Need CLEAR answer: Will earlier-than-ripe picking hurt flavor ?

[Kazfam]

I have picked all of mine at first blush because of rapid EB and hornworm problems. They have been delicious - best tasting tomatoes I have grown thus far.

Manalucie, Arkansas Traveler, San Marzano, Large Red Cherry.

I set them on my south facing window sills and within a few days they are ripe.

[brokenbar]

I'm with Salix...I have had 400 pounds of green tomatoes ripening at the end of the season (which in Wyoming was always a crap shoot...) I use those Rubbermaid "under the bed" clear trays as my growing trays and that is what I put all the green tomatoes in. Sort through each day and move blushing to a tray and riper to a tray, etc. Honestly,,,if there is any difference in taste, I have never found it. I dry most of mine anyway and never noticed one lick of difference between vine ripened and ripened off the vine. Squirrels...dirty little thieves!

[Noreaster]

Thanks very much to all who posted .

Am glad that the general advice overall is that there will be little if any difference in taste when you pick 'em once they begin to blush and mature off the vine.

THANK GOD.

Just came back in with a dinner plate full of blushed tomatoes. Unfortunately, also found four of my largest fruit (one pound plus) today with big squirrel bites.

So beginning tomorrow I will be picking anything that has begun to blush. Oh, and will also be laying them down in one of those plastic under-the-bed plastic boxes with paper towels lining the bottom. Will be on back deck in the sun, covered by netting that people use to protect grapes from the birds.

If in broad daylight the squirrel rats try to break into the boxes, and I happen to be home and see them........well.......anybody know what you can make out of
squirrel fur ????????????

[Tania]

Noreaster,

tomatoes do not need sun to ripen. You can store them inside, in a dark room.

Actually leaving them in direct sun will likely cause problems - i.e., sunscald, or uneven ripening (blotching).

Tatiana

[KarenO]

oh definitely not outside! As Tania advises. The even temperature indoors and even in the dark is fine. heat and sun will not help the ripening but will hasten spoilage. place them in a box, laundry basket or whatever in a single layer so they do not squish each other, I do not wrap mine although some advise it (I find It makes it hard to notice ripe ones in time). check them daily as they will ripen quickly if already blushing. In my zone 3a garden I always have boxes of green tomatoes ripening in the house in the fall due to early frosts here and so you can ripen ones that are not blushing at all quite successfully too.
KarenO

[Tania]

It usually takes 3-6 days from blush to ready to eat, at room temperature. I never wrap mine - just put them in one layer in a box, something like this:

[Noreaster]

OMG, thanks Karen and Tatiana. DUH. Will make it easy. Yay !

[TNTiger]

I probably wouldn't have eaten a single tomato if I wasn't picking at first blush! Darn squirrels are even eating the green ones. I'd love to leave them on the plant, if nothing else for the pleasure of seeing a plant covered in ripening tomatoes. But having already lost so many to the squirrels I'm picking at first blush.

I had a single Brandywine on one plant that I wanted to pick before first blush because apparently the squirrels got the other 2 or 3 from that plant. It finally had some color today so it's safely sitting on my counter (and the plant has new blossoms so I'm hoping for a few more late tomatoes from it!).

[SharonRossy]

Funny! Anyway sim bring mine in, if they ever start to blush this year, because between squirrels and rain, well you know! And it's true, they will crack if it rains and they're on the vine. I agree Karen, I don't wrap mine either, just put them in the basement.

[cythaenopsis]

Thanks for starting this thread, Noreaster. It's good to know that at "first blush" it's fine time to pick. Leaving on the vine until perfectly ripe apparently just invites more chances for things to go wrong, like a heavy rain inducing cracking. I had that happen with one tomato. Never again.

Originally Posted by KSU

“By the time the tomato has its first blush of red color, the layer of cells – called an abcision zone – is complete, and you can pick the tomato with no loss of flavor or quality,” Marr said. “If left on the vine after that, all the tomato will do is hang there, disconnected, going through the rest of the ripening process.”

[Worth1]

I have skimmed through this thread and I dont think I am repeating anything.

I will answer the original question with a question which should answer your question.

What would you rather have?

Lots of tomatoes on the vine waiting to ripen only to have critters eat them and you get nothing.
You wont taste these tomatoes and they are a waste of time and money to grow.

Or would you pull them early let them ripen and eat them which will be far better than store bought.


I think much of this is due the ignorance of the general public.
They think that store bought commercial tomatoes taste the way they do because they are picked early to ripen off the vine.
Then they buy (Vine Ripened Tomatoes) on the truss and tell their selves they are better.
They are not better, they are still commercial tomatoes.

I get this all of the time at work.
People will say that home grown tomatoes are so much better because you let them ripen on the vine.

I in turn tell them no I pull mine early and let them ripen in the house.

Another one is putting them in a window to ripen.
No I let them ripen on the counter out of the sun.

On both counts they look at me as if I were an idiot.

Convincing these people of long established beliefs is like trying to convince people 1000 years ago the earth was round.

A thousand years before that many scholars knew the earth was round but it took many years for the idea to catch on.

Once people know something to be true and it is what they have always been told it is very hard to convince them otherwise.

Very hard.
You can hit them with all of the proof in the world and they still wont listen.

I think temperature of many fruits makes a big difference in taste.
I absolutely refuse to eat any fruit like tomatoes, peaches, citrus, plums, apples and such cold.
Watermelon and cantaloupe yes.

Worth

[COMPOSTER]

I love this thread! So much useful information from such a straight forward simple question. My brother lost all his tomatoes to squirells last year and I bet he had some he could have picked at first blush and ripened inside.

Glenn

[tnpeppers]

Tomato growers who put out a generous bowl of food for neighborhood cats never seem to have a problem with squirrels or chipmunks...

[Labradors2]

Originally Posted by tnpeppers

Tomato growers who put out a generous bowl of food for neighborhood cats never seem to have a problem with squirrels or chipmunks...

Oh my goodness! If I did that, I'd have skunks and raccoons stealing my maters!

Linda

[Doug9345]

I think if I did that I'd have the neighbor hood cats stealing me!