What size plastic bags?

13 years ago

This is one of those things I never really thought about thinking about! But I know it will be something I really will need this year. What do you use (if anything) for bags? I figure I need one size for beans/snap peas, chard and maybe tomatoes (one pound of each), probably a different size for Romaine lettuce, sweet potatoes and cucumbers? Or do you use one size for everything?

Do you have a fav supplier? I've bought bags to hold my newspapers from U-Line and have been satisfied but I don't know if they are the best/least expensive for produce bags.

Also, do you bag it before heading to the market or as you sell it, or bag it at all. My thinking is to harvest it, bag it, stick in in a large container filled with ice so it stays crisp. Bring it home, put it in a fridge and the next day, again fill a container with ice at the bottom and put the produce on top of it. That would only be for leafy greens, of course.

Ideas! Suggestions! Advice! I can use them all!

Mike

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Comments (7)

cowpie51
13 years ago
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I like regular grocery t-bags

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Mark.
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myfamilysfarm
13 years ago
I use the Tshirt bags and I get mine from Sams Club. $12.00 or so for 1,000. I use about 10 boxes of 1,000 per season.

I don't pre-bag anything for the market. I tried it with basil and found out that it wasn't a good idea, at least for basil. My customers like to choose their own most of the time. We have pre-bagged sweet corn, but only after inspecting closely. A few customers that really trust us will take the pre-bagged, but most want to check and choose their own.

The T-shirts bags can be hung on a hook or even hung from a bungee (which is what we did until we got a bag stand).

Marla
0
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Judy is the bomb!! **big smile** (((HUGZ))) you can go to sams club if you have one near by and buy a box of them that's what i did, its much cheaper! LOL, then after you start trading, save your envi's, you won't have to buy anymore! trust me on tht! i had a whole huge kitchen trash bag full of them!! LOL one time i had two of them full!! i thought i'd need them, so i saved them (i wasn't trading for a bit) LOL ya, i ended up throwing them away, hubs said throw them away!!!! man, he was furious!! LOL so save them! they may look alittle used, but they are reusuable, i used aknife to open mine, LOL and i sometimes either used scotch tape or stapled them shut, as for the baggies, i use walmart little baggies (100/99 cents in the hobbies) and i made some using the method they showed, and pumkingal? she had a whole page on how to make them and so did quiltingfox. its very economical! LOL especially if you get lots of magazines! LOL
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Well there is Tubex http://www.arborday.org/shopping/trees/TreeDetail.cfm?ID=271 and Rootmaker http://www.arborday.org/shopping/trees/TreeDetail.cfm?ID=269 but they are quite a bit more expensive. The easiest and least costly I know of are the ones I linked above. You just roll them into a tube of whatever size you want depending on the size of your cuttings, stand it up, separate the sides into one chamber with a bottom, and fill 1 chamber of the tube. For example the 1 gallon bags are 10" tall so rolled in 1/2 you end up with 3" in diameter, 10" tall tube. You can also make your own rooting tubes out of any 3-4mil thick roll of plastic. Just cut a piece in the dimensions you want (height x finished diameter), turn it into a tube, overlap and tape the edges with duct tape, fold in the bottom like and envelope to seal it off, and melt in drain holes with any hot metal object - I use a soldering iron. Hope this helps. Dave
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gratefulgardener, I do now recall that last year you used the bags from inside cereal boxes. And I recall feeling then, as I do now, that kudos should go to you for such a great recycling idea. I hope you have better results this year. The one thing that gets me about using ziplocs is the non-recycling part of it. We are paying for more plastic to be made into something, and for the most part it is not being re-used again but going into the landfill. But then again, I'm getting to be a nut about environmental issues in my old age, I'm finding. Bonnie, I had the same experience with squirrels last year. I detest the critters to begin with because they are always digging up new plantings. Last year I went out to a bed full of knocked over sunflowers. I stood there wondering what the heck had happened, and I noticed that my neighbor's were in the same condition. When I saw him next he told me he saw the squirrels at work. Grr. :) Dee
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Mike, One of my hobbies is breeding zinnias, and I use "hairnets" that I make from mesh fabric that I bought in the fabric department of Wal-Mart. The material is inexpensive and has an open mesh that allows easy air circulation and sun exposure, while keeping bees from getting at the flower. The nets don't harm the flowers or plants at all. Interestingly, I have seen butterflies sipping nectar from the zinnias through the mesh, but they don't go after the zinnia pollen, so I am glad that the butterflies can feed through the mesh. The nets are basically approximately square "sacks". I fold over a rectangular piece of the mesh and secure the top seam and side seem by weaving a piece of black yarn through the mesh. I alternate sides with the yarn about every Â½" to Â¾". The seam doesn't need to be really closely stitched. Obviously I leave the bottom open to allow the "hairnet" to fit down over the flower. I use black mesh and yarn because the black nets are less conspicuous in the garden. I just started using these nets last year and they have revolutionized my zinnia breeding. I used to have to race the bees to get at the pollen on my selected breeder zinnias, but now I can relax and get the pollen over a period of half a day, and have an abundant supply of good pollen. The bees are amazingly aggressive at grabbing any available zinnia pollen. The nets also keep the bees from randomly pollinating my selected breeder flowers. Here is a picture of one of the nets on a zinnia. This zinnia was in rather poor shape because it is one that I grew from a cutting this fall and I just used it as a "model" to wear a net for this picture which I just now made. My breeder zinnias typically look much better than this one, as you can see for yourself by looking at their pictures in the It can be fun to breed your own zinnias message thread in the Annuals forum. I make the nets in several sizes to accommodate different sized flowers. You shouldn't have any trouble making these nets to your own specifications from needles, yarn, and mesh fabric from a local fabric store. MM
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boston3381
13 years ago
OMG!!!!!!! thank you "myfamilyfarm" !!! you just saved me
a big problem i was haven with markets and my new Retail store..
i found them on sams web site, but i cant see how big they are ?? do you know the size of them..maybe 12'h x 4"w x 8"w ????
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myfamilysfarm
13 years ago
they are a standard grocery store t-shirt bags, about the same size as WalMarts bags. they will hold about 2 reams of paper. so maybe 10x13x4. I don't put more than 10 lbs or 6 ears of sweet corn. Hubby walked out to my van and just the actual printed sized from the box. 1/6 bu. made by polyamerica.com, actual size is 11.5"x6.5"x22".

