When to Pick

[JosephineRose]

I tend to pick at first blush, though I am sometimes generous with the definition of that first blush. I absolutely do it late in the season.

I grow in an urban environment, but I live in the woods. Whether it is in containers on pavement at our woodshop, at my city community garden plot or in one of my raised beds at home, I am always trying to harvest before a creature gets to it.

I learned the hard way.

[heirl00m]

I clicked this thread expecting a bunch of "when it's red, duh!"-type responses, and I'm leaving a completely changed tomato grower. I shall be picking my fruits at first blush this season, and I'm looking forward to fruits that aren't waterlogged and full of holes.

[AZGardener]

I pick when they have some color and let them finish on the kitchen counter. If I wait until they're ripe on the vine I won't get any.

[JosephineRose]

I have always believed and was totally convinced that a tomato freshly picked from the plant and eaten at the right time of harvest had an incredible flavor, nothing to do with a tomato ripened at home. An example of how they ripen differently is that storage tomatoes if harvested when they are green hold much longer than they are picked ripe, with the only seeds that I have had germination problems with have been storage tomatoes matured outside the plant. Department stores also buy unripe tomatoes from the farmer so that they can last much longer for sale.and in the fridge its flavor also changes

Nico, I am growing Ramallet tomatoes for the first time this year and would love to see any pictures you have of your storage tomatoes at picking time, if you have any. I am looking for optimum storage time myself, and would like to pick when the color matches yours, if I may!

[Nico]

Hello JosephineRose, I am not an expert in ramallet or storage tomatoes, in Spain those who live in the Balearic Islands and Catalonia are authentic teachers and craftsmen in the world of "ramallet" tomato. But I think I can help you.
Spinning of ramallet tomatoes has been a tradition in Mallorca for more than 100 years, it facilitates their long conservation and lives on thanks to the legacy of mothers and daughters. In order to spin and hang these tomatoes, they are collected from the plant before they fully ripen, they are sewn to a rope and they ripen hanging, they require a dry, ventilated place and with little light, it also resists drought quite well, some people recommend that the suitable regiedo of ramallet tomatoes is half the water of a normal tomato plant, I have tried to irrigate both ways and it works in both ways
I collect them when they start to take on color, so they hold more stored, but you can also collect them more mature, the only thing that will hold less time. I show you some photos of my ramallet tomatoes, they are from the year 2017, but I think they are the photos that you need, they are right at the moment of the harvesting, some are too green, because when taking the bouquet of flowers some have not fully matured.

flor de artana.jpg

[Nico]

A team of researchers from the Biology Group of plants under Mediterranean conditions at the Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB) has made important discoveries about the particularities of this tomato variety.
It is interesting, you can use the translator.
https://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2011/01/ ... 55685.html

[Sue_CT]

I thought this article was interesting. The most interesting was the last paragraph. I have done it both ways, and have personally concluded that I get more and better fruit from NOT pruning, as well as picking at first blush or at least by the pink stage and finishing ripening indoors. This is the first time I have seen my experience with pruning/not pruning documented by someone else in an article. It is just a small mention, and some people need to prune due to space constrictions, etc. But given the option to do it either way, I find I get healthier plants, nicer fruit with less splitting and other problems, and overall more lbs of fruit per plant not pruning than when I "suckered". This article is about ripening, but I found the pruning part interesting as well.

https://www.gardensalive.com/product/yb ... -pick-them

[Labradors]

I mostly pick when I feel like it. If the weather forecast calls for rain, I pick everything, including all those that have blushed. The one exception for me is Sungold. I really cannot stand the taste of Sungold unless it has been vine-ripened. That said, I like my tomatoes REALLY ripe

[KathyDC]

I always believed that tomatoes were best when they ripened on the vine, but I really had/have no proof of that. So my heart wants to let them stay hanging out there, but I almost always regret it because of birds. So these days, I really try to pick them at first blush so that I am growing tomatoes for myself and not the birds and squirrels in my yard.

[Bronx]

Getting my first ripe tomatoes of the year this week. A good old reliable Stupice, 1 Husky Cherry Red, 1 Sugary F2 and 1 Compari F2 so far.

These were unexpected this early so I still have 2 1/2 store bought tomatoes to finish before digging into mine.

[slugworth]

I failed in my attempt to beat last years record of june 15th for a 4th of july hybrid in the cement blocks.
It will probably be 4th of july.
Early May was just too cool,even pumping warm water thru the blocks.

[heirl00m]

I failed in my attempt to beat last years record of june 15th for a 4th of july hybrid in the cement blocks.
It will probably be 4th of july.
Early May was just too cool,even pumping warm water thru the blocks.

Damn, June 15th? I thought I was hot sh!t with my Cherokee Purples on July 15th!

[slugworth]

I use all my skills and all my powers
4th of july hybrid is a 60 day tomato.
So to have it on the 4th of july it has to be growing great guns beginning of May.
Other years it missed july 4th by 1 week,what you said around july 13th

[heirl00m]

In terms of picking at first blush: does this hold true for Sungold? I've got two fruits turning yellow and I'm wondering if I should pick them or let them be...

[Ginger2778]

In terms of picking at first blush: does this hold true for Sungold? I've got two fruits turning yellow and I'm wondering if I should pick them or let them be...

Sungold is the one exception. It never gets truly great vine ripened flavor if picked too early. Wait until it's bright screaming orange before you pick!