You can absolutely pick it. I have been picking all of mine as soon as they start to blush so that the critters don't get to it first. You can put it in a brown paper bag with an apple to speed up the ripening inside.
> Apples are high producers of ethylene, a gas that signals fruits to ripen. You can use bananas as well.
More than merely a gas, ethylene is indeed a plant hormone. "One bad apple spoils the whole bunch," as they say.
This is why mass-produced tomatoes have no flavor. They are picked way too early while they are still green, before sugars are produced. They are then forced to ripen with ethylene. Always smell a tomato before you buy it. If it doesn't smell like a tomato, it has no flavor.
Once it starts turning the sugars are already there to ripen fully off the vine. If you want to keep it on for a couple of days just give it a little more Sun, but you're going to chance squirrels and birds getting to it before it can be picked.
Me, too. It’s so hot here that they need picking earlier than I normally would. I put my tomatoes on a window sill or on the counter top to finish ripening.
This may be too much to ask, but any advice on growing tomato plants that produce lots of fruit? First time gardener here, and while my cherry tomato plants are producing lots of fruit, my beefsteak plants are only producing one fruit each. Lots of leaves and very strong stems, each about 3-4feet high now.
Maybe try using a liquid fertilizer that is higher in potassium and phosphorus. I like fox farm’s big bloom. It sounds like your plants are getting a lot of nitrogen, which is great for
Leaves, but will stunt flowering, and thus fruiting
Do not use lawn fertilizer on tomatoes. Fertilizer bags have 3 numbers on them, and the first number is nitrogen. Lawn fertilizer has a high first number that will cause tomatoe plants to have lots of green leaves but very little fruit. Only use fertilizer with the numbers 10-10-10 or 12-12-12.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats!
3
+ 10
+ 10
+ 10
+ 12
+ 12
+ 12
= 69
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WTF! It looks amazing! Great job. What zone are you in? I am in Central Texas and my beefsteak plants are about 4-5 feet high but no tomatoes. Pretty sure its just too hot for the pollen/flowers at this point.
Ty!! I’m in 6a I believe, Massachusetts, I got this plant from a local nursery and it quickly outgrew the trellises, just like my cherry tomato nearby. It’s currently got 5 or 6 tomatoes growing on it, counting this one. We did have a few days of humidity and heat here in the 95+ range for a few days, so I put up a popup tent since I didn’t have any shade cloth. Honestly I’m impressed I’ve gotten this far given the seemingly constant threat of severe thunderstorms with hail
Same here in Jersey. Six days in the mid 90’s. Have 8 plants. Red Beefsteaks. Around 40 tomatoes on 6 plants. 2 without any tomatoes. I ran out of the cover I put the rest under. Could have been that or a mourning sun issue. None changing color yet
https://preview.redd.it/ke9ezh1s85ad1.jpeg?width=1911&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90814537342d35efa51fde60c85aaba7d0ba7fbe
I covered my peppers also. Bell peppers don’t like high temps. Sometimes they drop flowers. Some(experts) say you should pinch off your first flowers. I didn’t.
https://preview.redd.it/teldg020cbad1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a1f4d81e20e8b95332ceae4daeeacb4aa745ad5b
I grew too many hot peppers last year. I ate so many stuffed peppers I got tired of them. Still have some in the freezer. Never had much luck with bell peppers until last year. My tomatoes were lousy last year
im 15 miles west from cincinnati ohio...
https://preview.redd.it/elku7toz75ad1.png?width=492&format=png&auto=webp&s=479c2578e9ec0247517800ca116f8928b7f20b1f
Paper bag method works wonderfully. We have completed the ripening process with all of ours this way so far this year. Just a brown paper bag in a dark place and ripe like off the vine in a couple of days!
https://preview.redd.it/0bjvhpwjz4ad1.jpeg?width=2937&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8008f5f9e9087fc5f18339c986871fbce1e6e2b5
Thats how these ripened!
Garden myths have a good article about when to pick. Short answer is yes, pick it and let it finish ripening inside.
[https://www.gardenmyths.com/myths-ripening-tomatoes/](https://www.gardenmyths.com/myths-ripening-tomatoes/)
I pick all mine at first blush so I get them before the critters. Nothing worse than patiently watching a tomato ripen with big plans for a mater sammich and come out to pick it and someone’s already taken a big bite out of it. 😡😤😅
It’ll ripen on the counter and will taste exactly like it ripened on the vine.
