Help with my grow list

[dice]

Here is a good picture of Eva Purple Ball not from a seed seller site:
http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/200..._UT/8defe6.jpg

That tomato will sell anywhere, to anybody shopping for tomatoes,
no matter their background (have they even heard of an heirloom
tomato before).

A couple of pictures of Neve's Azorean Red from Suze:
http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/200...ze_/cac27a.jpg
http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/200...ze_/468100.jpg
(The one with the healed-over split might be a bit chancy on the
farm stand unless someone is looking at it who knows the tomato
already.)

For blacks/purples, they are going to need to be just about perfect (my
guess), because people who do not already know about them are going
to wonder if there is something wrong with them (are they rotten).

People might be curious about the shape of Amish Paste, and it is juicy
enough to not be unpleasant when they cut it up for a salad. (People
seeking a real, dry, thick-walled paste for making sauce probably
already know about it, and you could always slice one open if they
ask.)

(I tend to give people unfamiliar with heirloom tomatoes a mixed box
of red, pink, yellow, orange, and black tomatoes. They tend to be
amazed by how sweet the black ones are. If they look askance, I cut
one up, eat some of it myself, and then offer them a fork and the plate.
It is a relevation for them.)

[carolyn137]

When I was selling fruits at a very large permanent year round Farm Stand one of the most popular items, always, was pints of cherry tomatoes, some with one variety, some with mixed varieties. They would sell out before any of the labelled single larger fruits.

I didn't go back up to see what cherry tomatoes you listed.

The major problem I had was with shelf life and the red/gold bicolors were the worst b'c of their soft flesh. It was my job to stop by the place a few times each week to cull out the ones that were going bad.

I also sold to several chefs but that's an entirely different story than a Farmer's Market.

[SEAMSFASTER]

Mudman,

In 2011 I grew 26 of the varieties you listed. As frequently mentioned at TV, taste preferences, soil types, seasons etc. all color our assessment of the suitability of a given variety for market.

Be duly warned, what I say may be unpopular, but it will be honest. That said, here goes my rundown.

Negatives:
• Garden Peach - an attractive, intriguing novelty for me; I was excited to grow it. Very productive all season long, but BLAH - too mild and mushy for me. One customer almost spit it out. I don't recall anyone asking for it a second time.

• Eva Purple Ball - a cute, little, red (ok, it looks red against a color chart, but its pink in the tomato world) , perfectly-formed, consistently productive variety with very little flavor. I tried several times to enjoy it but it did nothing for me. Again, no positive feedback from customers.

• Purple Calabash - another interesting little tomato, variably shaped, folded and fluted - but the flavor was not pleasant to me. Even worse for market, they virtually all split badly before they would even get ripe enough to pick.

• Costoluto Genovese - another interesting, ribbed, red tomato. The flavor was fairly strong but hardly sweet at all. Some liked it better than I did. My single plant was not very healthy and did not produce until a month later than Costoluto Fiorentino, and then it only produced a few little tomatoes.

• Tigerella - another small, attractive tomato with fair production and fair flavor. Also prone to splitting and not a good keeper.

• Wapsipinicon Peach - better than Garden Peach but not by much.

• Isis Candy - good taste, low production, there are much better cherries IMO.

• Azoychka - sadly, my single plant was sickly and produced only four small tomatoes. I hope that was a fluke, because the taste is very good. I will give it another try in 2012.

Positives
• Green Zebra - now I know why they are so popular at market! I only grew 2 plants and wish I had grown six or more. So tasty and juicy when fully ripe. Unfortunately somewhat prone to splitting and don't keep well - handle with great care and don't stack.

• Sungold F1 - WOW, what more can I say that others have not said here on TV? Customers clamored for them - what very few I could get to market (honest, nobody was looking when I popped into my mouth...)

• Marianna's Peace - Luscious, smooth, well formed, very little splitting, productive, though not nearly enough.

• Large Red and Black Boar (not the same as Black and Red Boar, but apparently similar) - produced like a maniac for about 3 weeks, then slowed way down. Unfortunate, as it has an excellent, juicy flavor. I think Black and Red Boar would be a real hit at market, once people got a taste of it. This (and similar striped varieties) disappeared quickly at market for me.

