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Old June 13, 2010   #1
rnewste
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Default "The Rougher You Treat Them, The Better They Respond"

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
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Old June 13, 2010   #2
heirloomdaddy
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thanks for sharing. interesting.
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Old June 14, 2010   #3
pete
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23 square miles of tomato plants!!!!! Is a picture possible?

I am amazed thinking about that many tomatoes- How many people maintain that plot?

how do you support that many plants?

Fertilizer at fruit set?

How high do your best cherokee purples brix?

Pete- being a pest!
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Old June 14, 2010   #4
dustdevil
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It must be remembered that what works in Sacramento, CA doesn't necessarily work in other parts of the country...the weather and soil is different elsewhere. No matter what he says, he now is a factory farm...a small farmer nemesis. I personally find it objectionable when one person tries to tie up the heirloom tomato market...makes it hard for the little guy who is the only reason heirloom tomatoes exist in the first place. Now, I'll go back to trying to figure out why the seeds Campbell's sent me didn't grow...
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Old June 14, 2010   #5
stormymater
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a hundred million seedlings... OMG... transportation will be his problem - pick em green & well, back to the problems of the supermarket tomato; pick 'em ripe & watch that 2 day window of perfectness vanish with a punctured skin... a hundred million seedlings...
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Old June 17, 2010   #6
dice
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Classic California tomato operation:
http://vric.ucdavis.edu/virtual_tour/sanjoq.htm
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