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Old November 15, 2007   #16
dcarch
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Around here in NY, I think people are not as interested (or knowledgeable?) in varieties. They buy based on impulse.

HD in the spring sells :

small plant at about $2.50 each.
small plants with blossoms at about $3.50 each.
8" plants with small fruits at about $6.50 each.

The nursery not far from HD sold 18" plants with good size fruits on them at $25.00 each. They got sold out quickly.

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Old November 15, 2007   #17
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I know a lot of people who garden like to preserve their harvest and can or make sauce from their tomatoes. I would include a couple of paste types, latinos especially tend to lean towards them. Some good/productive varieties I've grown have been Heidi, San Marzano, and Rio Grande. Yellow Bell is very productive also---I don't know how well it would sell, but I'm sure there are a few people out there who like to try new things. Also including some dwarf/determinate varieties for gardeners who have limited space would be good, the first ones that come to my mind are New Big Dwarf and Lime Green Salad. I agree that having some photos and information on the varieties would be helpful in helping people decide what they want to try. I'm going to try and sell my left overs next year. I usually give them away, but I think I'll try selling a few next Spring.

Tyff
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Old November 15, 2007   #18
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Sorry its taking so long to reply. We've been sick and my son doesn't let me write very long e-mails. I'm reading everything and getting my replies together now since he is taking his nap.
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Old November 15, 2007   #19
FarmerCathy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lomatia View Post
I've just had a tomato plant sale in Oz and have made some observations:

1. Had >60 varieties which has too many without some gimmick.
e.g. group the varieties into Italians, Russians or some selection that obviates the need for the buyer to make the decision. Sell and group them in 10's so they get a black, cherry, early etc.

2. Greens, yellows are not popular even though these may be sensational tasters. Everyone wants a red tomato!!

3. Have plenty of cherries!!

4. Provide as much info as possible and a pic.

5. Certainly look at the season length and match the varieties to suit.

6. Keep them cheap. Mine are AU$1. There is more chance to move all stock.

7. Grow varieties that you think will sell, not what YOU like. (Very hard to do!!)

8. People know some varieties viz. Green Z, BRussian etc so try to re-educate towards the "newer" ones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dice View Post
Pay attention to the names, too.

Black Cherry: sounds sweet
Sunsugar: ditto, although not as cool a name
Sungold: sounds golden
Box Car Willie: "Hobos know what to pinch."
Brandywine: what does that sound like to you?
Cherokee Purple: sounds interestingly rustic
Pineapple: sounds sweet and gigantic
Aunt Ginny's Purple: sounds like rural wisdom preserved
across the generations
Redfield Beauty: sounds like it produces "perfect tomatoes"
Pale Perfect Purple: ditto

And so on.

You have to balance this, of course, against the actual
tomato and how it will grow in your climate. No good
seducing someone once with a fancy cultivar name
only to have it produce very few or extremely bland
tomatoes that make them wonder why they bothered.

The fact that "purple" anything is usually pink
may put some people off that aren't expecting it.
It may help to put the purples in either a "pink" or
"dark-fruited" section (Aunt Ginny's vs Cherokee
Purple, for example), so it isn't quite as much
of a surprise what color the ripe fruit are.

Counterexamples:

Earl's Faux: terrible name for marketing. The "Earl's"
part is ok, the "Faux" is too obscure sounding.
Only cognoscenti who have heard of it will
buy these (so don't sprout very many of them
at first, until word gets around, since you might
end up growing them all yourself or donating
them to a 4-H group or something).

Something like "Earl's Hot Pink", now that would sell
anywhere.

PS:

Although the name is not very flashy,
Stupice does well in your area (according
to Carla, who posts on GW). It is early, and
it survives the heat of mid-summer, producing
small, tasty tomatoes over a very long season.
Eva Purple Ball is more interesting sounding,
and it is rumored to do very well in the heat, too.

