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Old June 21, 2016   #28
shule1
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If people in your area are anything like people where I live, they'll want early tomatoes more than anything. (I think where I live, people get Roma and Early Girl F1 more than anything, though—probably because that's what they're sold the most, and what they're familiar with). I would be sure to strongly advertise the days to maturity. People will likely take notice. Also, in short-season areas, a lot of people want big tomatoes that do well, if possible, because they're tired of small tomatoes all the time. Advertising expected size for larger varieties could go a long way, too.

For the awesome varieties you have that don't sell as well, you could always give a free plant away with every purchase (or on certain days). Then, next year, it should be a lot more popular, and people should know its value better. You might want to make the free plant a surprise gift after the purchase, if you don't want them to buy less plants, though, but don't force it on them, since some people very strongly only want a certain number of plants.

From the ones on your list, from what I've read about them, the following are ones I would recommend that you consider keeping (if I was your customer, that is, which may have little to do with how well it would sell):
• Siletz
• Cosmonaut Volkov
• North Dakota Earliana
• Sheyenne
• Early Wonder Pink
• Juliet F1
• Sungold F1

If Sweet Tangerine is the same as Tangerine, that might be cool, too. Tangerine is 75 days, but a big, orange tomato. I'm not sure how well it does in Wyoming, however. I looked it up; apparently, it's a different variety, and a hybrid, but it looks cool. I would keep it if you like it.

If Goliath is anything like Bush Goliath F1, I would definitely not offer it where I live (we grew it one year and it produced a few handfuls of tomatoes that all ripened the day before the first frost; it was not early here; you can get better taste with much earlier tomatoes). It might do fine in Wyoming, though. I've heard it does well in some areas.

Lemon Boy F1 will probably sell, but if it weren't for that, I would probably take it off the list, personally. It is heat/cold-tolerant, though, and has a decent acidic taste. My reason is that the fruit to vine ratio wasn't as ideal as I would have liked when we grew it. Otherwise, it's a fine tomato, if late compared to Early Girl F1.

I wasn't a huge fan of Green Zebra in my area, last year, but I didn't give it great conditions. It might be totally awesome for some. I'm sure it'll sell, though.

I wouldn't particularly recommend Delicious, personally, but if people buy it, go for it. It did have the record for the World's Largest tomato for a long time, after all.

Chadwick Cherry has some major heat-tolerance, but it's kind of late (80 days) for a cherry tomato for Wyoming, I would think—but then, I don't know what it tastes like, or how productive it is when it gets going. Maybe it's earlier in your area, though, but if not, there are lots of cherries that should produce more and earlier tomatoes throughout the season, in a short season.

Glacier, Kimberly, Stupice and Moravsky Div are probably all pretty good, from what I've read. Glacier is a whole lot slower to flower in my area than Matina is, though, but that may be because the plant is more compact. I would highly recommend Matina if it grows well there. Matina should have bigger fruits than those others, too. I'm not sure about the flavor comparison other than that people don't agree.

Legend could be good, but people generally like Siletz better, even though Legend is supposed to be bigger, earlier and more disease-resistant (I don't know that it really is any of those, though, according to most people—but maybe it is in the pacific northwest). I hope you're advertising that they're both parthenocarpic.

The tomato on your list that strikes me as the most interesting is actually North Dakota Earliana, from what I've read. It's fairly sizeable. It's early. It's heat and cold-tolerant. I've read good things about it; I'm guessing it would do well in Wyoming.

I don't have any particular thoughts I want to share about the other tomatoes you listed that I didn't mention, currently.

Last edited by shule1; June 21, 2016 at 09:52 PM.
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