Tomato Damage

[McGee'sX-Roads]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I thought you said your sister lived in Asheville, which is why I initially talked about that area.

One of my seed producers lives and grows tomatoes in a suburb of Raleigh and Lee already has good sets of fruits, and he grows outside. Lee and Craig LeHoullier, nctomatoman here at Tville, have been the co-persons who put on that fabulous tomato tasting each year, called Tomatopalloza,I think in Efland,NC.

Carolyn

I may have said that at some point! You have an excellent memory if I did! My sister lived in Asheville for a year, she went to UNCA before transferring to UNC-Wilmington, so from the mountains to the beach! She just graduated UNCW this past Spring! I visit Asheville usually once a year, beautiful area and great town.

Does the Tomatopalloza still go on? I was selling tomatoes in downtown Raleigh this past Wednesday and someone asked me about that and I wasn't sure if it still went on. I wonder what suburb he is in?

Talking with growers at the state farmers market it sounds like there might be just a few field tomatoes that are starting to come in this week. Still a couple weeks away from being full force, it's always bittersweet for me as a greenhouse grower...when those come in I know mine are almost over.

I've grown in a a couple of greenhouses for 3 years now and this offseason will be building a larger house and have a chance to more than double production. I'm looking for something unique that will produce to fit a niche market. So far I've grown hybrids in the greenhouse and Artisan Bumble Bee Cherries. The cherries are super popular with chefs in the area and at local markets and it seems almost everyone who grows in a greenhouse grows varieties like Trust, Geronimo, Big Dena, Heritage etc...basically red beefsteak tomatoes. I'd love to find something different rather than just compete against everyone else, but in order to justify heating costs I need something that will produce good yields as well.

Anyways, I've rambled on enough now. Also...love your book! One of my inspirations for exploring tomato growing more seriously. Do you know of any other varieties other than Omar's Lebanese that come from Lebanon?

[BigVanVader]

How do you sell your tomatoes besides farmers markets? I'm just getting started selling and plan to do the same as you but with heirloom varieties. Not many people doing it so the market is pretty wide open here.

[McGee'sX-Roads]

I sell to a few restaurants locally as well as a CSA program and to a few other farmers who have fruit stands who are going to resell them.

I'm trying to hook up with a second CSA as well as a local distributor, but the issue I've run into is these places already have sources for the traditional red slicing tomatoes, that's why I'm exploring increasing the cherry tomatoes and seeing what else could be profitable and unique. Heirlooms or some sort of heirloom hybrid are tempting, I just need to test it out on a small scale and see what the production is like in a greenhouse.

[carolyn137]

anyways, I've rambled on enough now. Also...love your book! One of my inspirations for exploring tomato growing more seriously. Do you know of any other varieties other than Omar's Lebanese that come from Lebanon?

...is what you posted above

And the only other one I know of is

Libanaise des Montagnes, which means a variety from the mountains,aka , the hill towns

When I was checking out the search function today I found that indeed I had grown it myself.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...aise+Montagnes

post #2 I think

And I know it was one of many that I used to get from Reinhard Kraft in Germany when we traded seeds.

If you go to Tania's website all she lists for Lebanon is Omar's Lebanese ,the one I got from Omar Saab.

You said above that you were looking for maybe,unique varieties to sell,those not well known.

I know many of them that none other than my seed production group knows about.

Soon I will be putting up a preview for the 2017 seed offer in the Off topic Forum, NOT the seed offer itself, which is so late this year it's awful,but there were reasons.

Actually I still have the seeds produced in 2015 still here at home, the ones produced in 2016 were sent directly to Shawn in VT.

I'd ship some to you,except I still haven't packed seeds for all of the seed producers for growout this summer. And it's too late to start seeds now where you are anyway.

So when you see the seed offer go (trade Forum,no ETA) up I can suggest some varieties that might work for you.But No hybrids,ever.

This offer only for you and that b/c I was selling to many restaurants at one time as well as two nurseries, and I always brought trays of tomatoes for them to sample and make choices from before I ramped up production to satisfy all.

There was this one owner who would get ticked off when I couldn't deliver and I told him if he wanted to go out in T storms and muddy fields himself, do it,but I was nice about it, as I remember. Actually he needed me more than I needed him.

Carolyn

[BigVanVader]

Originally Posted by McGee'sX-Roads

I sell to a few restaurants locally as well as a CSA program and to a few other farmers who have fruit stands who are going to resell them.

