Varieties of tomato that sell well

[Luvgardening2]

Hi, Last Spring I was not able to get seeds started. I purchased my seedlings from the annual Tomato Sale at the Arboretum and the nursery. I went to the Farmer's Market in Santa Monica and purchased seedlings for the Unusual type that I could not find elsewhere. I was willing to pay top dollar which I did. I am not sure about up north but last year seedlings at the Farmer's Market were 4-5 bucks each for a 4 inch.

My suggestion would be to not sell anything readily available at the Nursery or Big Box Store. People will not pay the extra $'s if they can get a 6 pack for two bucks.

Nancy

[dwoodard]

Originally Posted by dice

PS:

Although the name is not very flashy,
Stupice does well in your area (according
to Carla, who posts on GW). It is early, and
it survives the heat of mid-summer, producing
small, tasty tomatoes over a very long season.
Eva Purple Ball is more interesting sounding,
and it is rumored to do very well in the heat, too.

About Stupice (from the former Czechoslovakia):

Some years ago I got a package of Stupice seed from Territorial Seeds if I recall rightly, divided it up and distributed small packets of it to members of our Niagara chapter of the Canadian Organic Growers.

The members on sandy loam soil thought it was a good plant that produced mediocre tomatoes.

The members on clay or clay loam soil raved about it; thought it was superb; the best they had grown of its season.

Doug Woodard
Agriculture Canada zone 7a (old map)
~3300 corn heat units
(Detroit/Windsor 3400, Toronto rural 3000, Kingston 2900, Ottawa 2550)

[Ruth_10]

What are you going to tell them about supporting the plants when they are mature? Are you going to tell people that the plants get BIG and the flimsy conical wire cages commonly sold at stores won't do the job? The support issue seems to me to be one of those hidden issues that will discourage newcomers if they don't plan ahead of time.

[FarmerCathy]

That's why I have two determinate varieties. Then atleast they can grow those if they don't want indeterminates. What I want to do is make a facts sheet to help them out.

[louise]

Originally Posted by Luvgardening2

My suggestion would be to not sell anything readily available at the Nursery or Big Box Store. People will not pay the extra $'s if they can get a 6 pack for two bucks.

Nancy

I have been selling tomato,pepper,eggplant, etc. plants at farmers market for the last 6-7 years. I sell many of the same plants you can buy at nursery or big box stores, along with heirlooms. Determinate as well as indeterminate and show them what what my plants that I raised last year looked like. I sell my plants in 12 oz. paper cups, and get $1.50 per plant. I know we sold close to 1000 plants all together.

[Luvgardening2]

I was looking at it from my point of view. I have never sold nor plan to sell plants so I do not know that angle. The only angle I know is as a consumer. I was unable to start seeds last year so I pretty much purchased ALL as seedlings. I purchased what I could at the Aboretum (they have what they call a Monster Tomato Sale over 200 varieties) and I purchased Do Rights from my friend at the nursery at cost. Then I went to the Farmer's Market and purchased the ones I could not get from the other two sources. They cost 4-5 bucks for a 4inch pot at the SM Farmers Market. I was not going to pay that if I can get the "ordinary" ones for a buck.

Just my opinion.

Nancy

Nancy

[FarmerCathy]

Originally Posted by louise

I have been selling tomato,pepper,eggplant, etc. plants at farmers market for the last 6-7 years. I sell many of the same plants you can buy at nursery or big box stores, along with heirlooms. Determinate as well as indeterminate and show them what what my plants that I raised last year looked like. I sell my plants in 12 oz. paper cups, and get $1.50 per plant. I know we sold close to 1000 plants all together.

12oz. paper cups. Now that's an idea.

[feldon30]

Worth, fantastic advice which I used today. Hopefully I got 1/3 of it right. Sold 75 plants -- even though there was a gentleman in another stall selling hybrids for $.50 less -- so I'm pretty happy.

[kimpossible]

... back to the varieties question ...

I would definitely recommend Black Cherry - superb taste, unique colouring, definitely an attention-getter.

