Farmers market type questions (Tomatoes and Sweet corn)

Reid1650

Member
Was wanting any and all info you guys can give me about growing tomatoes and sweet corn on loamy type soils (Central Ky). Looking at experimenting with tomatoes and sweet corn to sell wholesale to vendors who sell at farmers markets to diversify myself more. I have a JD 7000 that I plant my field corn with. Can I plant my sweet corn with it too? Also looking for any info on growing tomatoes in a production type setting. Nothing crazy big but I am curious about plant placement in the row and also width of rows. Thanks in advance.
 
I can only tell you a little that applies in North Texas.
Most market vendors are growers and barter thier surplus for someone elses surplus but both have to pretty much retail what what they grow and swap for. An exception is melons which can be sold by the semi loads in the field.
Being close to populous cities to avoid time and fuel spent reaching one sure helps bottom line. A few people have locations on busy roads that do ok. A neighboring grower has sold to a couple of super markets for years. They know he will deliver on time every time so they are always in stock with fresh peoduce. What they may not know is that he buys what they need if he's short but never stands them up. It's a heck of an idea to grow a lot and wholesale but you might compare that to a good herdsman maintaining a set of dairy cattle but leaving it to someone else to milk them and manage that end of the business. It can be done but takes a real well greased operation with trusting perticipants to be profitable and sustainable.
 
If I grow lots of tomatoes, I put a stake every five or six plants and run the string across the stakes. Then I tie the tomatoes on alternating sides of the string. I fertilize exclusively with goat, horse and chicken manure. I also use compost, but, not chemical fertilizers, except as I transplant the seedlings. If you plan on using fertilizer the corn uses a lot of nitrogen (abundant in chicken and horse manure). I mix a wheelbarrow of dirt, compost and manure. The lighter the color of the garden dirt the more manure I add. I run my straight line string and every 12 inches across the line I dig an 18 inch deep hole with my posthole digger and fill it with my enriched mixture from the wheelbarrow. I take a tomatoe plant and transplant it into this spot. Every year I plan to move my holes a little bit to get a deeper richness into my garden. I start my tomatoes the first or second week of march, and transplant them in mid to late April. Some years I could get a second crop, but I don't have enough market as most of what I grow we consume. I usually use beef steak tomatoes. That's my tomatoe story. Perhaps you have a good Beet plan. The first year I grew beets, I got nothing. This year I got good beet greens, yet no good beet root. I tried this year in a grow box with potting soil and manure and regular dirt. The greens were great, yet I didn't get any usable beets.
 
I cant offer much help with the tomatoes, but growing sweet corn is similar to growing field corn.

Sweet corn works fine on 30" rows but works best at very low populations to facilitate larger ears. We plant ours around 19,000. Unless you are into the organic farming I would suggest an in furrow insecticide and also planting a super sweet variety such as offered by Seminis (my personal favorite is called "passion"). Some Semis varities are resistant to ear worm which will make a substantial difference at the roadside stand. Seminis now even offers a RR variety which could help with weed control.

Also be aware that not all field corn herbicides are safe for sweet corn. Read your labels. You can still use Atrazine with acetechlor for your pre-emergent and you can follow up with Callisto if you still have weed issues.
 
the problem with sweet corn is when it gets ready, you have to move it and fast. a few days and it's over ripe.

most folks just want a nice blemish free slicing tomato. unless there are lots of folks who put up tomatoes(canning). you will only sell what they will use for a couple of days.

Produce of any type does not keep for long and you might end up with excess crops.

You need to do some research for your area and see what the market will bear.

I sell at the local market and have bought tomatoes for resale. most of the time i barely broke even when i did. Not something i plan to do again. just a few bad ones will dip into the profit margin.
 
I place the rows apart enough to run a tiller between the rows with getting to close to the plants for tomatoes. Seriously, I often have the tiller up there and after the first row is done, I center the tiller about half a foot from the row, then eyeball the same space from the tiller and set the stake on both ends of the row. This way I can reasonably till between the rows.
 
That's why we try so many tomates, OkieRob. I want to start canning again, this coming season. It's been awhile since I made tomatoe paste and sauce from scratch.
 
