Question for Experienced Market Growers

[LDx4]

Originally Posted by Rockporter

Basements are for the most part a safe place to go for bad weather, the same kind of weather is not seen in California.

Sounds like you are doing well being able to get to market.

Thanks Rockporter!

We are doing ok this year -- we have about 250 plants plus squash, cukes and peppers and we have enough to take to the market each week. I'm hoping we can continue to produce enough to sell into the fall. We're not making a whole lot of money, but we're learning a lot!

Lyn

[Cole_Robbie]

Pick at first blush is the general rule.

Another thing I have learned is to not expect your customers to all like tomatoes that are exactly like you like. I like to eat tomatoes that are soft, but most of my customers like a firm tomato. I have sold a lot of almost green tomatoes. You never know when the customer might be getting ready for a vacation and want the fruit to travel well.

[antichevarieta]

I grow heirlooms in Italy..have about 400 plants. The first year I made the mistake of picking them when i thought they were vine-ripened perfect. Customers complained. They wanted more "shelf time" at home. I don't know how you can preserve what is already ripe. DO NOT put them in the fridge. Find a good passata recipe. Nothing from my field ever goes to waste.
From my experience, it is better to pick early.
ps. i just tried Gary O Sena this year (from gleckler seed man).it is the earliest beefsteak. has few to no splits or cat facing, and is amazing. I would stronly reccomend it to anyone selling in a farmers market

[LDx4]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Pick at first blush is the general rule.

Another thing I have learned is to not expect your customers to all like tomatoes that are exactly like you like. I like to eat tomatoes that are soft, but most of my customers like a firm tomato. I have sold a lot of almost green tomatoes. You never know when the customer might be getting ready for a vacation and want the fruit to travel well.

Thanks Cole Robbie - this is good advice. We had picked some just-blushing tomatoes that I was sure no one would be interested in buying, and then we ended up selling them all, even though they didn't have much color. I need to remember that everyone has different tastes and needs.

Lyn

[LDx4]

Originally Posted by antichevarieta

I grow heirlooms in Italy..have about 400 plants. The first year I made the mistake of picking them when i thought they were vine-ripened perfect. Customers complained. They wanted more "shelf time" at home. I don't know how you can preserve what is already ripe. DO NOT put them in the fridge. Find a good passata recipe. Nothing from my field ever goes to waste.
From my experience, it is better to pick early.
ps. i just tried Gary O Sena this year (from gleckler seed man).it is the earliest beefsteak. has few to no splits or cat facing, and is amazing. I would stronly reccomend it to anyone selling in a farmers market

Thanks Antichevarieta -- I WISH I had room for 400 plants! Regarding passata, I just ordered a Victorio food strainer from Amazon, based on the comments on this thread: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=29462. Now I can process everything that doesn't sell.

And thanks for the recommendation on Gary O' Sena -- a tomato with no splits is ideal

Lyn

[Salsacharley]

Hi Lyn,
I appreciate the questions and answers this thread has provided. I have 240 plants and their first fruit are just now beginning to blush.

Can you estimate how many pounds of fruit you are able to take to market each week with your plants? I am hoping to get an average of 1 lb per week per plant.

Also, I have 91 varieties and I am wondering if there are general favorites the customers prefer. I chose my varieties from my personal taste preferences and my curiosity as well as what was recommended as good market varieties.

Best to you and everyone.

Charley

[LDx4]

Hi Charley,

Good questions! I'll let you know what I'm finding out and maybe the more experienced farmers will add their knowledge too.

Remember, I've only been doing this for the past month (4 Saturdays), so I don't have much experience yet. So far, for the particular small market that I'm selling at, I've found that taking about 25 lbs of tomatoes plus 25-30 lbs of squash, cukes and peppers is sufficient and I will sell 75% of what I take in the 5 hours the market is open. I decided to start small with a more relaxed market for my first attempt. There are other larger markets in the county where I could sell a higher volume and that's my next goal.