• Black Cherry - I don't ever want to be without these again! A huge thank you to whomever developed, introduced and promoted this one. Decent production, little problem with splitting, a huge hit at market. Another CGE (can't get enough) variety!

• Amish Paste - A hard sell at first, as it looks too much like one of those dreadful store-bought Romas. Encourage people to try it and they just might get hooked! Good production on healthy plants, excellent flavor.

• Brandywine, Sudduth's Strain - Far superior flavor to plain "Brandywine" (which I will likely not grow again - it's just plain boring to me). Luscious and rich flavor, comparable to Marianna's Peace. You may need several plants, however, as the production (for me) was moderate.

I could comment on several more, but hopefully this will help in your decision making.

On the marketing strategy, I've had others try to convince me to focus on just 10-15 varieties. Why, so I can be like everyone else?

I label each tomato (except the little ones - those go into separate labeled containers). Oh, you better believe it’s a lot of extra work, but my little (and gradually growing - I only started in late August 2011) group of loyal customers just rave about several of the varieties and seem to be genuinely grateful for the opportunity to sample so many varieties (280 in 2011). To me, that kind of feedback is at least as motivating as the $ (but check back in a couple of years, I may have to eat these words - along with all those split tomatoes...)

In 2012 I plan to send feedback/score cards with each sale and encourage them to rate each variety and bring back the card next time.

I'm certain that it's only a small proportion of the population that is interested in trying new varieties each week, but that's the niche market I'm catering to.

As for being the first to market, might I suggest a high tunnel? Great for high elevation and high latitudes for getting a jump on the competition. Here's a link: http://extension.usu.edu/files/publi..._2008-01pr.pdf

Without warm (70° plus) temperatures during the day, you're just not likely to get much growth or ripening of tomatoes. A high tunnel could buy you another three weeks or so on either end of the season.

[Mudman]

Originally Posted by dice

For blacks/purples, they are going to need to be just about perfect (my
guess), because people who do not already know about them are going
to wonder if there is something wrong with them (are they rotten).

Do you think Black from Tula would fit the bill? It is one I have not grown, but in all the pictures I see of it, it looks nicely shaped with no cracking.

[Mudman]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

When I was selling fruits at a very large permanent year round Farm Stand one of the most popular items, always, was pints of cherry tomatoes, some with one variety, some with mixed varieties. They would sell out before any of the labelled single larger fruits.

I was thinking this also. I know a lot of people that buy cherries or grapes every time they go to the store. Variety pints will probably be what I will do.

[Mudman]

Seamsfaster- Thanks so much for all the grow notes! I was wondering if the "stripes" would sell well or just be an oddity. But I was thinking of using Green Zebra, because the stripes distinguish it from an unripe green tomato.

[Granite26]

I think it is important to remember everyone seems to have different experiences with tomato plants and what people like in the finished product. Also one persons spitter is another persons love!
. You really need to pick some and try them out. I have between 60-90 varieties depending on the year.
So for contrast to seamsfaster:
Green Zebra is a must. Now I have no splitting problems at all and find they are very durable.
Eva has great flavor and is a customer favorite
Garden Peach blew away Wapsapinicon here for flavor but as I stated before the softness of it was a problem
Isis was a heavy producer for me
...so as you see we both had different experiences with the same variety.
Yes I now plant many cherry/grape toms and sell mixed pints...very popular.
Some people just want red toms others will experiment and those branching out loved stripes for unique colors.
If I have a quantity of a single variety I will label the group. Thats as far as labels go here. Many people at market could care less...they just wanted to pick out a unique assortment or wanted all red.
So thats just my experience.

[dice]

You may get some splitting with Black from Tula:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/60425/

Many people list it as a favorite for flavor, though.

[Wi-sunflower]

At first I thought your list was for plants to sell as plants. But re=reading I see the list is about what you want for fruit to take to market.

