Varieties of tomato that sell well

[Hairy Moose Knuckles]

The local gardeners around here think the only tomatoes to grow are Fantastic and Celebrity. When you tell them there are much better tasting tomatoes, they scoff at ya.

Some folks just have to learn the hard way.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Hairy Moose Knuckles

The local gardeners around here think the only tomatoes to grow are Fantastic and Celebrity. When you tell them there are much better tasting tomatoes, they scoff at ya.

Some folks just have to learn the hard way.

Just what town in Zone 8 Texas do you live in, if I may ask.

If you wont tell then I bet it is a small town.

I have been to most of them in Texas at one time or another.

The folks here in Bastrop are mostly form some place else which makes it a lot better.

Worth

[Hairy Moose Knuckles]

I'm in the Mexia, Coolidge area.

[GIZZARDFARM]

I sell alot of tomatos and I have found that keeping one of each variety sliced up and a good salt shaker has pulled alot of business to my tables. also an information sheet on each variety with a little background information helps.

[Worth1]

Yep Ive been to Mexia that explains it.
I love that bacon they sell in Centerville at the store by Hy 45.
A whole side for about $30 and sliced the way you want it.

Nice area.

Worth

[kdawg39]

It's funny that heirloom tomatoes are still a tough sell for many of you.

Up here (Toronto, Ontario), there's a lot of awareness about them and people really seem to covet them. They're sold for top dollar at the Whole Foods Market and are even appearing in regular supper markets.

When the Organic Tomato Lady brings her seedlings to the nearby Garden Centre, she sells out popular varieties in minutes. Last year I literally camped out and waited an hour for her to arrive and I wasn't alone.

It seems kind of ironic that it's the big city urban types who are going gaga over Heirlooms while the more rural folk are harder to knock off their tried and true favorites -- if I can make a generalization.

[tomatoguy]

At this point, I give plants away but here is what is popular with my growers:

Brandywine Sudduth's
Earl's Faux
Neves Azorean Red
Berkeley Tie-Dye
Early Large Red
Rose Quartz Multi-Flora (cherry)
Mortgage Lifter

mater

ps..kdawg...all of my growers are rural or at least suburban so your generalization might not work here. There are lots more heirloom growers and organic gardeners here than there was just a few years ago.

[gardenhappy]

I just started selling plants here in very "red neck" Florida area and my heirloom tomato's are selling great. I planted to few cherry types,everyone want those and container plants seem to be the new thing here,everyone is asking about what will grow in a container lucky for me a 5 gallon bucket is a container.So far tho,not one person even new what any of the names were not even Brandywine so i'm making up a list of what I have and all the info I have on it so far.Everyone bought at least one plant ,with the average sale being 4 plants at $3.00 each
One thing I do tho tho that may be helping sell them is I hand out samples to eat of the cherry and plums size.

[SLO_Gardener]

People in my area seem to really like the "novelty" tomatoes: blacks, stripes, bi-colors, and unusual shapes. Many vendors at Farmer's Market are selling these tomatoes, so people are becoming familiar with them and looking for them when they go to buy plants. I think "unusual" is the key. I can't tell you how many people that I know bought Banana Leggs plants because "they look so cool" only to find out that they don't taste great.

[dice]

Isn't Banana Legs a paste tomato? Those often taste a bit bland
fresh, but making sauce out of them concentrates the flavors.

I think one needs to compare the flavors of paste tomatoes with
other paste tomatoes, after they have been cooked down into
sauce, to decide which ones are a better use of the garden
space. (I have not grown Banana Legs, it is kind of late-season
for up here, so I have no comments on how the flavor compares
with other paste tomatoes, but I have read that it is
exceptionally productive and has better than average disease
tolerance.)

Inexperienced growers buying live plants would not necessarily
make that distinction, though, so paste cultivars would probably
be best grouped together separate from cherry tomatoes, small
salad tomatoes, and slicers, and prominently marked as paste
tomatoes. Then when people ask what a paste tomato is, the
seller can explain that they are intended for cooking rather
than fresh eating, and that they may taste a bit bland fresh
compared to the other types of tomatoes there (thus reducing
the possibility of unpleasant surprises for new growers).

[nctomatoman]

Each year I made minor modifications based upon people's developing and changing interests in varieties.

We always have big demand for the big reds - Andrew Rahart, Aker's WV, Neves Azorean Red; the medium reds such as Nepal, Rasp Red, Box Car Willie (but not Mule Team, strangely), Red Brandywine are in good demand as well. The real biggies for us, though, are Cherokee Purple (and slightly less, Cherokee chocolate), Sungold, Black Cherry and Mexico Midget - which people just love! Lucky Cross and Lillian's Yellow, and increasingly (after people try it), Green Giant are popular. The big orange tomatoes - Kellogg's Breakfast, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Orange Heirloom and Yellow Brandywine - are moderately sought after.

Some varieties really vary year to year, such as Arkansas Traveler - last year I ran out quickly, this year I planted more and few asked for it. Black from Tula and Black Krim were not as popular this year, but everyone seemed to want Opalka, and Shannon's sold well too. In general, paste types like Martino's Roma aren't grown nearly as much as they used to be.

[huntsman]

Great thread - thanks!

[icelord]

I beleive it is where you grow them, my banana legs were excellent and I have had good results with alot of so called spitters. We even had a cool summer and I did not do horrible, of course everything would have tasted even better with the right conditions. My chefs really loved them!

[mtbigfish]

Cathy
I live in So Calif OC several grocery stores and fruit stands sell heirloom tomatoes - Ralphs $4.99 lb, Vons $4.99- 6.99 and Whole Foods $6.99-8.99 lb so some people are aware and eating them

COLLEGES SELL HEIRLOOM TOMATO PLANTS

and besides the handfull of nurseries selling heirloom tomato plants
later in the season it is early on that the community colleges and many of the state/universities have spring tomato and pepper sales - and sell a few thousand at these
also the Fullerton Arboretum behind Fullerton State Univ has a plant sale in late march early april - after the other colleges finshe their tomato sales.
The arboretum has at least 150 heirloom tomato plant varieties and sell around 40,000 plants ($2.75+ ea)at this sale - then there is a green scene there about 2 weeks later on the property and vendors selling native Calif plants, fertilizers, organics etc etc besides 2-3 booths from private sellers or gardening clubs are there and sell a few thousand tomato plants - I have run into people at these sales asking do you have this or that - too which the are told no we sold out or no we didn't grow that this year - then some other seller slips them a card and tells them they happen to have those plants started and ready soon - I am not saying you should do this but if you are serious you may want to find out if the colleges do the plant sales in your area and if they have a list you can find out what to grow or not grow from these - or find and attend tastings later in the year find out what the local customers like - I have bought some myself that way years ago.


When you do get to the place of of selling and you have an interested possible customer sitting on the fence - tell them you know they seem interested but maybe haven't grown these before etc - tell them at the end of a sale you usually have some plants left over that you give to friends or people getting started with heirlooms and if they would like to leave their number you will arange to get some plants to them - what tomatoes have they grown or eaten that they love so you can better meet their likes.
The only stipulation is they let you know their comments after growing it -

When they call back or if you get back to them let them know if there are any varieties they are really interested in let you know and you can grow some for them next year - also on pre orders - 1/2 down you give them a little break on pricing - these are just some ideas I know vendors have used around here

Sorry for rambling on
Dennis

[brokenbar]

The Chef's I sell my sun-dried tomatoes to are all asking about the black varieities (they have heard all the hype, blah, blah, blah...smokey flavor, salty, earthy...I taste NO DIFFERENCE!) They are willing to pay twice the price for black varieties...go figure.