As far as the tomato plants, I have some that are heavy producers and some that are just sitting there, not doing much. I don't know if 1 lb per plant per week is a good average or not, but it sounds reasonable. I'm keeping weight records for all my plants, so I'll know more at the end of the season.

As far as varieties, everyone loves cherry tomatoes - especially since I give away free samples. The first two weeks I would have told you that beefsteaks are the ones to sell because everyone wanted beefsteaks. But, then last week I sold out of smaller saladette sizes and ending up taking home two big beautiful beefsteaks. Go figure! But the prettier the tomato, the better. People always go for the Ananas Noires and Berkeley Tie Dye hearts because they look unusual.

I'm certainly not making much money this year doing this, but it's good experience and I'm learning a lot .

Lyn

[Salsacharley]

Thank you for the info Lyn. I hope your market efforts are abundantly prosperous.

[antichevarieta]

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

Hi Lyn,
I appreciate the questions and answers this thread has provided. I have 240 plants and their first fruit are just now beginning to blush.

Can you estimate how many pounds of fruit you are able to take to market each week with your plants? I am hoping to get an average of 1 lb per week per plant.

Also, I have 91 varieties and I am wondering if there are general favorites the customers prefer. I chose my varieties from my personal taste preferences and my curiosity as well as what was recommended as good market varieties.

Best to you and everyone.

Charley

With 400 plants i have about 75 varieties.
Here are some thoughts....
i have some tomatoes that are the"main crops" like gary o sena, the cherokees, brandywine, destra, stump..big blacks and "reds" that consistently taste great and are good producers.

Also I plant a lot of black cherry and sungold and only 2 to 3 plants each for other cherry tomatoes..so I have a large variety but minimal quantities of them. They look great all together!

Here in italy hearts are very popular so i plant about 8 different varieties..but only 5 plants per each.

I fill-in the rest with various colors, sizes etc etc. Is always good to be testing 5 or so new varieties every year. I don't calculate how many pounds per plant.

hope that is helpful.

[Salsacharley]

Originally Posted by antichevarieta

With 400 plants i have about 75 varieties.
Here are some thoughts....
i have some tomatoes that are the"main crops" like gary o sena, the cherokees, brandywine, destra, stump..big blacks and "reds" that consistently taste great and are good producers.

Also I plant a lot of black cherry and sungold and only 2 to 3 plants each for other cherry tomatoes..so I have a large variety but minimal quantities of them. They look great all together!

Here in italy hearts are very popular so i plant about 8 different varieties..but only 5 plants per each.

I fill-in the rest with various colors, sizes etc etc. Is always good to be testing 5 or so new varieties every year. I don't calculate how many pounds per plant.

hope that is helpful.

Thanks for this info.

I did load up on Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter and Aunt Ruby's German Green. I have several Black Cherry and Chocolate Cherry, Tommy Toe, Green Grape, and a bunch of Lollipop cherries, plus a couple plants each of All Meat, Amish Gold, Gold Nugget, and Black Opal.

I am planning on selling the cherry tomatoes by the pint. Is this the usual way?
I was going to price them about the same as the highest priced grocery store pints.

Thanks again.

Charley

[AKmark]

I have an email list of tomato lovers that I send out when I get a batch of tomatoes that needs to be moved between markets, you can offer a discount too when in a bind. The pressure cooker is another way to deal with the problem, it is still money in pocket per say.

Grow some varieties, with your favorites, that store better. I did shoot myself in the foot in one aspect of my market though. I grow several plants of reliable varieties that I know will produce during bad seasons and will store ok, while the rest is a selection of my favs and experimental delights. I am a fan of letting people sample tomatoes when they are new. Long story short; never sample your awesome heirlooms first, the rest of your crop will be picked over when the customer catches on to real tomato taste. On the flip side, the picked over tomatoes are the types that will store better, and do seem to move in time and will store between markets.
My main rule of thumb; never sell a decent tasting tomato, they have to be tomatoey, the best is subjective, but a bad one is easy to target. Discount them or compost them, I do the latter and move on.