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Old July 20, 2016   #15
BigVanVader
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Greenville, South Carolina
Posts: 3,099
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PureHarvest View Post
Urban, I am in a similar boat.
I am going to pare down.
My buyer resells at his large retail produce stand in a high end area.
Pretty much pointless to grow anything red no matter how large it is.
The customers can get that from his standard tomato display.
The heirlooms have to be pink or brown/black or striped etc.
His eyes lit up when he saw my black beauty (which is one of my favorite tasting this year and productive).
People buying heirlooms here want the unique. They don't seem to care about a red heirloom. In fact, I sense there could be a segment that now thinks if it's red it can't be an heirloom.
The restaurant scene is similar but I am going to move away from that next year. They just don't move the volume I need to unload to make real money. And doing delivery twice a week to multiple stops to drop of a box or two at each place in a busy beach area is a nightmare.
I have a good friend that is a broker that will be able to move 40 boxes a week for me to a guy he supplies that does a produce route to dc and ny restaurants.
Uniformity and production are the two keys for my selections next year.
My stuff is over the place with size this year. Grading and correctly packing the product is a must if you are selling to people who handle lots of product. I would not make the money that I want with the culls I have this year.
So what heirloom or OP do you all like that is productive and a uniform size that is not red?
Is CP uniform for you? Productive?
CP has been quite uniform and productive for me and is also much more resistant to environmenal stresses and disease. I grew several blacks this year an I gotta say CP has been the best overall in every category except taste, but that is just my taste buds, customers love em.
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