Uh Oh, too much competition

14 years ago

Right about the time my tomato seedlings will have grown to saleable size there are two giant tomato sales at about the same time in my town. The Fullerton Arboretum with the biggest sale west of the Mississippi, with 230 varieties of tomatoes and 75 varieties of peppers, and now Fullerton Junior college is having a monster sale with 100 varieties of tomatoes. And the local Sunny Hills High School Ag department usually has a sale too. My biggest plants are only about three and a half inches high right now, but maybe I should try to start selling them earlier than I wanted to next weekend.

http://fullertonarboretum.org/pdf/TOMATO_LIST_2010.pdf

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/grd/1614679248.html

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Comments (8)

carolyn137
14 years ago
I'm sure I saw you post about those first two sales in another thread, so I guess you did know they were coming. And I got an e-mail about the Tomatomania sites and lists of varieties in an e- mail today, and I don't know if any of these are near you, but....

(Additional weekend events will be added soon; in Pomona (The Garden, March 13), Ojai (Flora Gardens, April 23-25) and Larchmont, (Larchmont Charter School, April 24th) our new LA urban location. And there just may be additional East Coast sales in the offing so stay tuned!)

And below I've linked to their site for the main event places.

So why am I in upstate NY where a blizzard is on the way getting these notices about Tomatomania each year? Because a few years back I was invited to do a presentation at Hortus Nursery in Pasadena where the original Tomatomania event was held each year and while they went out of business both there and at their Orange location, it's some of the folks who worked there who have kept the TOmatomania name alive and me on the list. LOL. Gary, who with his brother owned Hortus, now works for Armstrong Nurseries.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomatomania Events
californian
Original Author
14 years ago
Tomatomania claims they are the world's largest tomato seedling sale. The Fullerton Arboretum claims they are the largest sale west of the Mississippi. One or the other is exaggerating. Maybe Tomatomania is combining the total sales from all the events they have in different cities.
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dickiefickle
14 years ago
Its all good
trudi_d
14 years ago
Californian, I wouldn't worry too much, you'll sell your plants. A lot of people don't like big throngs and a lot also think Craig's List is creepy. And besides that, if you don't do the internet you're not going to CL anyway. There's a very big population of folks that don't go online. You might want to put fliers on community bulletin boards, send them to the local schools to post in the teacher lounges, and don't forget the churches, temples and service clubs too.

A venue doesn't pop up in your face, you have to create your own. Which people aren't going to the two big sales? Those people are your focus.
mtbigfigh
14 years ago
Carolyn
Most of the Tomatomania sales are a drive from where we are in OC - I went 2 years ago and 3 yrs ago to the one in Encino - lanky tall plants - out of all they had I could only find 10 plants I considered OK - it is all the vendors trying to capitalize on selling plants not doing it right and poor plants and selection that has got me back into starting from seed not the same as when it was in Pasadena (which was a drive too)
I have heard they sell them at the Rose bowl now too???

Cali
A few weeks after the arboretum sale at the Fullerton Arboretum (not behind the potting shed where the big sale 40,000 plants are sold) but out in the grass and garden grounds where they have the green scene - there are usually 3 vendors/clubs selling tomato plants there and a few weeks later Cal Poly and Orange Coast College has a spring sale

Also Cali you mentioned before that the last few years the arboretum plants were bad so there is a chance

And they just keep coming - if you build it (grow it) they will come (buy it)

Dennis
slo_garden
14 years ago
californian,

Don't worry! You will have no trouble selling your plants. There is more than enough demand out there. Through word-of-mouth alone you can generate enough business. Tell all of your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, etc. that you are having a plant sale and they will tell everyone that they know...If you also list it on craigslist, you will be inundated with people. Trust me, I speak from experience!
athenainwi
14 years ago
Have you been to those sales? I know around here the arboretum does a big spring sale of violets and pansies which might seem intimidating for another seller of those plants. But the arboretum sale sells out about 10 minutes after the doors open so there is plenty of room for competition. You wouldn't know that if you hadn't gone before. Anyway, try to market very locally. You want to attract the type of person that wouldn't go to a giant sale like that because they wouldn't know what they want and wouldn't understand why anyone would want 100 varieties of tomatoes.
mtbigfigh
14 years ago
Athen
The sales usually last 3 days and sometimes they sell out early - other times they have extras but all the local nurseries sell through June and then a few sell some in Aug and Sept - so yes there is plenty of room to sell

Dennis