Good market tomato varieties

deanriowa

16 years ago

I am looking at selling some tomatoes at a small discount store(non food).

Can you remember some good tomato varieties to grow to sell?

I would like types that can look good for at least three days after picking till being sold.

What are customers looking for in their tomatoes?

Any ideas would be great.

thanks,

Dean

Featured Answer

barkeater

16 years ago

I made a great living raising mainly Jet Stars in the 90's, and Supersteak for my big beefsteak. Pik Red was a reliable early.

I did sell some of the Mountain series the last couple years in business, but I was very embarrassed and felt guilty about it, as I took pride in selling great tasting tomatoes. But nothing made them crack, so I had some for insurance. If I had continued, I would have grown the Sun series instead, which had some flavor, and ripened redder and larger.

Selling heirlooms and/or OP's, I would recommend the following for high production and appearance:

Manitoba - 11#/per plant of very early 4-6 oz. round reds,on a very compact determinate plant, but not much flavor though.

Campbell 1327 - Early, solid, 6-9 oz., tasty, productive determinate red.

Old Brooks - Very tasty,6 oz., deep red, excellent flavor like Rutgers, and very productive on indeterminate plants.

Box Car Willie - Like Old Brooks except later and larger.

Moskvich - great medium size beefsteak that ripens very early for its 8-12 oz. size, producing about 20#/plant on compact indeterminate vines, with great flavor the whole season.

Winsall - first year for me, but yielded 23# of large Brandywine-type, dark pink fruit that were more uniform and tasted just as great as BW, also a big-vined potato leaf variety.

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Comments (14)

elskunkito
16 years ago
I hate to say it, but...
This year I planted 1 commercial better boy plant.
Planted late, and uncared for, it did remarkably well.
By plant size, it was the heaviest producer of all my plants.

The fruits were all regular size and crack resistant.
They look like store bought tomatoes. All the same size and color. Nothing fancy.

The taste was not bad at all. Not heirloom quality, but very crispy. A fine slicer.

I still have one on the counter today. Its starting to show age after 3 weeks.

So for people that just like normal boring tomatoes I would highly reccomend that variety.
sandy0225
16 years ago
Celebrity
Mountain Fresh
Jubilee (yellow)
Roma will keep but won't sell all that great
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Scott, I still have tomatoes producing heavily, and a few slow-pokes (planted late because of weather) that haven't produced a ripe one yet. And, there's no way I am going to list every single variety because I plant too many, but I'll give a brief synopsis of the ones that have produced well. Better Bush--earliest tomatoes...picked ripe ones in late April from plants set out in containers in mid-February. The flavor was very good considering these ripened in cool weather. The one in the ground in the garden produced one of the earliest ripe fruit in the garden too. Early Girl--early, lots of fruit, average flavor Jet Star--earlier than Early Girl, heavy bearers, better than average flavor Supersonic--very heavy yields of very large tomatoes, great flavor Prime Time--very heavy yields of large tomatoes, great flavor Ramapo--heavy yields of medium to large tomatoes, great flavor Moreton--heavy yields of medium to large tomatoes, very good flavor Momotaro--heavy yields of large pink tomatoes, excellent flavor Livingston Gold Ball--Heavy yields of golf-ball sized golden-yellow fruit with great taste. I like these so much they seldom make it indoors because I eat them while working in the garden. Indian Stripe--moderate yields (not as good this year as last year) of tomatoes similar to Cherokee Purple in flavor (excellent flavor) and appearance Chocolate Stripes--moderately heavy yield of red and green stiped tomatoes with average flavor Brandywine--low yields--so far 2 tomatoes from one plant and 5 from the other, but the flavor is great, and they are blooming now so hoping for more fruit set during the cool spell (which hasn't arrive here yet--it was 84 degrees here at 7:30 a.m. and felt like 89) Nebraska Wedding--Moderate yields of orange beefsteaks with outstanding texture and flavor Royal Hillbilly-moderate yield of fruit with amazing flavor--did not produce huge numbers like last year Tess' Land Race Currant--One of these is all you need. The plant currently is 8' tall and about 4' wide and I've had trouble keeping it upright. It currently is staked with 3 8' tall metal fence posts and 3 shorter wooden stakes. This produces tiny, red, round, tasty 1/2" wide tomatoes in great profusion....I'd say I've easily picked a thousand of these so far and it will produce until frost is heavy. A lot of flavor in a tiny tomato. We use these in salads and also I dehydrate tons of them. Sweet Million--heavy producer of red cherries with very good flavor Rose Quart--heavy producer of pink oval cherry types (not really as oval as most grape tomatoes) with very good flavor SunGold--as always, a heavy producer of golden-orange cherries with great flavor. Less cracking than most years. Black Cherry--superb as always and ties with SunGold in terms of great flavor and great productivity Ildi--a very prolific yellow grape tomato with amazing flavor. I've tried other yellow grapes and none of them can touch it in flavor. Some of the others are late to ripen.... Red Defender and Scarlet Red both have very heavy loads of large tomatoes. I am just about to start picking them. I think I picked a couple of Scarlet Red last week, but sent them to work at the fire station with DS, so can't comment on the flavor yet. These plants (and Moreton) have just about more fruit than foliage, and their foliage is heavy. I've never had plants in 7 to 10 gallon containers produce as many tomatoes per plant as these are producing. I can't wait to see how they do in the ground next year. Arkansas Traveler is producing medium-sized pink tomatoes with great flavor as always. Box Car Willie is just now ripening fruit. San Marzano Redorta is slow to ripen this year. Viva Italia has been a heavier producer and earlier and with fine flavor Black Plum was wonderful but both plants---one in a container and one in the ground--died of bacterial wilt. Mountain Princess produced heavy loads of pink, tasty fruit early on but was the first to die....of bacterial wilt. It was in a container too, and in fresh soil. (sigh) Some plants that won't be back: Dr. Carolyn (ivory cherry), Snow White (ivory to yellow large cherry) and Yellow Pear (kids love them). All three struggled with disease and died about the time they're producing heavily. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I didn't grow a lot of my real favorites this year because I was worried about drought and wanted some heavy-producing hybrids. Next year (Jay, do you think I'll stick to this plan?) I am determined to grow only the best-of-the-best of the plants I've tried, and maybe allow myself to try 5 or 10 new varieties. I think I'll do a 50-50 split between heirlooms (better flavor, but usually lower productivity in our climate) and hybrids (flavor can be iffy, but heavy production). Dawn
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digdirt2
16 years ago
What will sell best is often a very regional thing. Popular varieties in California (see Gary Ibsen's list linked below) may not hold much interest in Iowa and vice versa.

