tomato types - Page 2

freelancer79d · October 28, 2010

Good luck on you endeavors mich04.

Bama mater · October 31, 2010

Wordwiz, You will also need alot of help (Planting, Stringing, Picking, Distributing). I've sold maters for the past 2 seasons and I grow mostly heirlooms and OP maters, but I only grow approx 500 plants and do all the work myself and still work a 40hr a week job. When I sell at the local farmers market I'm the only one with heirlooms everybody else has tons of red tomatos and sell for about $1 a lb. I get $3 a lb for the hierlooms and also sell to several local Chefs. I just think it would be tough to compete with the reg red tomato market unless you go big (over 10,000 plants) and then that would be your only job.

JackE · December 20, 2010

Our clientele is very unsophisticated. They basically judge our tomatoes by Wal-Mart standards. As long as they're round and red, they'll buy 'em - and wouldn't pay one cent more for a gorgeous, perfect, delicious Brandywine than a plain-old Celebrity determinate hybrid picked half green and ripened with ethylene gas!

So it all depends on your market. Heirlooms would be a waste of time for us.

Jack

Bama mater · December 20, 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackE

They basically judge our tomatoes by Wal-Mart standards. As long as they're round and red, they'll buy 'em - and wouldn't pay one cent more for a gorgeous, perfect, delicious Brandywine than a plain-old Celebrity determinate hybrid picked half green and ripened with ethylene gas!

Jack

YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JackE · December 21, 2010

:-) -- Well, we are a charity operating in a poor and minority community and our clients aren't exactly gourmets. And, around here, even our more affluent benefactors think "Brandywine" is some sort of cocktail drink.

So, our emphasis is on production and labor factors - ease of harvest, quantity, appearance (which is numero uno), disease resistance, thick skin for handling, cracking and BER resistance, etc etc. They do taste a little better than Wally World toms, since they mostly ripen on the vine, but taste is quite a ways down the line when we choose varieties. If we match Wal-Mart quality, we have accomplished our goal.

TSWV forced us into some varieties that didn't even taste as good as Wal-Mart (Amelia) and most of our customers never even knew the difference (a few did). Hopefully, TSWV is behind us for a while.

My point is, variety selection all depends on each growers market. That's why there are literally thousands of tomato cultivars.

Jack

October 28, 2010	#16
freelancer79d Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2010 Location: Lancaster, California Posts: 233	Good luck on you endeavors mich04.

October 31, 2010	#17
Bama mater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Huntsville, AL Posts: 269	Wordwiz, You will also need alot of help (Planting, Stringing, Picking, Distributing). I've sold maters for the past 2 seasons and I grow mostly heirlooms and OP maters, but I only grow approx 500 plants and do all the work myself and still work a 40hr a week job. When I sell at the local farmers market I'm the only one with heirlooms everybody else has tons of red tomatos and sell for about $1 a lb. I get $3 a lb for the hierlooms and also sell to several local Chefs. I just think it would be tough to compete with the reg red tomato market unless you go big (over 10,000 plants) and then that would be your only job.

December 20, 2010	#18
JackE Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Woodville, Texas Posts: 520	Our clientele is very unsophisticated. They basically judge our tomatoes by Wal-Mart standards. As long as they're round and red, they'll buy 'em - and wouldn't pay one cent more for a gorgeous, perfect, delicious Brandywine than a plain-old Celebrity determinate hybrid picked half green and ripened with ethylene gas! So it all depends on your market. Heirlooms would be a waste of time for us. Jack

December 21, 2010	#20
JackE Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Woodville, Texas Posts: 520	:-) -- Well, we are a charity operating in a poor and minority community and our clients aren't exactly gourmets. And, around here, even our more affluent benefactors think "Brandywine" is some sort of cocktail drink. So, our emphasis is on production and labor factors - ease of harvest, quantity, appearance (which is numero uno), disease resistance, thick skin for handling, cracking and BER resistance, etc etc. They do taste a little better than Wally World toms, since they mostly ripen on the vine, but taste is quite a ways down the line when we choose varieties. If we match Wal-Mart quality, we have accomplished our goal. TSWV forced us into some varieties that didn't even taste as good as Wal-Mart (Amelia) and most of our customers never even knew the difference (a few did). Hopefully, TSWV is behind us for a while. My point is, variety selection all depends on each growers market. That's why there are literally thousands of tomato cultivars. Jack