[feldon30]

I sold out of Black Cherry and Sungold and came close to selling out of Gregori's Altai (once I told people what it was). If I wanted to get serious about this, I'd probably also grow Isis Candy and Sweet 100 seedlings just so people can get the whole gamut of cherries.

I could have sold more Arkansas Traveler and Cherokee Purple seedlings if I'd brought more. People know about those. I upsold a couple of people on JD's once I told them I have tasted CP and JD's side-by-side and liked JD's a lot.

It's funny how every tomato plant sale usually involves an entire conversation. I think I talked one guy out of using 30-30-30 fertilizer on his tomato plants this year.

"Did you get a huge bushy plant with no tomatoes?"
"Wow, how did you know??"

[nctomatoman]

You've probably seen my list on my web site, so I won't post it here. All I will say is that each year the ones that I start/sell the most of are Cherokee Purple, Sungold, Black Cherry, Mexico Midget, Red Brandywine and Brandywine. What I find happens is that people develop their must have list, and it carries through. In general, large red indeterminates (Cuostralee, Aker's WV, Andrew Rahart, Neves) are also popular, as is German Johnson, being a local NC heirloom. There is an increased interest in dwarf/shorter growing varieties, such as New Big Dwarf and Lime Green Salad. This gives me hope that the results of the Dwarf project will also become fairly popular.

[feldon30]

Yeah, when the dwarf project starts to pay dividends, I will really flog those varieties by posting pictures of the plants with fruit on them. Although, I will have to try to find dwarves with the sparsest foliage that still produce. New Big Dwarf goes down fast here with early blight because the dense foliage doesn't get enough airflow.

[Worth1]

I’m starting to have people come by the house and ask if I’m selling tomato plants.
It seems that word is getting out about me in the neighborhood.

I was outside and this big new sedan came driving up and I thought it was an undercover cop nosing around to see (what I had growing) this has happened to me before.
No, it was people wanting to buy plants.

The people couldn’t believe how much better my home grown plants looked compared to the ones at the store.
I was at Home Depot looking at plants and they looked horrible, they were in the shade and all spindly looking.

One lady from up north said she tried to grow tomatoes in Austin and had no luck.
She said she put out her plants in May and I told her that she should be getting tomatoes in late May not planting tomatoes in May.
She said that all of her blooms fell off and didn’t know why so I told her about bloom set and the heat here.
She lives across the street and I told her that I would give her some when she was ready and help them with advice on the plants and till her garden for her.
What a push over I must be.

Feldon thanks for the compliment on the advice.

Worth

[feralcatfriend]

There's something else you can do to help sell your heirloom tomato plants (and tomatoes): Make a poster.

All you have to do is type up a list of the varieties you are selling with their descriptions, including a flavor description. Then go to Kinko's or Staples or Office Depot and get it blown up into a two foot by three foot poster and mounted on foam core. (You might need an easel, also.)

Since Emeril, Oprah and Martha Stewart all recommend heirloom tomatoes, why not use that, too?

Headline (for selling tomatoes):

For sale--RARE heirloom tomatoes
recommended by Emeril, Oprah and Martha Stewart!

Cherokee Purple: rich, earthy flavor favorite and the mahogany-colored slices look gorgeous when served!

Headline (for selling plants):
For sale--RARE heirloom tomato plants
recommended by Emeril, Oprah and Martha Stewart!

Cherokee Purple--high yield of delicious tomatoes, purple and green shoulders on a red tomato, grown for over 100 years by the Cherokee in Tennessee, indeterminate, 80 days to maturity.

and so on.

It's a conversation starter. Also, it will stop people who might otherwise pass you by. You have to educate people on how rare and desirable these plants are--this will help.

Also, if you have photos of your tomatoes, print out some 8x10s and laminate them or have them in plastic frames that stand up on their own. (This is not very expensive to do at places like Walgreen's.) Put them where people can see them. People go for a target when they can see it.

Cynthia

[feldon30]

I made a flyer and handed it out to everyone who bought plants, so they could see pictures of exactly what they were growing.

I love my color laser printer.