So best bet would be to talk with local market growers in Iowa and see what sells best for them. ;)

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Top 20 Market Varieties
bigdaddyj
16 years ago
Around here many farmers grow the Mountain series for fresh market. Sandy mentions just one variety in the Mountain series. There are others. Perfect looking, nice size and decent taste for a commercial variety. I have grown a couple but the taste just isn't there compared to my Brandywine's et al. If I were growing to sell them I'd grow the Mountains. Most people don't savor their tomatoes the way many of us here do. They just throw a slice on a cheeseburger and that's that. They buy on what their eye sees. The Mountains are nearly flawless.
marquette
16 years ago
Dean, you could try something new in market gardening og grow for taste. May you be richly rewarded!

Brandywine (Red). Tastes great raw, plus makes other veggies cooked with it delicious. Eggplant stewed in Brandywine was outstanding.

Ibsen's list include varieties that get poor taste reviews, so you could look up varieties on this forum before deciding. There is an excellent thread on the duds linked below.

Good luck. May you succeed beyond expectations with great-tasting toms.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomatoes that suck
trudi_d
16 years ago
Dean, I sent you a GW email.

Trudi
tomakers
16 years ago
I know many commercial growers grow JetStar, which IMHO is a great tomato for anyone. Looks normal, tastes great, and produces excellent.
carolyn137
16 years ago
What are customers looking for in their tomatoes?

*****

Dean, every location is different and Dave has suggested asking around and seeing what others are selling and that's a great idea.

Maybe it's hybrids the local population wants and maybe it's heirloom varieties they want, and maybe some of both, but before you make some variety decisions I think you really need to do some local research.

And when you've done that do let us know what you found out b'c as you can see there are many here who are more than willing to suggest varieties of both hybrids and OP's.

And when it comes to the heirloom varieties it's best to know what experience your local population has in that regard. If little, you may want to start out with simple round reds and pinks before growing many other colored/shaped ones.

When you do find out some local info I'd be glad to suggest both hybrid and OP varieties as have others in above posts.

Carolyn
tom8olvr
16 years ago
Grow a little of everything! :)
HoosierCheroKee
16 years ago
Dean,

If you're looking for consistent production of blemish free, big, round, red tomatoes, with long shelf life, on easy to manage, disease resistant determinate vines, I concur with those who recommend Mountain Fresh, Mountain Spring, Celebrity and Carnival. A large red tomato on an indeterminate vine but in the same category in other respects is Big Beef.

If you're particular market favors pink tomatoes like in Arkansas and parts of Missouri, there are several of those available from Stokes seeds with disease resistance, good shelf life, and other characteristics that will make your market garden project a go.

In fact, there are some good open pollinated pink varieties suitable for the pink slicer market, although they may not have been bred specifically for extended shelf live, including Eva Purple Ball, Arkansas Traveler, and to a lesser extent Bradley (very nice, good producing, determinate tomato but a bit soft).

I don't know about Iowa, but around here all the market gardeners, including the Amish, do very well with those mentioned here the most ... big, round, extra firm, red slicers like Mountain Fresh, Mountain Spring and Celebrity.
HoosierCheroKee
16 years ago
Bark,

Which of the Sun series was the largest and tastiest for you?
barrie2m_(6a, central PA)
16 years ago
Sorry Dean, but the image cast on any tomato sold in a non-food discount store is not a good one. What are you trying to accomplish?

Your customers will likely be turned off by the sight of any produce coupled with rows of salvage hardware items. My advise would be to construct a farmers' market tent in the parking lot to isolate your produce sales. Then you can sell tomatoes along with other produce and trusting customers will let you know their preferences on a weekly basis.

Variety isn't nearly as important as the quality of the product that you offer. Although most tomaroes can easily tolerate 3 days on a shelf at room temperature, if harvested properly, if that is your goal in a tomato then you are likely barking up the wrong tree.
marcantonio
8 years ago
i'll second barkeater on the campbells 1327, good production nice tasty fruit.
gotta try that wins-all.

Good market tomato varieties

barkeater

Comments (14)

elskunkito

sandy0225

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