helpful to know exactly how many bunches you need for each week of the season (we’ll go over how to do this in my crop planning class). But if you completed a simple marketing chart, you can still make projections on how to split up your successions.

For example, if you need a consistent amount of zinnias, but have two successions, you can split the total # of plants between the two successions. Go through your spreadsheet and arrange the # of plants needed for each succession (based on your marketing chart and projected yields).

Step 10: Fill in the seeding tray size under the “CELL SIZE” column for each flower type. Most of my flowers are started in 128, 72, or 50 cell trays. Use your super-duper farming experience & knowledge to fill in this column.

Step 11: Enter a formula into the “# TRAYS” column to divide the “cell size” by the number of plants needed column. For example, If I need 200 snapdragon plants for my first succession, and I start them in a 128 tray: 200/128 = 1.56. Now I know I will need to start 1.56 trays of snapdragons. Do this for each flower type and succession.

Step 12: Under “FINAL # TRAYS" simply round up your number from “# TRAYS” if it comes out to a funny number, or if you want to plan extra to account for losses.

Step 13: Refer back to your FIELD MAP from part 3. Put the assigned bed number under “LOCATION / BED #” column for each crop & succession. At this point, you may decide to make some changes to your field map, but hopefully not. This step is not necessary, but it is nice when you are in the heat of the moment during the busy season, and can simply refer to this column and know straight where the transplants are headed, instead of searching on a map. It’s also helpful if you have employees, so they can just refer to the greenhouse plan for information while transplanting.

Step 14": Add any notes you think of to the “NOTES” section. I print out my greenhouse plan so I can refer to it weekly, and often scribble notes in this section with findings.

Step 15: Now is the time when you can add any experiments or “hobby flowers” or other plants to your plans. If you plan to do any trials of new varieties, add them into your greenhouse plan. If you just LOVE growing gomphrena [insert favorite non-profitable flower here] but know you don’t make money on it, add in a tiny space to grow it just for yourself. I grow my own veggies on my farm, so I add my vegetable garden plans to my greenhouse plan so it’s all in one place. Squeeze in these plantings into any extra space on your field map.

OPTIONAL STEP: You may also add a “SPACING” column, as a reminder on what spacing to use for specific flowers during transplanting. It’s nice to have if you have employees that need guidance.

YAY! You’ve just completed your ANNUAL CROP PLAN! Phew, it was a lot of work, and probably took a lot of time, but TRUST ME - this will pay off over the course of your season. Now you know exactly when to start all of your seeds (and how many trays of each), when to harden off/transplant them, where you are going to transplant them, and when you can expect to harvest them. That is a lot of stuff that you now have all squared away!

In-season considerations

Now for the important part…

FOLLOW THROUGH ON YOUR PLAN!!

Proof read and then print out your finalized crop plan (or at a minimum, your greenhouse plan and field map). I like to arrange my greenhouse plan by “sow week #” to create a greenhouse sowing schedule, as well as arrange the plan by “transplant week” to create a hardening off & transplant schedule (use the excel “sort and filter” function to do this effortlessly). I keep these schedules in my crop record folder (in which I also keep my record templates). Every Sunday, as I make my weekly schedule, I refer to my greenhouse plan to determine what needs to be done each week. Then I simply schedule it in! Easy peasy.

I keep a detailed weekly/daily planner, in which I write down my weekly and daily schedule into. I go through my greenhouse plan week-by-week before the season gets started and add “sow seeds” and “TP” (transplant) onto the corresponding weeks in my planner. I do this as a reminder to ensure I am not missing an important task.

While doing this, I also add field operations tasks to the calendar. This includes things like ground preparation (tillage, broadforking, cultivating), fertility management (cover cropping, composting, adding soil amendments), seed and supply ordering (placing seed & plug orders or putting in my yearly supply order). That way, as I make my weekly schedule I have a reminder to schedule those tasks and nothing is forgotten (hopefully). I also try to make notes about when certain pests and diseases have showed up in the past, so I can be better prepared to battle them when the time comes.

Throughout the season, CARRY OUT YOUR PLAN. You also must

RECORD WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS.

It is often said that on a farm things rarely go according to plan. Although things often DO go according to plan on our farm, there is no denying that there is much out of our control and things go wrong, plans go awry, and last-minute adjustments are often made.

It’s important to note if things differed from your original plan, and WHY, so you can do better and make improvements for next time. Recordkeeping often falls to the bottom of our weekly To-Do lists, and understandably so as there is often SO much more to do than time allows on a farm. However, when its time to review your crop plan and improve it for the following year, you will be mighty thankful if you decided to maintain records throughout the season.

The most important records to keep are your greenhouse seeding/transplanting/1st harvest dates & field map, as well as your sales records. There are many, many metrics that you can choose to keep track of on a farm, but it can also be a wasteful use of time if you let it. Be sure to keep track of the RIGHT information: metrics that will actually improve your projections, sales, and your bottom line in the future.

I wrote a blog post all about recordkeeping here, check it out and feel free to print out my own record keeping templates to use on your own farm.

YEAR END REFLECTIONS

At the end of the season, compare your records with your crop plan projections. I find it really useful to create a “PROJECTIONS VS ACTUALS” spreadsheet for my sales and harvest yields & dates. This way I can clearly tell if I was WAY off on something, and can make improvements. I also look over my notes for observations on germination, weather, pests, disease, labor shortages, or anything else important.

ANALYZE CROP PROFITABILITY

You also should use your records to analyze crop profitability. This is when recordkeeping really pays off (literally). I wrote a blog post on how to perform a simple enterprise budget analysis here. Use this process to set profitability targets and calculate your ACTUAL profitability for each crop. It can be very eye-opening to compare your profitability targets to your actual earnings. From this analysis you can modify your harvest or planting techniques to see if you can be more efficient, therefore raising your profitability, or perhaps change your prices. This data should be at the heart of what you plan to grow in the following seasons ahead, along with knowledge of the value you and your farm can provide to the world.

IN CONCLUSION

Crop planning is like a business plan on steroids for farms. Although you should have an ACTUAL business plan at some point (if even a very simple one), this is the “meat & potatoes” of your operation. It is important to acknowledge that your crop plan is a roadmap for your goals, and should help you envision what your year ahead will look like. Pay attention to how it unfolds and make notes of any changes or tweaks you made. Check on your sales projections periodically to ensure you are reaching your goals. Review, improve, and make changes to your crop plan every winter as needed.

And remember… FAILURE TO PLAN, IS PLANNING TO FAIL!

I hope that you have found this crop planning series helpful. Although it was an overview of the process, I do dive deeper into the details in upcoming workshops, where you can follow along with me for the entire process, get the same fillable spreadsheets I use in excel, learn how to make bouquet recipe projections, create a detailed weekly marketing chart, and much, much more!

I have not come across instructions or guidance for this ANYWHERE else in the flower farming world online, so I truly hope that I am helping you on your business & entrepreneurship journey.

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Jennifer Marks https://trademarksflowers.com/