AVOID Pepper Joe's AT ALL COSTS!
 

Advertised as above, or Pennys Tomatoes and Pepper Joe's. I got a few seeds from them, but won't grow till next spring. Does anyone else have experience with them?

[URL]http://www.pennystomatoes.com/[/URL]

[URL="http://pepperjoes.com/"]http://pepperjoe.com/[/URL]

[QUOTE]Advertised as above, or Pennys Tomatoes and Pepper Joe's. I got a few seeds from them, but won't grow till next spring. Does anyone else have experience with them?

[URL]http://www.pennystomatoes.com/[/URL]

[url]http://www.pepperjoe.com/[/url]

[/QUOTE]No experience whatsoever but I took the time to look over the tomato varieties and speaking just for myself I wouldn't order from her.

There are pictures that have been scanned from other sites that I recognized, one being from the public SSE catalog. That is illegal.

Looking at some pictures I know what they are but she's renamed them and I have absolutely nothing to do with someone who does that just to make something look unique/special.

$3 for 20 seeds for who knows what you're getting when there are so many wonderful seed sites with known varieties and lower prices raises yet another issue for me.

Ty's Taxi? Pennsylvania Great White? I find the website quite Amishland-ish in its stretches, if not price gouging (Cherokee Purple - Cherokee Indians grew them for hundreds of years?) Yikes! - lots of misinformation.....where to start? (I guess I already did!)

I'm going to have to agree, the site looks a little shady to me.

Not questioning generosity, or even seed quality. It is integrity - one of the key aspects of heirloom tomato growing is respecting the history and passing it on as accurate. The proliferation of many seed companies has led to competition that seems to push many to stretch the truth, change names or fabricate information. Not good at all.

Ok, I went to look and see what might be wrong over there. Her photo of 'The Shooting Star' tomato is a photo of 'Red Star'. I remembered the photo from the Totally Tomato catalog. [url]http://www.totallytomato.com/dp.asp?pID=00611&c=52&p=Red+Star+Tomato[/url] . Renaming tomatoes like Red Star is not a good business practice.
Remy

So...could....

Two Timing Willie be Box Car Willie?
Good Old Abe Lincoln is probably Abraham Lincoln
anyone heard of Midnight Star?
Black Forest?
Sunshine Heirloom - is it Sunray?
Ty's Taxi is likely Taxi
Pennsylvania Great White is likely Great White
Penny's Persimmon....is probably Persimmon
could Penny's Striped Green be....Green zebra?
Golden Marzano or Roman Candle - if it is Roman Candle, why Golden Marzano?

The problem is that people who purchase the mis-named or renamed or whatever varieties will, if they save seeds and pass them on, use the new names.

For goodness sake, if you look at the current state of the SSE Yearbook, it is clear that we don't need any more names for tomatoes....what we need is to honor the names that they already have!

Arggggh.......

Cherry Candy = Isis Candy
...

OMG. The site offers a load of misinformation and re-named varieties.:dizzy: :x :x

Unbelievable!

Perhaps Amishland has been renamed as Penny's Tomatoes ?:))

[QUOTE=mysidx;234251]I'm going to have to agree, the site looks a little shady to me.[/QUOTE]

I'm more inclined to say silly. The site looks like a kid designed it and the over use of her name gets very old very fast.

Other sites rename or misname tomatoes. Some just make a better impression doing it. Gary Ibsen comes to mind.

I've bought many of my seeds from the guy on ebay selling "Russian Black Cherry". I don't sweat the odd names that much because all of the seed I've gotten from him germinated and seemed to be what he said it was as far as I could tell.

Silly is enough to keep me buying from a vendor though. Penny hits me as too much of a gamble to deal with. I'd buy the 20¢ seeds at Wally-World before I'd get anything from her.

I've got a few people on line I buy from and High Mowing is just a short drive away.

Well, since I already get overwhelmed with the massive variety of heirlooms out there, making new names would just confuse me more lol....I think we have plenty enough thanks.

20 cent seeds? wow...I've never seen anything in my area for less than 1.50 and that was at Wally World. I've purchased from several vendors this year including Tatanias, Tomatofest, Victory and Remy's Sample Seed Shop. I'm quite happy with the selection they've offered and the service too :)

I just went and looked at the site and it would seem the names look okay now, (in my very limited experience that is) perhaps they realized having some fun with names wasn't really appropriate in this situation.... eg: Box Car Willie is now Box Car Willie

[QUOTE=lakelady;234292]Well, since I already get overwhelmed with the massive variety of heirlooms out there, making new names would just confuse me more lol....I think we have plenty enough thanks.

