Cal Poly holds virtual tomato plant sale

April 17, 2020

Cal Poly’s annual Tomato Spectacular plant sale will go on — with plants available for purchase online and scheduled pick-up times on campus.

More than 70 different types of tomato plants will be available at the annual sale, with online ordering starting today and continuing until the plants are sold out. Customers will be asked to provide a phone number and will be called with a day and time to pick up their orders in parking lot H-12, south of the horse and horticulture units on Via Carta Road off of Highland Drive.

Additional pick-up locations will be provided in Los Osos and Morro Bay for customers in those areas.

The original sale, planned for the first week of April at the Cal Poly greenhouses, was cancelled for safety precautions related to the pandemic.

Brandywine, Early Girl, Kellogg’s Breakfast, Homestead, and a selection of cherry tomato plants, including Nature’s Bites, are some of the unique cultivars that will be available during the student-run enterprise project, one of several such hands-on courses offered by the university’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences.

The cost is $6 per plant.

“We have more than 3,000 tomato plants available for purchase that students worked hard to cultivate,” said Wendy Robinson, campus greenhouse manager. “While we are not able to offer the traditional sale because of important social distancing requirements related to COVID-19, staff and students alike worked hard to find a virtual platform to make sure the community is still able to support these students’ hard work.”