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Located at 202 Collins Street in Gleason, Steele
Plant Company has provided your sweet potato needs for sixty-two
years. Better known as the “Taterhouse,” we have a rich family
tradition that links back to Mr. W. C. “Claude” Steele and his wife
Vernie Mable Phelps. Mr. Steele began this business in 1950 as
primarily a produce business that transported peaches, apples, and
other items by truck across several states. Mr. Steele had a knack
for dealing with people and grew the business rapidly when he added
sweet potatoes. Mr. Steele’s only daughter, Martha, married Dudley
“Butch” Sanders who was invited to join the business in 1953 after
completion of his military service. Mr. Sanders worked as a teacher
and coach but also “moonlighted” to supplement his teaching income.
This partnership grew a business that is still going strong today
and one that has earned the title of Tennessee’s largest dealer with
Mr. Steele’s grandson Ken and his wife Valerie and his granddaughter
Kay and her husband Larry currently serving as partners. Ken
started full time in 1979 and Larry joined in 1981. In the early
50’s, 60’s, and 70’s, many people in Gleason added to the rich
tradition of Tatertown by having potato beds, but Steele Plant
Company is the only one in business to date. Even in earlier days,
plants were shipped by railway and greyhound bus. Harvested crops
were hauled to train depots to be shipped out at night.
 
In 1974, Mr.
Sanders made possibly the wisest business decision of all when he
made contact and a lifelong friendship with Mr. Bart Brown of Omaha
Plant Farms in Omaha, Texas. Steele Plant Company was acquired to
drop ship sweet potato plants for them …. numerous other vendors
soon followed. At present, Steele Plant Farms ships for 22 seed
catalog companies and a number of wholesale companies across the
United States, shipping to all 50 states and occasionally to
overseas customers. In fact, a customer even flew from Switzerland
to purchase only seven pounds of sweet potato plants. Each year
Ken, Valerie, Larry, and Kay attend both the sweet potato and the
mail order gardening conventions to learn more about the latest
growing techniques, newest equipment, and best advertising
strategies to reach a broad spectrum of gardening enthusiasts.
Steele Plant
Company currently provides ten varieties of sweet potatoes including
four white varieties. We work closely with the LSU Ag experiment
station and growers in North Carolina to acquire the newest
experimental releases. We are proud to provide Tennessee State
certified plants and potatoes. This process consists of numerous,
intensive inspections and regulations to prevent the spread of
disease. Certification shows that the family folks at Steele are
striving to continue the rich tradition of our founders.
Many things
have changed and improvements have been made over the years, but one
thing that remains constant is our desire to provide the best
quality plants and service possible to our customers. Mr. Steele
began with a few sweet potato beds located on Gibbs Road behind Q &
S Electroplating. Growth caused the beds to be moved to Woods Road
where expansion was possible, and then a purchase of the Gleason
Nursery was made in 2013 so that more greenhouses could be secured
to provide early plants for our southern gardeners. Currently, this
new nursery site has 17 covered greenhouses which are bedded in
February for mid April shipment. During March and April, bedding is
outside in open air beds to produce later plants for our northern
customers. In 1982, we moved from our old pack house location on
South Cedar to our current location on Collins Street. In 2014, we
added more storage for an annual harvest of 12,000-15,000 bushels.
In 2009, the 135 acre Albert Wright Farm was purchased and is the
current location for our sweet potato cultivation with a thirty-five
acre annual crop rotation. In that same year, an irrigation system
was put in place to assure a plentiful harvest for our shipping
needs.
Perhaps the
greatest change to our business has been in the shipping realm.
Years ago, orders were taken only by phone or were received in
handwritten envelopes. Now in the new age of technology, customers
primarily place orders on the web, by email, or pay pal while others
still prefer the old method of phone and postal communication.
Customers can order as few as 12 plants or can buy a truck load if
desired. Our sweet potato plants are shipped by priority mail, Fed
Ex, or UPS with trucks stopping by our location for daily pick up.
Just last year, an intelligent bar code computerized shipping system
was implemented to hopefully provide better and faster delivery of
this perishable vegetable plant to customers all over the United
States.
 Throughout
the years, we have had the pleasure of working with hundreds of
people in our workforce ranging from high school and college
students, retired individuals, and all family members who could walk
or even crawl. For many years, “Mama Lucy” and several of her
eighty year old sisters worked preparing our plants for shipment.
Every person with the name of Sanders or Steele was automatically
hired …..no application or recommendation required!!! During our
prime shipping season from April to June, we employ approximately 40
people, 18-20 people when “setting “ or planting our crop, and
12-15 people help with harvesting. After plants are set, hoed by
hand, and irrigated during the summer months, they are dug with a
mechanical digger that brings them up on a platform where they are
placed in crates and huge 20 bushel bins for storage until they are
needed for bedding season. The new system of mechanical digging has
definitely been an improvement from the old way of harvesting with a
shovel and backbreaking labor. The loyalty, dedication, and
diversity of our workforce have been one of our greatest blessings
over the years. Many employees have taken pride in our family
approach. These crews over the years have provided many wonderful
memories and great experiences for the men and women of Steele for
generations.
Mr. Steele
and Mr. Sanders believed strongly in the Gleason community and
provided assistance in many ways to those who fell on hard times or
who reached out during times of need. It is our mission to follow
in their footsteps as we provide assistance to help Society of St.
Andrews and Santa’s Helpers by providing jumbo sweet potatoes to
these organizations that help citizens of Weakley County and
surrounding areas that have food needs throughout the year. In
addition, we also wish to express our support for and sincere
gratitude to the amazing and hardworking women of the Gleason
Gazelles for hosting the annual “Tatertown Special” each year. This
Labor Day festival encourages town pride, rekindles friendships,
provides town improvements, and promotes the sweet potato heritage
and tradition of Gleason----the place many so lovingly call home.
Check out our
website at
www.sweetpotatoplant.com to view
more information about one of America’s best and most nutritious
gems of the garden. One small baked sweet potato has 140 calories,
2 grams of protein, 40 mg. of calcium, iron, 8,100 I. U. of Vitamin
A, niacin, and ascorbic acid which makes it rank in the top three
vegetables by many health professionals.
Mr. Dudley
“Butch” Sanders said it best in an article written by Dana Jennings
years ago when he shared these thoughts, “Who has a plant that is
more beautiful, easier to grow, costs so little, yields so much, and
produces a more spectacular, colorful, nutritious, and delicious
meal?” Stop by the Taterhouse for a visit, to share your favorite
story of Mr. Steele or Mr. Sanders, or to get some plants to adorn
your garden for the spring. Better yet, let us harvest them for
you….pick up some Beauregard or our personal favorites, the Georgia
Jet, to grace your table for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner with
your family. After all, family is what it’s all about!!! (Story by Kay Hudson)
Click Arrow for More Steele Plant Company Pictures
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