Edit:

"Sungold: sounds golden" (imagine what you
thought the first time you saw golden figs or
golden raisins for sale somewhere).
Lots of good advice. Thank you so much! It's neat that on that side of the world your just getting into the growing season.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rnewste View Post
Cathy,

I am in Zip Code 95008, so not too far from you climate-wise. Here is my list of recommendations that should grow well in our area, and my personal rankings of 10 heirlooms that should sell well:

JD’s Special C Tex (1)

Purple Haze (2)

Earl’s Faux (3)

Ed’s Millennium (4)

Cherokee Purple (5)

Stump of the World (6)

Cherokee Chocolate (7)

Paul Robeson 8

Brandywine Sudduth (9)

Coustralee (10)


Also, not too far from you on I-80 is Brad's Wild Boar Farms. It would be well worth your time to visit his operation. Trying to make money in selling tomatoes commercially is a challenging proposition, but if you are really committed, you should talk with Brad about the metrics of your plan. (Some photos below of NORCATT 2007 at Brad's)

Ray (in Campbell, CA)
Good to hear from someone semi-local. Thanks for all the recommendations. I will see if I can contact Brad.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Worth1 View Post
In the town I live in if I tried to sell a plant with some wild name and color the non worldly locals would just go yuck.
“”””I anit gonna eat nothin like that, must be some kind of hippie tree hugger tomato.””””
That's hilarious! Good thing I live in CA they love that hippie tree hugger stuff.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Worth1 View Post
Remember that’s your money they have in their pockets.
Act like your having the time of your life.
This may sound like a lot of BS but if doesn’t hurt it will help and you will need all of the help you can get.
And above all don’t get discouraged.

Worth
All good advice you included. I haven't bought a bottle of water in plastic in a long time. So will have my Klean Kanteen handy. It was good to read all that as a reminder. Used a lot of that when I sold eggs for school at Farmer's when I was in college.

Quote:
Originally Posted by spyfferoni View Post
I know a lot of people who garden like to preserve their harvest and can or make sauce from their tomatoes. I would include a couple of paste types, latinos especially tend to lean towards them. Some good/productive varieties I've grown have been Heidi, San Marzano, and Rio Grande. Yellow Bell is very productive also---I don't know how well it would sell, but I'm sure there are a few people out there who like to try new things. Also including some dwarf/determinate varieties for gardeners who have limited space would be good, the first ones that come to my mind are New Big Dwarf and Lime Green Salad. I agree that having some photos and information on the varieties would be helpful in helping people decide what they want to try. I'm going to try and sell my left overs next year. I usually give them away, but I think I'll try selling a few next Spring.

Tyff
Good idea. I just bought some San Marzano seeds. Does anyone know how well they would do here?
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Old November 16, 2007   #20
FarmerCathy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carolyn137 View Post
Cathy, what varieties you sell as plants is going to be dependent on the area where you are and how much they know about heirloom tomatoes.

If they aren't that familiar with them then it's best to start out with just some good red and pink varieties and get them accustomed to being weaned away from store bought ones which are mostly reds.

So once you tell me about your area and the degree of expertise/knowledge about heirloom tomatoes in your area I'd be glad to make some suggestions.

You say you want sweet ones. But is that what your customers might want? I think those are some of the things you have to think about as you develop your list of possible varieties.

And I do think if you're going to sell plants you need at least 10-15 different varieties so there's adequate choice involved.
My area is the valley of CA. 95-105 degree weather from June to September. Long growing season. First frost the middle of November.
I was just thinking if I can't sell them then atleast they would be ones I liked.
Both of the farmer's markets I go to they sell heirloom tomatoes.
10 to 15 varieties seem reasonable.
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Old November 16, 2007   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rnewste View Post
Cathy,

I am in Zip Code 95008, so not too far from you climate-wise. Here is my list of recommendations that should grow well in our area, and my personal rankings of 10 heirlooms that should sell well:

JD’s Special C Tex (1)

Purple Haze (2)

Earl’s Faux (3)

Ed’s Millennium (4)

Cherokee Purple (5)

Stump of the World (6)

Cherokee Chocolate (7)

Paul Robeson 8

Brandywine Sudduth (9)

Coustralee (10)


