Planting the most profitable crops for the greenhouse is an ideal way to augment your income significantly. While many of us will think of lettuce and tomatoes, many other crops can bring big profits for you.
Notably, they are pretty easy to grow and don’t need much care. In today’s article, we have compiled a list of the best greenhouse crops for your consideration, along with helpful notes on how to grow them.
Let’s check it out.
Top 9 Most Profitable Crops For Your Greenhouse And How To Grow Them
Let’s dive into our suggested 9 most profitable crops for the greenhouse.
#1. Tomatoes
This kind of fruit is a classic crop in greenhouse farming for reasons. First, it is one of the common greenhouse plants and always in high demand. Plus, it is a versatile plant variety and can healthily grow in similar conditions as other crops.
Bell peppers and chillies develop in an identical environment as tomatoes. Accordingly, you can grow both of them to boost profit margins.
One more thing, to maximize profits, you can grow with highly productive varieties like Heirlooms that earlier ripen.
How To Grow
If you want to plant tomatoes in your greenhouse, remember to ensure a constant heat of around 70 – 75℉.
Besides, good ventilation and a lot of sunlight are essential for tomatoes to thrive. They also need skating, and the soil to grow tomatoes needs balanced fertilizer.
#2. Lettuce
Lettuce is a crucial ingredient for salads and food. It has been widely common all over the world. Due to its popularity, lettuce is one of the most profitable vegetables to grow in the greenhouse.
It has a lot of varieties with various appearances of shapes and colours. It is best to be sold fresh at any retail market to bring a high income.
How To Grow
To grow lettuce seeds in a greenhouse, you have to ensure they can receive full sun to rise. Thus, it pays to put your greenhouse in a location getting at least 6 hours of direct sunlight every day.
Besides, it is helpful to add a nutrient-enriched fertilizer to the soil, along with proper irrigation.
#3. Strawberries
When seeking a lucrative cash crop to grow in the greenhouse, strawberries are a great option. However, you might feel surprised why strawberries are among the most profitable farming crops due to this crop’s affordable in-season prices.
However, these lucrative crops can bring an immersive profit if you sell them in the off-season at a much higher price. As you grow in a greenhouse, you can adjust the growing environment to meet the demand for strawberries.
Of which, an excellent irrigation method is essential for this addition to grow well. If everything goes right, your crop can sell rapidly and fetch you big profits.
How To Grow
This crop loves direct sunlight and dry conditions to thrive in the greenhouse. Therefore, it is best to ensure strawberries can get sunlight at least 6 hours per day by keeping the greenhouse’s panels clean and clear.
Notably, in the hot months, strawberries require regular irrigation as their roots can quickly dry out. However, with that being said, strawberries grow strong in dry and hot conditions.
Thus, overwatering is what you need to avoid as it can cause the crops to rot due to waterlogged soil. Besides, it is worth using a balanced fertilizer every fortnight.
And once strawberries start to flower, switch to using a liquid fertilizer. One more thing, growing strawberries in the greenhouse will need hand pollination.
So you should use a brush to spread pollen between the flowers and frequently check them to ensure everything is on the right track. As soon as their fruits are ripe, harvest them to provide the best taste as they can rot rapidly.
#4. Cucumbers
Cucumbers deserve to be one of the best greenhouse plants that you can grow. It is widely used as a food ingredient or a solution for body care.
Since they are always in a heavy-demand, you can easily see them in every grocery store. Thus, a cucumber crop is ever out of date, bringing you a rewarding livelihood.
Like strawberries, cucumbers come with higher prices in the off-season than that grown in-season.
How To Grow
Cucumber seeds need roughly sowing three weeks before being transplanted. Thus, it is advisable to calculate based on where your garden is and the temperature.
The ideal range of temperature for cucumbers to grow is 70 – 90℉. It is worth noting that cucumber pollination is quite complicated and strongly relies on which kind of plants are selected.
Parthenocarpic fruits are often grown in the greenhouse, excluding bees to keep them from being pollinated.
#5. Peppers
Spices are one of the highest-demanding crops today. That’s why you can maximize your profit with these plants.
Of which, peppers are the best plants to grow in a greenhouse. You can earn many monies as long as you can overcome some growing difficulties such as temperature control, pest, and disease issues, to name a few.
Peppers are available in various species. Some kinds of peppers are mini sweet pepper, banana pepper, bell pepper, and cubanelle pepper.