I'm trying to hook up with a second CSA as well as a local distributor, but the issue I've run into is these places already have sources for the traditional red slicing tomatoes, that's why I'm exploring increasing the cherry tomatoes and seeing what else could be profitable and unique. Heirlooms or some sort of heirloom hybrid are tempting, I just need to test it out on a small scale and see what the production is like in a greenhouse.

AkMark does it with heirlooms. I'm following his lead but explring varieties more suited for my climate. So far I have found Fred Hemple varieties to be big producers. Especially Orange Jazz. Indian Stripe and Prudens purple also produce well over 20lbs per plant typically. Grafting them would likely be necessary in a heated GH that is used year after year. I'm interested to see your progress, and if you need seeds I offer them every winter for Sase or trade.

[McGee'sX-Roads]

Carolyn,

Thanks for the info and offer! I will certainly be looking for your post with additional details in the future.

I was curious about the Lebanese varieties for a couple reasons, one being that I am part Lebanese myself and the other being that I deliver to a Lebanese restaurant and thought it would ideal to offer them something that had it's origins in Lebanon.

I had grown Omar's Lebanese once in my home garden (just 2 plants) and while the plant itself was HUGE and the tomatoes I managed to harvest were HUGE, the yield was disappointing. It could be something I did, and it's just a small sample size, but I was worried they wouldn't produce enough to make it worth my investment and labor in a greenhouse environment. I also worried that it would be incredibly vigorous and cause extra lowering and leaning for precious few tomatoes.

While finding unique/rare heirlooms would be great, my main objective is to find a few which have good yield potential in a greenhouse, pruned to a single stem in my climate with a unique appearance and great flavor of course! Something different than your standard red hybrid tomato. If the best thing is something most are familiar with such as Cherokee Purple or German Johnson, well that's fine too.

Thanks again for all your info and the response!

[McGee'sX-Roads]

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

AkMark does it with heirlooms. I'm following his lead but explring varieties more suited for my climate. So far I have found Fred Hemple varieties to be big producers. Especially Orange Jazz. Indian Stripe and Prudens purple also produce well over 20lbs per plant typically. Grafting them would likely be necessary in a heated GH that is used year after year. I'm interested to see your progress, and if you need seeds I offer them every winter for Sase or trade.

I'd love to hear more about Orange Jazz. How vigorous is the plant? I have grown the bumble bee series of cherry tomatoes with good success and would love to try a beefsteak type from him if they grow with similar vigor. Have you ever grafted any yourself?

I'll have to look around for some pics of the greenhouse and plants if you are interested. I tend to take a few pictures early before I'm picking, then I get super busy and rarely take any pictures during the season lol.

[BigVanVader]

OJ production can match any hybrid albeit it is not a hybrid so disease resistance is only moderate. Great taste, beautiful coloring. Some pics here. http://www.tomatoville.com/showpost....&postcount=126 I grew 10 plants last year and was blown away.

Fred also has unreleased mini beefsteak hybrids in development now. In my experience his varieties are a good balance of traits for commercial growing and the smaller beefsteak actually sell better for me. I will be growing some for fall production as my seed arrived a little later for Spring planting.

[BigVanVader]

And I haven't grafted them as they have great vigor, and I'd love to see pics. I'm trying to decide on what HT to buy and if I want to go with heating to be first to market.

[McGee'sX-Roads]

For some reason it's not letting me see the pictures!

Do you grow in the ground or in some sort of grow bags or other media?

[BigVanVader]

Dang, maybe search for Orange Jazz in the forum. And I grow in ground.

[Spartanburg123]

Hi Frank-

I have some splits in some of my hearts as well- they are Sgt. Pepper's- that I believe came after a heavy rain. It's normal, and I agree with Worth, there's not much you can do about it. It won't affect the fruit flavor or anything.

[Landisil]

Originally Posted by Spartanburg123

Hi Frank-

I have some splits in some of my hearts as well- they are Sgt. Pepper's- that I believe came after a heavy rain. It's normal, and I agree with Worth, there's not much you can do about it. It won't affect the fruit flavor or anything.

Thank you. I do believe it was the result of excessive rain as well. Growing Tomatoes is a bit of a Science project for me...keeps my mind occupied...lol. Hopefully I will learn enough this year to improve my results next year.