Selling heirloom maters....

[GIZZARDFARM]

Last year was my best year in 7 years as far as production and sales. I sold about 1,000 lbs of heirloom maters and double that of hybrids. I made more on the heirlooms and had folks begging for more. I guess it just goes to prove people like taste more than pretty. In 09 Im eliminating hybrids all together and planting 400 heirlooms yall keep me in ur prayers....Im gonna need it.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by GIZZARDFARM

Anybody ever grow Brandyboys and what was your experiences..im basically looking for good tasting tomato that is heavy producer.(for sale at my farmers market) I sell hybrids and heirlooms but looking to try new types...

Gizzard, that is your first post, what happened.

Worth

[GIZZARDFARM]

Nothing really happened had a good crop of golith,parks whoppers and celeberties but i made more money with half the production of heirlooms. Folks down at the market got where they came to me and walked by everyones and mine also hybrids to get my heirlooms.(I was the only one at market selling heirlooms) KBX were a BIG hit as well as brandywine and cherokee purple..I may still grow a few whoppers and brandyboys (5 or 6) but IM expanding my heirloom horizons. sent my order off today for seeds what do u think bout my selections. sun gold, kelloggs b'fast, black cherry, cherokee purple, carbon, aunt ginnys purple, bw suddath, earls faux, prudens purple, bw red, bw otv and kbx....

[carolyn137]

sun gold, kelloggs b'fast, black cherry, cherokee purple, carbon, aunt ginnys purple, bw suddath, earls faux, prudens purple, bw red, bw otv and kbx....

****

Sounds fine but where did you get your Red Brandywine seeds from? I ask b'c there's a lot of wrong Red Brandywine seeds out there.

[Wi-sunflower]

I also have had good results with heirlooms at the farmers markets. One tip -- be sure to put the name of the variety on what you are selling. I've found that people are more willing to try tomatoes that look less than prefect if they know the name and maybe a bit of the "story" of the tomato.

I only know some of your varieties, but those I know look like good choices. I would like to suggest you also try Marianna's Peace and Orange Strawberry. Both produces tons last year. If you want some seed I have lots of both.

Also if you want another good cherry, try Amish Salad. Good tasting pink and really productive for me.

[Worth1]

From a selling/looks point of view I find that Carbon and Cherokee Purple are the same more or less.
Gregori’s Altai is a real must for your garden and a good producer early and has a great taste
If you ordered from TGS and you call them you can get it added to your list, if you want.
Or I can send you some.
All of your selections are fine.

Did you get KBX commercially or from a friend?

I can’t seem to find it and am too lazy to look on line.

Best of luck and good growing,
Worth

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Did you get KBX commercially or from a friend?

I can’t seem to find it and am too lazy to look on line.

Best of luck and good growing,
Worth

Worth I can send you a few KBX seeds if you need. Would allow me to re-pay what you sent me last year just send me a PM if interested.

[geeboss]

Its great to see that more heirlooms are coming to local farmers markets. Here in NVa we are seeing more variety over the past 5 years as more farms pickup on the fact the public is now aware of heirloom taste. However early hybrids still fill the gaps from July to Early August.

George

[kygreg]

For those of you who grow heirlooms for your local markets, does your success depend on growing several plants of each variety or could one do ok if he or she grew one plant of several varieties. How many tomatoe plants do you grow to have enough to sell at a market?

[Wi-sunflower]

For the markets I go to it would be hard to have a decent number of tomatoes of any 1 variety with less than about 10 plants. Especially when the plants are just getting started. I would say you need about 10 lbs / variety just to get it noticed. Just a couple of tomatoes at a time wouldn't cut it except at the very very beginning of homegrown tomatoes for your area.

If you are being very attentive to your plants, much more than I can be, you might get away with 5 or 6 plants / variety, but I think that would be about the minimum. By attentive I mean staking/caging, mulching, watering, all the stuff that someone with only a few plants can do vs someone that has a few ACRES of plants.

The amount of fruit you would need would also depend on the size of your market. If it's a small market with only a few vendors, you might get away with less. The market I go to has about 120 vendors and around 25,000 visitors when the weather is nice.

Another big thing would be to check with your market about how they feel about sampling. Unfortunately my best market is in a big city and they have gone overboard on the sampling rules. Virtually anything that needs to be "cut" for sampling is a No-No. So cutting the big tomatoes for cubes to sample is out for me. Letting people try any of the cherry or grape varieties is OK tho.

Since they imposed the no-cut rule it has really hurt melon sales too. You can sell 2-3 times as many melons (cantalopes and watermelons) if people can taste them.

Just some more things to think about. Those are my experiences and may very well be different elsewhere.

[kygreg]

Wi-sunflower;

Thanks sound like good advice and you know your market.

Another thing I question, is here in my area which is a mostly rural area where a lot of people grow their own tomatoes(the great majority of which are hybrids), if it would be financially viable even to do it. I think $1.50 - $2.00 per lb. would probably be a top price here. Last year I grew between 800 and 900 lbs not counting cherries. I did not sell any, so I guess any money that I got would be more than I had. Was just considering the idea as something to do in retirement, but not sure if I want to make a business out of a fun hobby.

[Wi-sunflower]

OK, prices depend a lot on time of the year.

Spring in my area, Greenhouse tomatoes get around $4/ lb for hybrid but vine ripe. Sometimes a bit more.

Field tomatoes don't come on strong here til late July or occasionally mid Aug. From then til frost around Sept/Oct, prices can get as low as $1 lb for perfect but hybrids. Some of the growers that are organic can get better. Sometimes up to $3/ lb for heirlooms but I don't recall anything higher during the tomato glut time.

The trick is to somehow have tomatoes earlier than field growers but not go thru the hassle and heating costs of a full fledged greenhouse. Planting in a "high tunnel" or some other system for getting tomatoes a couple of weeks or month earlier is how you can get $2-3/lb and turn your customers on to the better taste at the same time.

[bigmeanmamma]

clue me in...What's KBX?

[kygreg]

There is a thread going on here now comparing Kellogg's Breakfast and KBX. KBX, i think is the Potato Leaf version of KB; the large majority of those posting seem to prefer KBX.

[goodwin]

Well, one key is to get to market early. In Santa Fe and Los Alamos I can easily get $5/lb for field-grown heirlooms at the beginning of the season. The quality has to be excellent. I pick just before market and anything that is not perfect or anything left over I put through the dehydrator. It helps to label each variety and know its story. Flavor is what brings them back, though. Regulars establish a route at the market, and you have to get on their shopping list.
Lee