20 cent seeds? wow...I've never seen anything in my area for less than 1.50 and that was at Wally World. I've purchased from several vendors this year including Tatanias, Tomatofest, Victory and Remy's Sample Seed Shop. I'm quite happy with the selection they've offered and the service too :)

I just went and looked at the site and it would seem the names look okay now, (in my very limited experience that is) perhaps they realized having some fun with names wasn't really appropriate in this situation.... eg: Box Car Willie is now Box Car Willie[/QUOTE]

Which suggests to me that maybe Penny herself is a Tville member.;)

I'll go check it out again when I have some free time to see what changes have been made as to names and pictures.

She may just have a Google alert set up to notify her of any web activity related to the name. I would imagine if she were an active TVille member, she'd be more sensitive to the importance of proper naming, etc.

[QUOTE=carolyn137;234308]Which suggests to me that maybe Penny herself is a Tville member.;)[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Raffles;234291]I'm more inclined to say silly. The site looks like a kid designed it and the over use of her name gets very old very fast.[/quote]




Funny you say that, I was thinking the same thing. All she needs now is to have a talking tomato named penny for some kid show to come on PBS after Dora the Explorer.

Actually, I was able to determine that and several better known sites as places to avoid. [B]Tville is a wonderful learning place! [/B]My thanks to all who contribute and make it happen. LInda :)

And what is this 'piece of art'? [url]http://pennystomatoes.com/exotictomatoes2.html[/url]

I do not know what to say. Really.

She suggests that it's a rare variety of tomato, but if you watch the video, it seems like she's selling some sort of rubber band that encourages the fruit to grow in this form. I haven't looked, but I'll bet $100 that Pepper Joe lists the peter pepper.

[QUOTE=mysidx;234327][QUOTE=Raffles;234291]I'm more inclined to say silly. The site looks like a kid designed it and the over use of her name gets very old very fast.




Funny you say that, I was thinking the same thing. All she needs now is to have a talking tomato named penny for some kid show to come on PBS after Dora the Explorer.[/QUOTE]

Hey if they do it I want to be the villain that is always after her and her South American pal Tommy Tillo.

Which works better for you folks; a horn worm that sounds like Dracula or the Blight brothers?

Now why didn't I think to check out some of the other links.:lol:

So it's a squash/pepper/ tomato?:roll:

And I did see the cartoon with two huge beefsteak red tomatoes hanging down where her shall we say her bosom should be.

Too much, too much.

lakelady, I just looked at the tomato list again and see no differences except I don't think I saw the PA Great White one but I am NOT going to go back and look.

[QUOTE=Tania;234334]And what is this 'piece of art'? [URL]http://pennystomatoes.com/exotictomatoes2.html[/URL]

I do not know what to say. Really.[/QUOTE]

Wow, how do you know when it's ripe?

[QUOTE=Tania;234334]And what is this 'piece of art'? [URL]http://pennystomatoes.com/exotictomatoes2.html[/URL]

I do not know what to say. Really.[/QUOTE]
They are chayote squash!!! [url]http://www.hungrydesi.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/chayote-squash.jpg[/url]
Remy

[COLOR=purple][I]Hello everybody. This is Penny from Penny's Tomatoes.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]It's great to be part of Tomatoville.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]Keith, THANKS for being a customer. You won't be disappointed.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]Pinakbet, THANKS for your vote of confidence and positive comments. [/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]Let me say that when I started Penny's Tomatoes 4 years ago it was a mistake to rename some of our tomatoes. I though it was cute or clever and now realize it was neither.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]Keeping heirloom varietes clearly identified is critical.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]I promise that when we do our 2012 catalog and website we'll make those few tweaks.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]I've been in the seed business combined 23 years (I am a sister company to Pepper Joe's) and although we did create a fun and whimsical website we have some very serious commitments to our customers. We typically ship out orders within 3 days. I give 3 free seed packs with every order and typically they are recognizable names like Ponderosa, Marglobe, Beefsteak, etc. We have 20,000 Facebook fans...please read their reviews they absolutely love Penny's Tomatoes...see for yourself. I have 17,000 combined opt in Newletter subscribers and rarely get opt-outs. Our sales have grow substantially each year over the previous year, mostly from return customers. Anyway, not to ramble but we have our positives too. If you shop at Penny's I personally guarantee that you'll be happy.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]Thanks for listening and look forward to interacting with all of you.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]We can learn a lot here...and maybe contribute a few tips along the way.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]Tomato-Ly Yours,[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]Penny [/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]:)[/I][/COLOR]

Penny,

Let me know if you need any help fixing up the historical information or the names. Needless to say, you can always consult the TOMATObase website.