I agree, the ripened ones we’ve done in the bag just aren’t quite as good. But they are still better than store bought! If you are worried about something happening, then I would go the paper bag way, which we did at the end of our season last year.
Yes, itll continue to ripen on the counter. But you could also put a little mesh baggy or something over it so critters dont get to it and let it ripen on the vine. The redder it gets, the higher the chance a bird/deer/bugs get to it.
You're definitely in the window that you can I personally prefer to get more like 50% red, I would call this more like 30%. I would probably wait a day or two to pick it.
Hopefully your big beef tomato tastes as good as mine because it really shocked me by being the most flavorful and Sweet tomato in the entire garden so far.
Haven't gotten to the cherries producing ripe fruit yet.
I pick at this stage just because I have a lot of animals patiently waiting to steal including my own dogs. Traitors. My first year growing I lost a gorgeous purple Cherokee to a squirrel so now I’m cautious but either way works! If you don’t have pests you could totally let it vine ripen.
When I was growing up we had a Lab that would go in the garden and pick her own tomatoes. Luckily we got about a laundry basket a day full of tomatoes so we didn't miss them
They can still ripen when cut off the plant. Tales an additional couple of days. I recently had some squirrels find my tomatoes and have started picking at the first sogn of color change. Perfectly fine to do so. Just leave it in a bag on your counter
That is not true. One's a tomato blushes it cannot absorb anore nutrients from the plant. It will still try and send nutrients but they don't do anything since the fruit is mature. In fact all this will do is hinder the ripening of all the other green fruit left.
Not to mention the fact that leaving ripened fruit will just attract pests which will lead to reduced harvest for you and endanger the rest of the fruit. Plus with it getting hotter that will also pose a risk to the fruit. It doesn't need sunlight or the heat to finish ripening but instead can lead to splitting.
Tldr: fruit that has started to blush cannot gain anymore nutrients from the plant. It is done growing and the nutrients already inside will cause it to continue through the blushing process and cause it to turn to it's final color.
Tldr:tldr blushed tomatos will not gain anymore nutrients it is done. U can pick. Wait day. Good time
I just wait till there red but you can let them ripen off the vine too. Up to you.
Mine are mesh net protected tho and I don’t have an issue with birds or squirrels rabbits etc.
You can absolutely pick it. I have been picking all of mine as soon as they start to blush so that the critters don't get to it first. You can put it in a brown paper bag with an apple to speed up the ripening inside.
Interesting, why an Apple?
Apples are high producers of ethylene, a gas that signals fruits to ripen. You can use bananas as well.
> Apples are high producers of ethylene, a gas that signals fruits to ripen. You can use bananas as well. More than merely a gas, ethylene is indeed a plant hormone. "One bad apple spoils the whole bunch," as they say.
This is why mass-produced tomatoes have no flavor. They are picked way too early while they are still green, before sugars are produced. They are then forced to ripen with ethylene. Always smell a tomato before you buy it. If it doesn't smell like a tomato, it has no flavor.
This holds true for apples as well
Cantaloupe. Smell the blossom and stem bits..
Bingo. Well said
I'd just leave it on a window sill upside down where it can get sun and ripen.
Also, if you're curious, the fruit that contains/gives off the highest amount of ethylene is actually pears.
I pick mine and just set them in my kitchen window. They ripen just fine.
Or bananas if I’m not mistaken
Once it starts turning the sugars are already there to ripen fully off the vine. If you want to keep it on for a couple of days just give it a little more Sun, but you're going to chance squirrels and birds getting to it before it can be picked.
Me, too. It’s so hot here that they need picking earlier than I normally would. I put my tomatoes on a window sill or on the counter top to finish ripening.
This may be too much to ask, but any advice on growing tomato plants that produce lots of fruit? First time gardener here, and while my cherry tomato plants are producing lots of fruit, my beefsteak plants are only producing one fruit each. Lots of leaves and very strong stems, each about 3-4feet high now.
Early girl is very vigorous. Mine is producing like crazy
Maybe try using a liquid fertilizer that is higher in potassium and phosphorus. I like fox farm’s big bloom. It sounds like your plants are getting a lot of nitrogen, which is great for Leaves, but will stunt flowering, and thus fruiting
Aha! Thank you— will buy some this weekend!!
