Tips from Sacra-tomato's growing king
By Debbie Arrington
Sacramento Bee
Posted: 06/11/2010 12:00:00 AM PDT
Updated: 06/11/2010 01:31:27 PM PDT
Ray Yeung has tomato juice in his veins.
"My dad started growing tomatoes almost 60 years ago," said Yeung, scanning one of his fields in West Sacramento. "Once you start farming, you can't get it out of your blood. It's an adrenaline rush. "... I like everything about them. I like the way they grow, I like the way they look."
And like many people, Yeung loves the taste of a ripe heirloom tomato pulled fresh from the vine: "There's nothing like it."
In area restaurants, Ray Yeung has become synonymous with flavorful heirlooms.
"People ask for his tomatoes by name," said Jim Mills of Produce Express, which supplies tons of Yeung's tomatoes to local eateries and caterers.
Sacramento earned its nickname for a reason. The Big Tomato appreciates great tomatoes, and Yeung has become Sacramento's Mr. Tomato, nurturing the beauties from seed to table.
Much of what he's learned on the way to that title can help home gardeners achieve success, too.
From Williams to Walnut Grove, Yeung and his crew have transplanted about 15,000 acres of tomatoes so far this spring — about 100 million seedlings. That's in addition to the Yeung family's own 2,000 acres, divided among heirloom and canning tomatoes, seed crops and alfalfa.
Heirlooms have become Yeung's prized crop, an evolution that happened almost by accident. "I wanted to eat some good, fresh market tomatoes," he said. "So I got a few plants."
Then he asked Mills if Produce Express might want some. "He showed me these goofy-looking tomatoes and wondered if there was any market," Jim Mills said. "Now we're in our ninth season of selling his heirlooms. "... People ask for his tomatoes by name."This year, Yeung is growing 26 varieties, including some requested specifically by local chefs. His personal favorites are Pink Brandywine, Cherokee Purple and Marble Stripe, also known as Pineapple. But Yeung learned a hard lesson with his first crop.
"It's amazing, but the rougher you treat them, the better they respond," he said. "When I first tried to grow them, I treated them like commercial tomatoes and got zero crop; they were all vines and leaves. I planted 12 acres and got five boxes total of tomatoes. I treated them too well. It was the biggest life lesson I learned — and it cost a lot of money."
Heirlooms thrive on less water and fertilizer than their counterparts. "That's the No. 1 mistake people make — they water them too much," Yeung said. "No. 2 is too much fertilizer."
Nitrogen-rich fertilizers will yield bushels of leaves, not heirlooms. Yeung suggests one dose of balanced fertilizer (10-10-10, for example) when planting and a little more as fruit sets. "But not too much," he warned.
Yeung recommends one deep watering a week; that's six hours on a drip system. They may need a little more during triple-digit heat.
Home gardeners should experiment with their tomatoes every year, growing different varieties, Yeung said. "Plant three (vines) and try three different regimes (of fertilizer). I'm always experimenting, too. Mix it up. You may be surprised."
Raybo
