Costco "Heirloom Tomatoes"

[habitat_gardener]

A neighbor was stocking up at Costco yesterday and saw 1/2-1 gallon tomato plants at 3 for $10, so got some. They're labeled Heirloom Tomatoes, usda organic. Two of them have names -- Monica Variety and Shady Lady -- but the other one has only the Heirloom Tomato label. Shady Lady is a hybrid! (and I haven't found any info on Monica). The source is Rocket Farms in Salinas, an orchid and poinsettia grower that has recently started growing organic herb and veg starts. The two labels mention only the name -- not size, det/indet, dtm, color, etc. -- but each label includes the words Heirloom and Organic in big letters.

So whoever was looking for Heirloom tomatoes (mentioned in a post a few months ago) may have bought them at Costco or another big box. For nonseedsavers, maybe Heirloom is enough of a buzzword, even if they're not selling anything that anyone else would define as an heirloom.

And I bet the neighbor's mow-n-blow crew will plant them without labels, so that even the two that were labeled will revert to anonymity.

[Worth1]

Some peoplke think that there is only one beefsteak, one cherry, one heirloom, and one paste tomato.
So there it is only 4 kinds of tomatoes in the world, that is untill they run across me.
Just had this conversation yesterday at the airport.
The people that know me go, "Oh no he started again".
This time someone said I like the beafsteak tomatoes.

Worth

[bigbubbacain]

This sounds like something that WALMART would do!

Someone should send an email about this to Costco. I think they'd want to know. They're certainly more responsible than the "Walton" enterpises.

[coloken]

To me thats as bad as an auto dealer selling you a ford and calling it a cadilliac
Right now i am planting three "things" that were wrong last year. A shophie's choice that was indet and 6 foot high. A cherokee purple that i don't think was right, and a "beefsteak" that came from Bonnie that was a nice little bush plant.
Realy gripes me to have that happen
Kenny

[dustdevil]

HG, Those must be the CA heirloom tomatoes you were asking about awhile back ;-)

[piegirl]

I work at a plant place - local but we do carry Bonnie Plants. I have two trays labeled Celebrity and they are potato leafed - German Queen, that's what they carried last year. I am trying my best not to sell them and send them back - if I can catch the delivery boys. piegirl

[bluelytes]

I just recently send this email:
I was recently in your Tumwater, Washington store, and noticed an inappropriate label.

The label was on tomato plants. It had three plants in a container and I think they were gallon size plants. All plants were labeled "organic" and "heirloom".

The problem is that at least two of the three named varieties were NOT heirloom tomato plants.
One variety, Shady Lady is a hybrid, likewise the variety "Monica" is also a hybrid, and neither are heirloom varieties, although they were clearly labeled "heirloom".

If you have information to show these plants are in fact heirloom varieties, I'd be pleased to see it. Also, where did you obtain these "heirloom" tomato plants from?

and I sent them to the following emails:
wo110mgr@costco.com (costco Washington corporate headquarters), and MCooper@costco.com, nturner@costco.com, twontorek@costco.com, bharriott@costco.com, tfinney@costco.com, dschell@costco.com, sabradley@costco.com, investor@costco.com

Best;
bluey

[VORTREKER]

Drop the Big Boxes now:
Support your "mom and pop" enterprises. Even if they are a bit higher in cost at first-at least they do not have to answer to a board of directors and are usually not run by some Ivy League MBA graduate that mommy and dada footed the bill.
I have a small company that had to fire the Magna Cum Laud graduate of the Wharton School of Business before he ran us into the ground. 2 more weeks and he would have killed us--His dad bankrupted a 52 y/o business in 3 years because he was so much smarter than the rest of us "hicks"

[gflynn]

I'll bet if you looked at the soil they came in you would find fertilzer. In otherwords I bet then arn't organic either.

[bluelytes]

Heres the answer I got from Costco:
"You are absolutely right. There was an error in the printing of the labels for these varieties and it was not caught prior to shipment. They are all organic but Monica and Shady Lady are not Heirloom tomatoes. I appreciate you bringing this to our attention. All labels for future shipments have been corrected."

Best;
bluey

[AZRuss]

Must be a regional thing. My Costco had large tomato plants clearly labeled as Cherokee Purple and San Marzano. No hybrids at all.

[carolyn137]

For many years I use to get the John Henry commercial catalog where they also sold plant labels. There was a long list and if you didn't see the variety you wanted you could get them custom printed.

Here are some I remember:

Red
Yellow
Pink
Black
Tomato, yes, tomato believe it or not.

None of them had heirloom as part of a label.

I went to that company b'c I didn't like the new marker pens that Johnny's introduced, as compared with the old ones which I loved, and this company sold the ones I liked but you had to buy a lot of them, which explains why I haven't run out of marking pens in many years.

[VORTREKER]

REAL INTERPRETATION. Heres the answer I got from Costco:

"You are absolutely right.
(YOU CAUGHT US)
There was an error in the printing of the labels for these varieties and it was not caught prior to shipment.
(WE REALLY KNEW IT AND SOLD 30 MILLION DOLLARS WORTH BEFORE YOU CAUGHT US)
They are all organic
(WE ARE NOT SURE WHAT "ORGANIC MEANS BUT NO ONE HAS CHALLENGED US ON THAT YET)
but Monica and Shady Lady are not Heirloom tomatoes.
(WE THOUGHT THE CONSUMER WAS TOO STUPID TO KNOW THAT)(WHAT'S AN HEIRLOOM?)
I appreciate you bringing this to our attention.
(IN THE FUTURE-PLEASE MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS) ((PLEASE MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS IN THE FUTURE) All labels for future shipments have been corrected.
(NOW THAT THE JIGS UP)

(BECAUSE OF YOUR NOSY INTERVENTION I AM TO RECEIVE ONLY A $75,00O BONUS THIS YEAR)

Regards,
Big box VP in charge of screwing the dumb ♪♫♪♫♪♫ masses.

[Dewayne mater]

Ha, funny reply. However, comparatively, Costco is quite a bit more friendly than the other big box stores as far paying employees better and providing better benefits, and, in my opinion, providing better, more environmentally friendly choices for the consumer. I.E. not every single decision is made on the lowest price, all other considerations be gosh darnoodleyed view point as some businesses are. Coming at it from that angle, their answer was perfect...we were wrong and we have corrected it. (no I don't work for Costco, but I do shop there)

[piegirl]

My Bonnie boys came to restock today. I pointed out the mistake and he immediately called the greenhouse. He said, yes, the guy who planted them thought they looked different too but that was what the seed packet said. At least he made the effort. And they took them back. I also visited the Home Depot today. Boy, what a messy place. So much 'stuff', it is like plant overload. They exclusively carry Bonnie veggie plants. I ask where the other veggies were, no, we only carry Bonnie. No heirlooms, no 4-6 packs of things, just very pricely, so-so quality plants across the board. BECAUSE we water our plants, they give us pretty good stuff. My business goes to a mom and pop and daughter place. They do a few heirlooms, but they do them well.