How does he do it?

9 years ago

I saw a farmer at market yesterday who had tons of tomatoes (some Juliet, some kind of hybrid beefsteak) selling for $1.99/lb - that's what they are in grocery stores! I asked and they said they had 500 plants going crazy. The farm is about 4 miles from me, their greenhouse collapsed Feb 2013 and they hadn't gotten new one built (though they did get help from state) by March 2014 so I know they didn't start seeds early, and all these plants are in the field.

They don't spray, and half my plants have septoria. Not that 4 miles is much, but they're north of me and higher elevation so I know the weather hasn't been any better there, though I do know home gardeners near water who have ripe beefsteaks now. I know from other threads that this has not been a good tomato year for many of us.

I didn't get mine out until late (June 4 - 18, except for some leftovers I threw in as late as the 30th) due to cold weather in May and lots of rain (every other day) in June, planted the late-season ones like Brandywine and Mark Twain first and short DTM later so I expected everything to start ripening mid-Aug. But here it is and while I've got a few Rose de Berne and Cosmonaut Volkov, Bloody Butcher is coming along fast this week, and Black Krim is almost done (only about 2 lbs per plant), I haven't gotten any Rutgers or Grandma Mary even blushing, and those were transplanted on June 4. And BK and Rose are (slightly) longer DTMs than those, planted right next to them 2 days later!

I am just stumped on how this farmer 4 miles away can have so many big ripe (or at least as ripe as you see in store, they weren't deep red but could be varieties) tomatoes even if he was able to get them out in May and used row cover? Maybe a short DTM hybrid, though larger beefsteaks like this usually take longer? These were about the size of my not-Independence Days and Best Boys last year, softball size.

I'm getting frustrated seeing all these fruit on lush vines and nothing ripening. I've given up on the field tomatoes with septoria, not much foliage left but I'll pick what ripens, and am just hoping the cherries start ripening over the next couple of weeks.

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Comments (3)

HotHabaneroLady
9 years ago
I always wonder how the farmers are able to get tomatoes (and other things!) into the farmers market before I can. I don't know how they do it and, unless it's a greenhouse, they never really explain. But I guess that being focused on agriculture 24/7 and having an education in it either academically or by experience can be helpful.

My one consolation is that even if theirs are ready sooner, mine still taste better. :)

Angie
sheltieche
9 years ago
I would love to hear his answer and believe with a bit sincere flattery to his produce/work you can gain some insights which hopefully you will share!
I start early with WOW and soil warming and for my zone while most people just started their large tomato ripening for couple of weeks now, I am at the end tail of mine, canned all I could, did my share of giving, juiced etc. Would not know how to do it on large farm scale but with my 80 plus plants it was not a big deal although it is work.
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2ajsmama
Original Author
9 years ago
I don't know if they'll tell me - they had an employee there last night. If I stop by maybe his wife will tell me but we're competitors (though I'm way smaller, usually grow about 150 tomatoes, this year 200 and it's too much for 1 person to keep up with along with everything else).

I've been expanding the garden for 5 years now, my 4th year selling, trying to learn all I can reading books, from GW (digdirt is the best mentor!) but other than growing under cover (GH or HT), spraying (and this farm says they don't spray, imagine they use copper but that didn't help mine this year, maybe he knows of something else and/or has enough help to keep pruning, rotates crops) I don't know what they could be doing.

I guess I have to ask what kind(s) of tomatoes they're growing besides Juliet. I know he's grown heirlooms in the past, didn't see any last night, either he's given up or they're not ready yet. But he always grows Juliet b/c it's prolific - I just don't think it tastes that good, tough skin, so I don't grow it. I may not have earliest tomatoes at market (maybe next year with a high tunnel I can be close), but I want people to come back for the taste. I taste everything I sell, so I can tell people what it's like (if I can find the right words, sometimes that's hard, taste is subjective).

Maybe he's growing something in the Mountain line - though I didn't think they got that big - maybe Mountain Merit? Another (certified) organic grower, who is not at market this year, gave me a Mountain Magic to try last year and I didn't care for the taste of that either. Is that line resistant to septoria? I read that Cornell was working on it, but all I found in a Google search was Iron Lady - maybe he got some seeds for that? Of course, who knows what his plants look like, the tomatoes looked good (but like grocery store hybrids).