I've used them for years and most of the time they're great. a few times I got a few duds in a box, but most of the time, just fine.

Glad I could help.

Marla
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wordwiz
Original Author
13 years ago
Marla,

I visited polyamerica.com but couldn't find a place to order or even view the different sizes. Do you have a link?

Mike
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boulderbelt
13 years ago
I do not use T-shirt bags for my produce, I use those to put all the items people have bought from me. I used to use the largest sized 5-a-day bags but than found websturant.com some better produce bags that are 12' x 20' and I use them for everything from 4 oz bags of arugula to 1.5 pound bags of lettuce. I just got a case yesterday for $36 and change (includes shipping). I believe I get 3000 bags in a case. The bags have no writing on them like the 5-A-day bags do and they open far more easily.

They are easy for me to put my labels on, load with produce and they look nice on display

BTW I far prefer my tomatoes in pulp pint and quart boxes to bags-you get far less damage and people like them in boxes much more than bags so you sell sell more and take home fewer damaged maters.

Here is a link that might be useful: plastic bags
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myfamilysfarm
13 years ago
Mike, that was what the box said, it did say about contacting their sales staff on the page. I'm not big enough to order pallets, so I go to Sams.

Boulderbelt, I went with the Tshirt bags because that is all that was available intown. The T-shirt bags having the handles are great feature. There are so many customers, that have purchased from vendors using the 5-a-day bags without handles, ask for an extra bag to put those bags in.
I will be looking at your link and determine if I can find another bag that will be to my advantage. I'm thinking about adding a smaller bag to complement the T-Shirt bags.

BTW, I love all of us helping each other with finding these types of questions. Thank you all for your input.
Sorry, off the topic, but I needed to express my feelings.

Marla
0

What size plastic bags?

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What size plastic bags?

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