Are there any canning factories near you? They often contract to have someone grow their crops for them. They do the harvesting. You may be able to learn a lot by growing for them before you strike out on your own. It's worth looking into it anyway.
 
if your planter is plateless yeah it"ll do sweet corn just fine, i"ve even planted okra and beets with a 7000. As far as a herbicide, a good one for field and sweet corn is Lexar, it is Atrizene, Dual, and Callisto all combined into one, very good weed and grass control, but its pre-emergent only.
 
reid1650,
In regard to growing for a canning company, one thing to keep it mind is that when it is time to plant or harvest - if it is wet they will "mud" the crop in or "mud" it out of the field. You can end up with huge ruts all over your land. We have driven past numerous farms where this has been done around here. I mean big tractor ruts two and half feet deep. It is a mess.
 
10 years back, I grew market garden for road side sales. We would plant 2000 tomatoes 1000 peppers , all bare root with a Holland transplanter. It would all so work well with spainish onions. I would plant corn every 5-7 days, depending on rain, and used my CaseIH air planter. Squash,pumpkins , cucumbers and corn stalk bundles, Indian corn and gourds , also sell well for fall decorations. Sounds kinda silly, but some folks will pay more for stuff to take home and rot down on thier front step,then they are willing to pay for food to eat.Oh yeah, we scuffled it all with a IH super A. Bruce
 
Almost all the people that buy at farmers markets are there to avoid GMOs and chemically grown food once its known a seller has these they won't be able to sell their produce.
 
It all depends on the market in your area,in my area there are literally thousands of people that want to buy fresh produce that is Non GMO and grown without chemicals and better yet no chemical fertilizers.I'm not certifid organic but list exactly what I put into growing my produce which is organic fertilizers, composted manure plus lime and basic minerals from things like Planters II and Greensand.Also old Heirloom type varieties sell well.
 
The vast majority of consumers aren't influenced by the scare tactics of the anti-gmo crowd. They tried to make everyone believe people in California would rush out and vote for the gmo labeling in the last election. That's California....land of the out of control liberals....and the people voted no. The evidence is clear to those that take the time to see it....The anti GMO movement is just not as strong as some would like us to believe.

Truth is, people want SAFE low cost food. The FDA, USDA, CDC, and a number of very respected universities have determined you are statistically more likely to suffer from a food related illness as the result of organic grown products than from conventional or gmo products. Most of the overseas opposition to gmo's is going away as they learn the facts and quit listening to the doomsday prophets/conspiracy theorist's.

There is a market for organic grown foods, but there is a much bigger market for safe, reliable, lower cost products. To this date, NO ONE has ever been able to prove that gmo crops or roundup technology has any ill effects on humans. NONE....Just rumors, innuendo, and and unsubstantiated claims. But there are FACTS that show an inherent risk with the safety of organic crops.
 
Facts are GMOs have been proven to be a threat to health by independent studies in Europe of course the ones that say they are safe have been financied by the large Ag companies in the US.
At any rate you fellows living in the sticks have no idea what the majority of urban consumers want
and matters very little what the real effects are one way or the other if the consumers are willing to pay extra to get it."The Customer is King".I can sell all the organically grown produce I can grow at a premium price locally so what do I care if the Chinese slave workers prefer GMO/chemical grown foods? Guess its still better than baked rat and Poke Berry they usually eat(LOL).You fellows have your market I have mine.
 
And now we hear from the rumor mongering crowd! Again, NO ONE has EVER presented FACTS showing what you claim, however, there are plenty of proven FACTS that show the much higher risk involved with organic. I'd expect you to defend your way of life, but try to do so with REAL facts, and not the kind that you make up as you go along. But then again, unless you use those "home made facts", you have no leg to stand on.
 
"Us fellows living in the sticks"....Now there's a REAL laugher. (But, based on your failure to know facts before speaking, one we'll just toss in the garbage with the rest of your nonsense) And such is the majority of your rhetoric. For the record, the organic movement would benefit greatly by you NOT being their spokesman. You're making it a laughing stock with your increasingly ridiculous comments.
 
Not for nothin but. MFPoor,I followed your link and then traced your article to the Hudson institute.
I am not going to take sides here,I eat GMO food every day,but your link does not seem to be ubiased. The studies referred to wer conducted under the auspices of the Hudson Institute. Major funding from the institute come from:
Eli-Lily
Monsato
Dupont
Dow-Elanco
Sandoz
Ciba=Gigy
Conagra
Cargill
Procter&Gamble
Hardly an unbiased group when it come to control of the worlds food supply
 
How about one from a REAL organic farmer, who exposes the TRUTH about false and misleading marketing in the organic business. It's pretty much a scam designed to entice people who easily fall victim to scare tactics.