Cheers,
Tania

Thank you so much Tania. I think I'll take you up on that when teh time comes...as a double check for accuracy.
Great Gardening,
Penny

[quote]We have 20,000 Facebook fans...[/quote]

This is pretty good! I do not think I have more than 100 fans of Tatiana's TOMATObase... just looking at the TOMATObase members contributions and my customer list. Hmmmm... Maybe I do not do a good marketing job? ;)

Penny, I was glad to see you post here and indicate that you wanted to correct the variety name errors and history information presently at your website. it jsut isn't good to change variety names and then have such wrong information out there in the public tomato world, as I think you now can appreciate.

Tania has offered to help and I'm sure Craig and Remy and I would as well, I can't remember the others who commented.

I think most of the info for most of the varieties you'd find at Tania's site but Craig and I are indeed, ahem, much older and have grown tomatoes I think far longer than most who post here and are both long time life time SSE members as well. So just yell if you need more information.

What I'm saying is that I was just 72 in June but my brain still functions quite normally on most days, thank you, and I have grown out about 3,000 plus varieties and also wrote a book about heirloom tomatoes, now out of print, but I kept a few here at home and a check for about $500 will get anyone one of those unsullied copies.:lol:

Again, I think we all thank you for responding.

Indeed - welcome, Penny! Anything I can do to help, let me know!

[COLOR=magenta]Thanks Carolyn and Craig. We will get it fixed for 2012's catalog and Website.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=magenta]Tomato-Ly Yours,[/COLOR]
[COLOR=magenta]Penny[/COLOR]

[QUOTE=PennyM;234646][COLOR=magenta]Thanks Carolyn and Craig. We will get it fixed for 2012's catalog and Website.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=magenta]Tomato-Ly Yours,[/COLOR]
[COLOR=magenta]Penny[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

And some of the pictures as well, like the one from SSE and the one from TT, and, well, I forgot the others.

Sorry, just can't help myself here b'c I've got bills to pay and don't want to so I've alternated by playing Solitaire and coming back to Tville, my home since Jan of 2006 , although I still read/post at some other message sites and I can do that since I have the time b'c I'm retired.:)

[QUOTE=PennyM;234616][COLOR=purple][I]Hello everybody. This is Penny from Penny's Tomatoes.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]It's great to be part of Tomatoville.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]Keith, THANKS for being a customer. You won't be disappointed.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]Pinakbet, THANKS for your vote of confidence and positive comments. [/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]Let me say that when I started Penny's Tomatoes 4 years ago it was a mistake to rename some of our tomatoes. I though it was cute or clever and now realize it was neither.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]Keeping heirloom varietes clearly identified is critical.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]I promise that when we do our 2012 catalog and website we'll make those few tweaks.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]I've been in the seed business combined 23 years (I am a sister company to Pepper Joe's) and although we did create a fun and whimsical website we have some very serious commitments to our customers. We typically ship out orders within 3 days. I give 3 free seed packs with every order and typically they are recognizable names like Ponderosa, Marglobe, Beefsteak, etc. We have 20,000 Facebook fans...please read their reviews they absolutely love Penny's Tomatoes...see for yourself. I have 17,000 combined opt in Newletter subscribers and rarely get opt-outs. Our sales have grow substantially each year over the previous year, mostly from return customers. Anyway, not to ramble but we have our positives too. If you shop at Penny's I personally guarantee that you'll be happy.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]Thanks for listening and look forward to interacting with all of you.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]We can learn a lot here...and maybe contribute a few tips along the way.[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]Tomato-Ly Yours,[/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]Penny [/I][/COLOR]
[COLOR=purple][I]:)[/I][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Again, my 2 cents. I'm very new here. I came here after seeing Carolyn reference this place somewhere else. I trust her. I'm still figuring out everything here, but saw the "Seed and Pant sources" in the welcome as a sure place I had to visit, and give some of my feedback on(not that anyone is asking of course). I've looked up just about all the vendors listed here as possible places to try for 2013. Anyhow, I did see the reviews for your place earlier, and figured I would never buy from your place. What bothered me most was the re-naming of the different varieties. I agree, you just don't do that. It reminds me of McDowells and the golden arcs. I'm glad to see however that you didn't take criticism harshly, and are willing to learn from it. Good luck, and looking forward to seeing your revised 2012 catalog.