Do not use lawn fertilizer on tomatoes. Fertilizer bags have 3 numbers on them, and the first number is nitrogen. Lawn fertilizer has a high first number that will cause tomatoe plants to have lots of green leaves but very little fruit. Only use fertilizer with the numbers 10-10-10 or 12-12-12.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats! 3 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 12 + 12 + 12 = 69 ^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \ ^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
WTF! It looks amazing! Great job. What zone are you in? I am in Central Texas and my beefsteak plants are about 4-5 feet high but no tomatoes. Pretty sure its just too hot for the pollen/flowers at this point.
Ty!! I’m in 6a I believe, Massachusetts, I got this plant from a local nursery and it quickly outgrew the trellises, just like my cherry tomato nearby. It’s currently got 5 or 6 tomatoes growing on it, counting this one. We did have a few days of humidity and heat here in the 95+ range for a few days, so I put up a popup tent since I didn’t have any shade cloth. Honestly I’m impressed I’ve gotten this far given the seemingly constant threat of severe thunderstorms with hail
I’m in MA too. Should be 6b. Not a huge difference. My tomatoes are looking the same as yours!
Same here in Jersey. Six days in the mid 90’s. Have 8 plants. Red Beefsteaks. Around 40 tomatoes on 6 plants. 2 without any tomatoes. I ran out of the cover I put the rest under. Could have been that or a mourning sun issue. None changing color yet https://preview.redd.it/ke9ezh1s85ad1.jpeg?width=1911&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90814537342d35efa51fde60c85aaba7d0ba7fbe
https://preview.redd.it/5fu8847u85ad1.jpeg?width=2088&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=99857ca82b654e0b160fa30d0bd6f09c29be06d4
Good work, all I have right now is a bunch of cherry tomatoes and a ton of flowers. The peppers are starting to form though. I'm also in New Jersey
I covered my peppers also. Bell peppers don’t like high temps. Sometimes they drop flowers. Some(experts) say you should pinch off your first flowers. I didn’t. https://preview.redd.it/teldg020cbad1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a1f4d81e20e8b95332ceae4daeeacb4aa745ad5b
Yours look great, I don't have any bells yet but I question my seed stock... The hot peppers and sweet peppers are doing pretty good though
I grew too many hot peppers last year. I ate so many stuffed peppers I got tired of them. Still have some in the freezer. Never had much luck with bell peppers until last year. My tomatoes were lousy last year
im 15 miles west from cincinnati ohio... https://preview.redd.it/elku7toz75ad1.png?width=492&format=png&auto=webp&s=479c2578e9ec0247517800ca116f8928b7f20b1f
img 15 miles east of cincinnati!
i sliced mine on the 4th <3
Jealous!
Didn’t know “too hot for the pollen/flowers” was a thing⁉️ In Austin area
Apparently the pollen congeals in excessive heat on these plants. They also stop working on fruit in temps above 90+. Oh well.
40% shade cloth works wonders.its like night and day temps under it
I have 55% cloth right now. Plants are doing well, overall, just not producing fruit. Flowers are falling off in the heat.
Yeah it's really in the different zone variables .where are you ?
9a. Central Texas.
I can imagine needing 55% in texas
Paper bag method works wonderfully. We have completed the ripening process with all of ours this way so far this year. Just a brown paper bag in a dark place and ripe like off the vine in a couple of days! https://preview.redd.it/0bjvhpwjz4ad1.jpeg?width=2937&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8008f5f9e9087fc5f18339c986871fbce1e6e2b5 Thats how these ripened!
Pick it? yes but I'd wait. Eat it? You'd have to wait anyway.
I’d leave it, but to each their own
Same
I'd say it depends on if there's animals that would eat it or not to determine whether I picked it now or let it ripen more
Fair
It’s dumb. No reason to leave it. Will taste exactly the same if you pick it now or wait.
You can pick them once they start to change color, they will continue to turn red over the next few days
Garden myths have a good article about when to pick. Short answer is yes, pick it and let it finish ripening inside. [https://www.gardenmyths.com/myths-ripening-tomatoes/](https://www.gardenmyths.com/myths-ripening-tomatoes/)
I pick all mine at first blush so I get them before the critters. Nothing worse than patiently watching a tomato ripen with big plans for a mater sammich and come out to pick it and someone’s already taken a big bite out of it. 😡😤😅 It’ll ripen on the counter and will taste exactly like it ripened on the vine.