And then there's the FACT that the CDC, AMA, USDA, and a growing list of unbiased groups ALL come to the exact same conclusion....

And then you get people like Traditional Farmer, who CLAIM to be organic, but fail to comply with certification requirements. (which makes them non organic, but fraudulently profiting from such by claiming they are)
How unorganic is that overpriced organic.
 
You have no idea what you're talking about as usual and no idea that organics is not a 'movement' for most people they're just people that want decent healthy food and they're not getting it from mainstream agriculture.Of course I don't expect you or brainwashed folks like you to care heck if Monsanto and the USDA put out a press release that cowpiles were good to eat on sandwiches you'd head to the pasture field with a loaf of
bread and a jar of Miracle Whip(LOL)
 
Funding from yes, but show where there's ANY evidence of misleading information or false claims....In a word, NOT.

And the studies conducted by CDC, USDA, ect, weren't funded by any private money.
 
So on with your personal insults....Typical. You MIGHT want to consider not everyone is gullible enough to believe the claims of an "organic farmer" who isn't by definition, an organic farmer. Just someone who is profiting from false and misleading claims.
 
(quoted from post at 16:01:32 12/11/12) Kill every deer that comes close to your farm,or you can forget picking any thing

jimmy,ask me how I know
I used to sell at the farmers market but no more. Tomatoes and corn the old standbys. Everybody around here grows tomatoes. At the farmers market most folks are not looking for quality they're looking for cheap. Corn is a little different. People want the variety that their parents liked. So a good quality heirloom ear of corn is worthless unless it's on their list. By the time you count cost, transportation, labor, stall rental, etc you ain't going to make a dime in the market around here. There are exceptions. The guy that sells half a pickup of corn everyday parked at a gas station is going to make more money than any of the others. Then there are those who set up a canopy and a little sign that says fresh produce will have cars backed up. They don't say that they buy the produce from a wholesaler and mark it up to retail. So define your market and sell what people are willing to pay. You may find out that it's a loosing proposition. Good luck anyhow.
 
don't waste your time on mfpoor with facts. he is a union hating, corporate choir boy with what seems to be no ties to family farmings glory days. i think he longs to be a bto. most bto's have to be bto's because they are generally low skilled farmers that need lots of acres to collect welfare on so they can survive off the 10 dollars an acre they make. granted, the last 5 yrs or so, even bad farmers have done well with the record prices we have.
 
HA! Oh junior....Mommy will be upset that you're out of the playpen and on her computer again. I'll say this about you. When you go to prove to the world what a moron you are, you do a fine job. I hope Santa brings you a clue for Christmas since you obviously don't have one.
 
So you've been stomped into a mud puddle by more successful farmers....No need to blame it on them. Put the blame where it belongs...On your parents and poor genetics.
 
you have no clue how successful i haven't been. and success, as defined by you and your ilk, is miles from how i define it. now let's hear some more of your childish insults that you so often blame others for using.
 
since you can't figure it out on your own, i'll tell you that my name really isn't bobby and i'm not really a boy. just a goofy handle i came up with. now please proceed with using your favorite comeback to other posts, calling folks morons.
 
I couldn't possibly care any less what your name is, or what species you are. From your whiney little junenile mouth, you might just be a little girl. Who cares. And I call a spade a spade and a moron a moron. Since the latter fits you like a glove, we'll go with that.
 
Who gives a rats behind how you define success. From all indications that's any day when you don't dump a load in your drawers. I should be ashamed of myself though....making fun of a mentally challenged 2 year old and all.

And for whatever it's worth, I recognise your ISP addy and know who you normally pretend to be. That alter ego is a looser too.
 
poopy jokes are always funny. thanks!
and i would guess it's not worth much because i've always been bobbyboy ever since i dove into a climate change thread on here bout a yr or 2 ago, and was pounded on no less. lol. back in 06 or so i poked around the oliver board asking a question or 2 under some handle i don't recall. so i have no idea how you can say that, i'm not computer savvy though.
 

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