Also, not too far from you on I-80 is Brad's Wild Boar Farms. It would be well worth your time to visit his operation. Trying to make money in selling tomatoes commercially is a challenging proposition, but if you are really committed, you should talk with Brad about the metrics of your plan. (Some photos below of NORCATT 2007 at Brad's)

Ray (in Campbell, CA)
Where do you find all these varieties? Thanks, Cathy
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Old November 16, 2007   #22
dice
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Quote:
I just bought some San Marzano seeds."
Most pastes should do fine in your climate. The caveats
are that the buyer needs to know that is what they are
buying ("roma-like", not juicy, with tiny seeds, meant
for cooking) and that roma-derived tomatoes tend
to get BER easily (soil needs plenty of calcium and
to stay moist; possibly a side-effect of decades of
selection in chalky Mediterannean soils rich in calcium,
where BER just didn't happen unless there was a drought
and they were not irrigated.)

Odds are people that select paste tomato seedlings will
already know enough about tomatoes in general to know
that, though.

Korney posted a list of "great paste tomatoes" in
a thread here a couple of months ago:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=6302&page=2

Another one that Earl particularly liked was Andes Horn
(also called Cornue de Andes, IIRC).

The thing to remember about pastes is that they rarely
compete with slicers, canners, and salad tomatoes for
fresh flavor. It is the cooking or drying of them that
concentrates the flavors, and there is a lot less juice
to reduce, so less cooking time. (Something to tell
customers that ask "What is a 'paste' tomato?)
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Old January 17, 2008   #23
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This is my list so far. Do you think I have too many similar varieties? My list consists of mostly what you suggested, but some of the ones suggested I didn't think would do well in my climate. I looked them up on the cultivar finder on Dave's Garden website. So this is it, let me know.

Cherokee purple
Aunt Ginny's Purple
Eva Purple Ball-Tomato Seeds
Stump O' The World
Cuostralee
Marvel Stripe
San Marzano - for paste (had already gotten it so that is why I decided to sell it)
Caspian Pink
Chadwick Cherry(for a regular cherry)
Brandywine
Siletz - For a determinate variety
Illinois Beauty - couldn't find Redfield Beauty
Pineapple
Isis Candy


The ones below I'm including, but are mostly for my own use

Delicious
Arkansas Traveler (for my dad)
Flame (Hillbilly)
Wapsipinicon Peach
Aunt Ruby's German Green
Sungold (my only hybrid)
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Old January 17, 2008   #24
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Last year I sold seedlings at a charity benefit sale. I thought it would be good to have different colors & unusual varieties, to provide different things from what you can buy at the local nurseries & big box stores. Not too wild - things like Caspian Pink and Red Zebra. Wrong! The number one question, all day, "Do you have Better Boy?"
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Old January 17, 2008   #25
dice
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Those seem like fine varieties to me, but you do
need an answer to the "Do you have Better Boy?"
question.

One answer is "Yes." (Start a packet of them and
have them ready, and hope that the locals that grow
big-box store hybrid reds do not prefer Early Girl.
Maybe start a packet of those, too, just in case.)

Another answer is "We actually like these {Marmande,
Rutgers, Jet Star, ...} better for a mid-season red tomato.
They grow just as well and seem to have a lot more flavor."
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Old January 17, 2008   #26
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Thanks for the advice. I will definately keep that in mind. Do you have a recommendation for something similar to the Better Boy and Early Girl that would do well with 95-105 degree heat all summer? Maybe I can tell people that ask for those varieties that these other varieties are recommended, have more flavor etc. and then tell them I will give them a refund or a different variety next year if they don't like what they buy? That seems fair. And atleast they have "tried" a new variety. Yeah know.

Thanks.
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Old January 18, 2008   #27
dice
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I wouldn't offer a refund to someone who may not
know how to grow a tomato. What you could do
instead is offer a bundle, your mid-season round
red (or pink) and something else that you have lots
of seedlings of for the price of a single seedling
(two for the price of one) to people that ask for some
well-known red hybrid that you do not have.

Mule Team and Jetsetter (one mid-season op, one early hybrid)
are two reds that both have a reputation for
better-than-average heat tolerance.

