Mater pickn ripoff

15 years ago

Last year I picked beautiful tomatoes for $7 in a 5 gallon bucket and made Annie's salsa. Wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!

This year I waited for the maters and the local farm (small town) posted and ad in the small newspaper today.

Called my Mama and we decide to go over today.

We were so dissappointed, the tomatoes had blisters and bugs and very few ripe ones and the green ones were all small.

My Dad loves fried green tomatoes so he was OK with the situation. I had already found the recipes for green catsup and I felt sorry for the nice farm family for having such a bad year. And a plus is the fact that the smaller fit more into a bucket!

This year the charge was $8 for a 5 gallon bucket, I knew the prices would go up because of gas probs.

We go to the house to pay and no one is answering the door, the sign says leave the money in the box on the patio. I go to wash my hands and there are boxes everywhere with green tomatoes marked as 'vine ripe tomatoes'.

I think this is border line dishonest and unethical!!!

For one thing, don't advertise upick when all that is left is culls, and when did green become vine ripe. I know I did not have to pick them but I actually felt sorry for them having a bad year. Yeah, IMA sucker LOL!!!

I think the farmers are trying to make a buck on the tomatoe scare, which is fine, but don't try to rip me off.

I think I am just annoyed with myself because I felt sorry for them!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will still use the maters, but next year I will support another farmer. What do you think????

Thank you for listening (reading) my vent LOL and for posting such wonderful recipes and info.

Rosa

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Comments (17)

greenhouser
15 years ago
These people are dishonest. I would take my business elsewhere.
zeuspaul
15 years ago
Quoted

***In the tomato industry, tomatoes are considered "vine ripe" when they show a little color break. A color break is when the tomato shows a yellow or reddish patch of color on the skin. This is a good indication that the tomato will ripen at home***

Here is a link that might be useful: Vine Ripe
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digdirt2
15 years ago
Yep, sorry but "vine ripe tomatoes" doesn't mean red tomatoes. It means fruit that has blushed - begun to ripen. Once the chemical reaction takes place within the fruit and color begins to show on the blossom end of the fruit the plant creates a membrane that seals the fruit off from the plant at the stem.

That fruit has all it needs except time and is shut off from the fruit. It will ripen normally on the counter or in a box. And if it isn't picked at that time no shipping or sale time is allowed for and they risk pest, bird, and storm damage and loss.

It's standard practice - you have just never seen them in that condition before because they usually keep them in the back room until the color fully develops. ;)

Likely you just happened to pick a day last year that got you to the field before all the picking for the day was done so you found the good ones they left on the U-pick plants. Today, they beat you to it and only the dregs were left.

Timing is everything. ;)

Dave
ksrogers
15 years ago
In some areas, the tomatoes are not ripening well due to weather issues. It may be that if these were 'you picks', that they were ones that were accidentially picked or had fallen onto the ground. If a farmer plants tomatoes in the same spot year after year, they will be increasing chances of diseases and also bugs. Here, if I were to offder you pick blueberries, I would see people picking only the ones that are arms length away. None near the bottom or top. And even for that, they would only pick the biggest ones they see, and leave the rest. A friend of my dads had You pick and closed it down after several years of customer damages to his many acres of blues.
greenhouser
15 years ago
You should see what they do in the You-Pick strawberry fields. I saw not just children stepping all over the plants, but adults as well.
ksrogers
15 years ago
They don't care, the kids take after their thoughtless parents! Check out most any store where the customesr bring in their kids and set them free to roam.. I allowed someone into my garden two years ago to pick peppers. The person pulled up 4 of my fully loaded pepper plants, instead of using two hands to pick the peppers off. Once pulled out of the soil the rest of the peppers on the plant are either all picked off, or I have to toss the whole plant into the compost.
greenhouser
15 years ago
You were lucky you only lost a few plants. This may sound crazy but I don't let anyone pick anything in my gardens. A smoker can introduce tobacco mosaic to my tomatoes or bring in some nematode or disease on their shoes I don't have here now... and who knows what they'll step on, or as you experienced, pull right out of the ground.
zabby17
15 years ago
greenhouser,

Believe me, I understand your desire to protect your plants, and don't think you need to let anyone into your garden that you don't want to! But in case it puts your mind at ease a bit, know that the danger of a smoker transmitting tobacco mosaic virus to tomato plants is long gone.