How To Grow
Peppers demand constant sunlight with excellent temperature control. Thus, you need to opt for a location in your greenhouse getting above six hours of light per day.
The pepper seedlings can fully thrive with a temperature range of 65 to 70℉ in the daytime and 60 to 65℉ in the nighttime.
#6. Herbs
Greenhouse growers can rocket their income by incorporating herbs in their gardens. They are ideal for greenhouse farmers who look to intercrop a plant with low input costs and not require much demanding attention.
You can consider various kinds of herbs that can develop on a windowsill with moderate sunlight during the cold season. Another reason to make herbs become profitable plants is that you can sell them both dried or fresh.
Accordingly, you will not face issues arising from spoilage since herbs can be dried and packaged for sale. The herbs in the highest demand include fresh culinary herbs for restaurants and grocery stores and healing herbs for medical purposes.
Moreover, basil, cilantro, oregano, and chives are some popular fresh herbs. You can plant these crops for profit.
And if you don’t know where to sell them, farmers markets are your answer.
How To Grow
You need to ensure a greenhouse temperature of around 75℉ with 70℉ soil temperature for the best results. In addition, most kinds of herbs need 8 to 12 hours of direct sunlight per day regarding the light requirements.
Low light will lessen their essential oil content. And as herbs thrive in dry and hot conditions, you should avoid overwatering to prevent the potential rotting.
#7. Mushrooms
The demand for medicinal and gourmet mushrooms has substantially increased in today’s market. Thus, growing mushrooms is a great idea for starting a greenhouse business to earn profit.
Exotic mushrooms tend to be more common than ever, especially shiitakes and oyster mushrooms. Mainly, oysters are very productive and lucrative.
With a square foot, you can collect 25 pounds of oyster mushroom per year. Let’s take a quick calculation.
An oyster mushroom pound is priced at around $7/pound. So if you have a quarter-acre patch, you can earn a total of $1.9 million for an entire season.
It is understandable why mushrooms are one of the most profitable greenhouse crops. Another good thing about mushrooms is their high adaptation to most conditions while not requiring much equipment.
How To Grow
Unlike most kinds of plants, mushrooms don’t want direct sunlight to thrive. Thus, to plant mushrooms in the greenhouse, you might need to modify your greenhouse’s portion to block out the light.
You might need to ensure the temperature inside is relatively stable. The ideal temperature ranges from 55 to 60℉, and it is helpful to keep the air moist.
#8. Ginseng
Ginseng has become a staple in the culture of Asians for years. And it is now growing fast in the Western countries.
Many speciality crop growers call it “a green gold.” So, if you are a patient person with a significant vacancy, you can consider growing ginseng in your greenhouse to improve your income.
Ginseng requires patience as this profitable greenhouse crop takes up to 6 years to harvest, and you cannot shorten the process by any means.
How To Grow
Before growing a ginseng crop for a greenhouse, make sure you can provide it with healthy soil. This crop needs a soil pH of between 5.0 and 6.0.
Moreover, the soil should be well-drained. Finally, remember to check pest and disease problems as well.
If there is an issue, only apply organic solutions like yellow sticky traps. One more thing, ginseng prefers organic matter like leaf mould and compost.
#9. Bamboo
We cannot miss this incredibly profitable crop in today’s list. The most significant point of bamboo is that it can reach maturity very fast.
It can flourish to 2 feet over 24 hours. Another plus point is that it can adapt to various environmental conditions and withstand harsh cold weather.
Growing bamboo has been a big trend used in interior and landscaping decor. Besides, you can use bamboo as shady, screen, or hedge plants, or a cooking ingredient.
More importantly, homeowners and landscapers often pay as much as $150 for potted bamboo plants.
How To Grow
The greenhouse is a great place to plant bamboo seedlings. However, before sowing the seed into pellets or pots placed in the greenhouse, you need to soak them in water for a full day.
Then, you sow a single bamboo seed in each pellet. Ensure your sources can receive 12 – 16 hours of indirect light, not full sun, as it can burn these seeds.
Besides, you can keep the greenhouse covered with a lid to trap the warmth. It is essential to water the pellets every day until they’re moist.
Conclusion
That’s all about our top 9 most profitable crops for greenhouse and some tips on how to grow them.
You can combine to grow different types in your greenhouse for the optimal profits or plant one sole crop as long as you can ensure a healthy condition for their growth.
Anyway, if you have any other ideas, please feel free to let us know. Thank you for reading!