Laurel (Laurel's Heirloom Tomatoes, or something like that)
flags Rutgers in her catalog as doing well in most climates,
but not as exceptionally heat-tolerant. Jet Star is recommended
in an Iowa State Univ. publication as a good cultivar for Iowa
farmers growing for fresh market (it gets pretty hot in
mid-summer there, too, but I do not know whether they try
to keep Jet Star growing all summer). I find a lot of kudos
for Marmande for flavor and production, but no mention
of how it does in 90-100F temperatures.

One that you already have listed, Arkansas Traveller,
might outperform any of those in the kind of mid-summer
heat that you have in the California central valley. It is
actually a pink, but people who simply ask for BetterBoy
or something like that may not notice the difference between
a true red and a ripe pink once the tomatoes are ripe.
The tomatoes will be smaller, but there will be more of them,
and most people will find that they have better flavor.

Maybe Jetsetter instead of Early Girl and Mule Team or Arkansas
Traveller instead of BetterBoy?
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Old January 19, 2008   #28
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I also am growing tomatoes to sell (trying to start a nuresry actually). I have sold tomatoes in the past years and foud that people want selection and the odd ball tomatoes. I have never had one person ask for any thing "boy" or "girl" but have had loads of requests for cherokee purple, anything that's green when ripe, black cherry, brandywine, and pear shaped tomatoes. Most people I have dealt with have trusted my advice and go with what I tell them will work in our heat and humidity rather tan asking for some hybrid like bigboy or better boy.

As for your selections they look good although I would add more selection. I would have at least 2 of each color my favorties for our climate by color being

black/purple: cherokee purple, black krim, and black brandywine rl

Yellow: aunt g's gold, wonderlight, and golden egg

white: snowball, Big white

Red: Creole, market mircale and smokey mountan red

pink: county agent, pink potatotop, heathering pink

Green: cherokee green, evergreen

bicolor: luckycross

I would also do atlest 2 paste, 2 cherry and 2 beefstakes
my favorites being

paste: banana legs, amish paste
cherry: golden egg, smokey mountain red
beefsteak: cherokee purple, pink potato top

hope that helps

macmanmatty
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Old January 19, 2008   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dice View Post
I wouldn't offer a refund to someone who may not
know how to grow a tomato. What you could do
instead is offer a bundle, your mid-season round
red (or pink) and something else that you have lots
of seedlings of for the price of a single seedling
(two for the price of one) to people that ask for some
well-known red hybrid that you do not have.

Mule Team and Jetsetter (one mid-season op, one early hybrid)
are two reds that both have a reputation for
better-than-average heat tolerance.

Laurel (Laurel's Heirloom Tomatoes, or something like that)
flags Rutgers in her catalog as doing well in most climates,
but not as exceptionally heat-tolerant. Jet Star is recommended
in an Iowa State Univ. publication as a good cultivar for Iowa
farmers growing for fresh market (it gets pretty hot in
mid-summer there, too, but I do not know whether they try
to keep Jet Star growing all summer). I find a lot of kudos
for Marmande for flavor and production, but no mention
of how it does in 90-100F temperatures.

One that you already have listed, Arkansas Traveller,
might outperform any of those in the kind of mid-summer
heat that you have in the California central valley. It is
actually a pink, but people who simply ask for BetterBoy
or something like that may not notice the difference between
a true red and a ripe pink once the tomatoes are ripe.
The tomatoes will be smaller, but there will be more of them,
and most people will find that they have better flavor.

Maybe Jetsetter instead of Early Girl and Mule Team or Arkansas
Traveller instead of BetterBoy?
So true. Not everyone can keep thier plants alive. Lots of good advice. Thank you so much.

macmanmatty - Thank you. I will make sure I have green tomatoes and another yellow. I think I have 3 cherries already so I think I'm covered there. You must have more knowledgeable people coming through buying plants. I can only hope that it is that way here with the people I meet.
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Old January 19, 2008   #30
dice
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PS:

Jumbo Jim Orange might be a hot item in your area
this year, at least among GW readers:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...452423903.html

Marianna's Heirloom Seeds has it (hopefully still in stock):

http://www.mariseeds.com/2005catalog/yellows.html
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