Quote:
Originally Posted by zipcode
I'm surprised anyone amateur can still be there first-ish to market. Looks like the commercial growers there are really lagging behind the times.
What I learned selling on ebay is: auction is risky and usually sells for a lot less. Of course, with stuff that goes bad if not sold it may be the only way sometimes.
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I was really surprised as well. Luckily it is a producer only market and none of the sellers grow in high tunnels. The high tunnel growers sell wholesale because they normally only grow a couple of crops and most actually only grow tomatoes or flowers since the most money is there. Plus we had late frost and I heard a few vendors lost all their early plants.
I used a combination of starting my plants in January and up potting till plant out then used reflective mulch and weekly fertilization to speed up ripening. It worked well and If I had a heated high tunnel I could likely be the first at that market by a month or more.
They were selling tomatoes at a nearby produce auction long before I was, but resell isnt allowed at my market and the vendors get really pi$$ed if anyone tries to cheat. It helps that some of the smaller growers are on the board and will make farm visits anytime they get complaints or something seems awry.