I'm not a good one to ask about market varieties because of my market. The city of Madison won't let us sample if we have to cut something. But most smaller towns with markets don't seem to care much about that and will let you sample as long as you keep everything clean and decent.

As others mentioned about flaws, that's the problem with heirlooms -- they rarely grow perfect. At my market I have too much competition from other growers that DO have perfect tomatoes (tho possibly tasteless). So the people don't even look at mine some markets. But if you can sample at your market, you will be able to sell most anything that tastes great. Even those with some flaws. I sold some $5 tomatoes at a market that was looking for tomatoes at less than $15 / bu. But they had tasted those tomatoes and didn't care about the price then.

For me I take over 100 varieties of PLANTS to the market and have customers that don't care what they get and others that are really specific about the variety they get.

For fruit tho, I take a rainbow of Cherry and grape and other smalls. I can give samples of those because I don't have to cut them. And the FLAVOR really does sell them. Even the odd colors. Early in the season I do mixed pints because it's hard to get enough for more than a pint or 2 from a variety. As production increases tho, I do mostly 1 variety pints. Just a few mixed pints then. The people will buy more than 1 pint if they want a mix of colors or flavors.

One thing I have noticed is the fact that we will sell more when we can put the variety name on the row of pints. Many of the customers won't necessarily know what variety they want, but it makes YOU look like you know what you are selling.

Oh and for the varieties you expect to be taking to market, plant out as many plants as you can. 5 is really a marginal number for your best varieties.

Carol

[JackE]

In our small Texas town, we can't cut anything at the stand unless we install a sink and running water. We use to cut the earworm end off the corn, but they made us stop that.

T'ville member, Salix, sent me some Green Zebra and other heirloom seed which I will plant in the spring - just for fun.

Jack

[Mudman]

Thanks Carol, but the market I will be doing has a rule against any sampling of food/produce, which may even rule out letting people eat cherry tomatoes. This is why appearance is going to be an important factor.

[Wi-sunflower]

Wow, that's extreme even for Wisconsin.

Madison can be picky about a lot of stuff, but at least they let us give the people cherry tomatoes. There is a lot of cheese curd sampling here too.

Since a lot of people start eating produce like cherry tomatoes and berries as soon as they walk away from a stand, I would talk with who ever is in charge and try to at least be able to sample stuff you don't have to cut, whole items.

Good luck with your market,
Carol

[carpenterlady]

I do not sell tomatoes but I do sell seedlings, in Minnesota. Seedlings with ethnic and regional names and histories sell for me. Imur Prior Beta sells for me because it is Norwegian. I would assume you could sell Sheboygan and Wisconsin55 because of the name and Amish Paste because of the history of its origin in Wisconsin. I grew Glacier, Imur Prior Beta, and Dansk Export and emphasized their Scandinavian origin. That is what sold them. Dansk Export I cut from my seedling list because my friends that are natives of Denmark weren't impressed with it and they were hard to sell with my repeat buyers last year. But in defense of Dansk Export the seedlings were nice. Depending on where you are I am tempted to buy Norderås Busk, Sterling Old Norway, and Tante Ci from you. Also emphasize the Czech origins of Stupice. If you are near Sheboygan I have friends I can send your way. I know they will buy your Norwegian tomatoes. Post some information about the heirlooms with their names and histories. I think it will help and it certainly won't hurt. Also it depends on your market, if they are interested in organic food, foodies, gardeners this will help. My seedlings do well in the Twin Cities, but if I try to sell them locally it is mostly a waste of time. I hate it when they ask about Early Girl. When I do sell them locally it is to people who just interested in a particular variety that they didn't start as seedlings or they are interested in organic food.

[Granite26]

Hmm ...sounds interesting. May have to try to track down some of the scandinavian varieties. ANy good source recommended for them?
Thanks

[Mudman]

I only have enough seeds of those varieties for myself right now but I plan on saving a lot of seeds and offering them SASE in the fall.
Carpenterlady- I don't plan on selling seedlings this year, but you are correct, I am just over the boarder from you and they sell Amish Paste and Wi 55 at most places in my area. And I do plan on doing something with the histories for my display. Thanks for the input.