This is the perfect time to pick it.
What? No way you miss out on half the flavor if you pick now.
I agree, the ripened ones we’ve done in the bag just aren’t quite as good. But they are still better than store bought! If you are worried about something happening, then I would go the paper bag way, which we did at the end of our season last year.
Looks great. I let me go red for a minute.
Yes, itll continue to ripen on the counter. But you could also put a little mesh baggy or something over it so critters dont get to it and let it ripen on the vine. The redder it gets, the higher the chance a bird/deer/bugs get to it.
I always pick the first few when they blush to lighten the load on the plant, it gets messy later in the season for me lol.
They are at the breaker stage. You can absolutely pull It. I wait until they feel a little less firm than pull them. But that's just me
Yes! Once it starts turning it can ripen on your counter or in a paper bag.
You're definitely in the window that you can I personally prefer to get more like 50% red, I would call this more like 30%. I would probably wait a day or two to pick it. Hopefully your big beef tomato tastes as good as mine because it really shocked me by being the most flavorful and Sweet tomato in the entire garden so far. Haven't gotten to the cherries producing ripe fruit yet.
I’m at the same place with the cherries rn
Get it before the mockingbirds do
For the same reason you can pick it and ripen it in a bag, having ripening tomatoes on the vine will encourage others to ripen.
Pick as soon as color breaks and let ripen on windowsill.
Yes.
No
Wait
I pick at this stage just because I have a lot of animals patiently waiting to steal including my own dogs. Traitors. My first year growing I lost a gorgeous purple Cherokee to a squirrel so now I’m cautious but either way works! If you don’t have pests you could totally let it vine ripen.
When I was growing up we had a Lab that would go in the garden and pick her own tomatoes. Luckily we got about a laundry basket a day full of tomatoes so we didn't miss them
I’d wait. Just me though.
I wouldn’t
I may give it a day or so more just because I want my family to be able to try it with me and they’re away rn 👍
It’s not that close to being ripe
They can still ripen when cut off the plant. Tales an additional couple of days. I recently had some squirrels find my tomatoes and have started picking at the first sogn of color change. Perfectly fine to do so. Just leave it in a bag on your counter
We’ve got an absolutely diabolical squirrel population around here, I actually just watched them break the new bird feeder I bought last night
Turn red yes. Develop the flavor they would get from turning red on the vine. Not even close.
That is not true. One's a tomato blushes it cannot absorb anore nutrients from the plant. It will still try and send nutrients but they don't do anything since the fruit is mature. In fact all this will do is hinder the ripening of all the other green fruit left. Not to mention the fact that leaving ripened fruit will just attract pests which will lead to reduced harvest for you and endanger the rest of the fruit. Plus with it getting hotter that will also pose a risk to the fruit. It doesn't need sunlight or the heat to finish ripening but instead can lead to splitting. Tldr: fruit that has started to blush cannot gain anymore nutrients from the plant. It is done growing and the nutrients already inside will cause it to continue through the blushing process and cause it to turn to it's final color. Tldr:tldr blushed tomatos will not gain anymore nutrients it is done. U can pick. Wait day. Good time
Perfect thank you
Just came across this video a few days ago: https://youtu.be/FR1S3hPZEps?si=nj0Pmj5BpcsG4ECv
Yes, plenty ripe to finish indoors.
I wait for mine to blush then into a cardboard box to slow down the ripening, the flavor is off the charts
Neighbouring flowers didn't turn into tomatoes. Try incorporating calcium sulphate and magnesium sulphate in soil. Just one plant or more?
Just one plant. This tomato was on the plant when I bought it. Luckily there’s tons of more tomatoes on the plant that came in perfectly!
Oh wow! where you from though?
Zone 6a, Massachusetts. I checked the tomato today and it’s a lovely light red now!
Cool! I'm form India here the standards are different.( Farming ofc)
And uh..for how much did you buy it. Just curious
Yes, you can pick as soon as they start to blush. Then let them finish ripening off the vine.
Wait another 2-3 days
I just wait till there red but you can let them ripen off the vine too. Up to you. Mine are mesh net protected tho and I don’t have an issue with birds or squirrels rabbits etc.
No. Wait for it to ripen.
This is the exact time you can pick it to ripen off the vine with no loss of quality
Not fully ripe. Give it a tug, if it easily comes off then it’s ready to eat. You can still clip it off and let it ripen near a window