Zabby
ruthieg__tx
15 years ago
another point I'd like to make is that unless a person is going to make sauce or canned tom's etc, the last thing you probably want or need is a bucket full of fully ripe tomatoes. I always pick my tomatoes when they are just under "vine ripe" and if I am giving some away...I always give them in various stages of ripening so that they don't have a bucket full of "ripe".
shirleywny5
15 years ago
Zabby
I must disagree with you on you statement that the danger of smokers transmitting tobacco mosaic virus is long gone. Anyone who owns a greenhouse and seeds his own and transplants knows this. Workers who transplant seedling should refrain from smoking during transplanting and wash their hands frequently and thoroughly with soap and water. Tools used in transplanting can be placed in boiling water for 5 minutes and then washed with strong soap or detergent solution. Many vegetables and flowers can be infected with this virus.
zabby17
15 years ago
Shirley,
I'm certainly not going to argue about it; I can't find the exact reference online just now [and me an editor---shame!], so there's no reason I should expect anyone to believe me, and I know it's a common belief. But I'm going by info from a source I really trust. (Just to clarify, I'm not claiming that this virus isn't a potential problem in commercial greenhouses, just that it's not any more a problem for a smoker to grow tomatoes in home gardens.)

I can say that in my experience there are an awful lot of things that "everybody knows" that turn out not to be true or to be outdated, especially when it comes to gardening!

;-)

Z
zabby17
15 years ago
Shirley,

Ah, a search on the tomtato pests & diseases forum comes up with this quote from a post from Dr. Carolyn Male, widely respected tomato expert, microbiology professor, and author of _100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden_:

"TMV has not been a problem for home gardenres in many years. Tobacco grown for the last 20 years in the US is TMV tolerant. Turkish tobacco is not. The major incidence of TMV is in large greenhouse operations where it is transmistted mechanically, not by insect vector."

So there you go. I had come across this info in another source from Dr. Carolyn a while back. I've grown huge, successful tomato gardens for 6 years now by following her advice and have a lot of respect for it. You (and anyone) of course can feel free take it or leave it, and I wish you a fantastic tomato crop either way.

Cheers,

Z
greenhouser
15 years ago
To: zabby17

"TMV has not been a problem for home gardenres in many years. Tobacco grown for the last 20 years in the US is TMV tolerant. Turkish tobacco is not. The major incidence of TMV is in large greenhouse operations where it is transmistted mechanically, not by insect vector."

This is good to know. :) Thanks. I try to keep my toms and other veggies healthy by keeping people out of my veggie patches as mentioned above. I haven't had disease problems in some years now. I rotate the plants constantly. Seldom is something grown again on the same ground in 4 or 5 years.
zabby17
15 years ago
greenhouser,

Sounds like a great garden! My husband is from middle Tennessee and I've envied my mother-in-law's gardening climate (when we visited in February everyone was planting out flowers while there were three feet of snow back home in Ontario!).

Best of luck,

Zabby
shirleywny5
15 years ago
Zabby
I was speaking of very large greenhouse growing operations. This has been my work for years. I seeded and pricked out, dibbled and transplanted thousand of flats of many kinds of tomatoes as well as all types of vegetables and annuals. I have taken thousands of cuttings of many flowering shrubs, many taking several years to grow to saleable size. The grower I work for ships plants over the North East.
Back the the TMV, One basic rule at work is no smoking in the greenhouses.
plantersvilletx
15 years ago
yep, light 'em up and dont worry about it. I've been smoking in my mater patch for 9 years and have never had any problems. The Only problems come from non-smokers who still believe its still a problem.
zabby17
15 years ago
Ah, Shirley, you are one of the most important people in the world, bringing tomatoes into being!! I salute you. And certainly don't dispute your knowledge of what's important in a greenhouse. But it sounds like greenhouser can indeed take smokers off the list of things to worry about protecting her garden from. Well, at least form TMV. Smokers might pull up or trample plants just as badly as anyone else!

Zabby

Mater pickn ripoff

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