Surf Girl, I didn't know you had an established operation of that size. I gathered from your earlier posts that you were just getting into commercial production. You don't need any advice from a two-bit amateur like me - I'm embarrassed. I meant well.
It would be interesting to hear more about your operation -packing, marketting, etc. Could you tell us where to buy a smaller quantity of single layer, stacking plastic tomato crates? We have searched all over for them but minimum orders are at least a thousand - we only need a few dozen. I'm sure you have a lot of them -you wouldn't put those premium toms in laundry baskets like we do. I've even fantasized about trying to bribe a Wal-Mart truck driver when they p/u the empties - but since we're a church operation that might be a wee bit inappropriate! JUST KIDDING!!! LOL
We still have around a thousand cages - but that's a long way from 15,000. We stack them along the fence line - not a big problem. I have 22 acres of land. When we increased the number of plants two years ago we went to FW, but we still use the cages too. The cages are LOT less labor consuming - and, to be perfectly honest, the FW is so hard on our arthritic old backs - especially on the bottom run - that I've thought about either making more cages or cutting back the crop. The only drawback is storage room - other than that, the cages are superior in every way - easier, MUCH faster, and 100% efficient. We just throw -'em on a flat bed trailer and tow it down each new row at transplant time, stick it over the plant and that's it! No more hassle of any kind - but we use herbicides now. When I was an organic gardener, weeding inside the cages was admittedly a major problem. There are still commercial growers using cages - I talked to one in KY on another forum just recently. They cut the CWR down the middle and make 2-1/2 ft cages for determinates. That's what we have -"half cages".
I was surprised when you said you can sell to lower income people at affordable prices. That's what we do (voluntary donation actually), but we grow conventionally with all volunteer labor. If I were growing gourmet produce organically, with hired help, I would have to get top dollar to make a profit. Poor folks deserve nutritious food, as you say, but we're not going to provide them with organic-grown Brandywine tomatoes and fresh asparagus spears! LOL -That's like serving them prime filet mignon and Maine lobster, for heaven's sake! LOL Ground beef and canned tuna is just as nutritious and they would probably prefer it anyway.
I'd sure like to see how y'all weave those to the main stem - I'm having a hard time visualizing that. (I don't know how to send photos/videos - but I never take any either). All I can figure is that you add the next run right at the tip top of the growing plant in order to catch the stem. I guess that could be done but the timing would have to be perfect.
Things are fixin' to get busy around here with spring approaching - so I won't be pestering y'all for awhile here. With this cold, there's nuthin' else to do but sit here and run my mouth! LOL
Jack
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