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Subject: Market Farming
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- From: <wiediger AT msn.com>
- To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes
- Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 09:16:07 -0600
We have also found that, for us, the hybrids we use are WAY more productive
- on the order of 3-4 times for tomatoes. On average, in our very humid
summers, the heirlooms "melt down", crack, rot on the vine (unless we pick them
almost green - and then they don't have the sugars for good taste). Unless
we can get 3 times the price for them, we just can't afford to grow them.
Admittedly, we have a limited growing area - about 2 acres - and can only grow a
limited number of plants. If we had the area to grow 3 times the number of
tomatoes, heirlooms could be a larger part of our mix. As it is, we'd have
to triple the price for them to get the same dollars per sqft of growing
space. Last year we asked .50 more per pound, and sold some, but sold
a lot more of our hybrids. The price of the seed is such a small
percentage of the cost of growing - space, fertility, trellising supplies and
labor, picking labor are much larger costs. And, there are very good
tasting hybrids - IF they are allowed to fully ripen on the vine (there are also
awful ones, hard as rocks and bitter). We grow a lot of hybrids - where
they are the best fit, and OPs where they are. Every situation -
climate, growing space, market - is different. In a dry climate, where diseases
are less of an issue, on a farm with a lot of available cropping space, in a
market that will pay a necessary price differential, heirlooms may fit
nicely. Just don't lose sight of the fact that hybrid tomatoes can be
fabulous. We regularly have people tell us (old timers!) that our tomatoes
are the best they have ever eaten.
|
-
[Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
mtlivestock, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
Tom at Limerock, 02/11/2005
- Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes, Tradingpost, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
Pat Meadows, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
Tradingpost, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
Pat Meadows, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
robert schuler, 02/11/2005
- Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes, Tradingpost, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
robert schuler, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
Pat Meadows, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
Tom at Limerock, 02/12/2005
- Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes, Pat Meadows, 02/12/2005
- Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes, wiediger, 02/12/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
Tradingpost, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
Pat Meadows, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
Vivian Kooken, 02/11/2005
-
[Market-farming] RE: heirloom tomatoes,
Alliums, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] RE: heirloom tomatoes,
Tradingpost, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] RE: heirloom tomatoes,
Bill Bradshaw, 02/11/2005
- Re: [Market-farming] RE: heirloom tomatoes, Tradingpost, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] RE: heirloom tomatoes,
Bill Bradshaw, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] RE: heirloom tomatoes,
Tradingpost, 02/11/2005
- Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes, Lucy Goodman, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
Old Timin', 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
Vivian Kooken, 02/12/2005
- Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes, Lucy Goodman, 02/12/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
Vivian Kooken, 02/12/2005
-
[Market-farming] RE: heirloom tomatoes,
Alliums, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
Vivian Kooken, 02/11/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] heirloom tomatoes,
Tom at Limerock, 02/11/2005
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