[Wi-sunflower]

I would have to concur that marking ON the tomato is a NO-NO. But I would also say that having the varieties labeled does increase sales a lot.

What we do is to have separate buckets when picking. Sometimes we will mark on the side of the bucket, but better is to have a card IN the bucket with the name. Wal-mart and some of the "dollar" stores will have decent 3 gal buckets used for car washes that you can usually find for about $1. Not as sturdy as the 5 gal buckets but since they don't hold as much you don't get as many bruised tomatoes. If you really don't have many tomatoes of any 1 variety at a time, the 5 qt ice cream buckets might work out.

That card gets transfered with the tomatoes as they are washed and put in boxes for the market. I use 4x6 index cards marked with a Sharpie. If I was really efficient I would print them out on my laser printer and then laminate them so they would go all the way from field to market and be used over and over.

One other tip -- when picking for market, try to get the stem OFF as you pick. Seems like a little thing but if you leave the stem on in the buckets and boxes, the stems will poke holes in their neighbor and that tomato won't be sellable.

Carol