Here’s a quick tip: did you know that picking tomatoes at just the right time will give you tomatoes that don’t spoil as fast and encourage your plant to put out more blossoms, leading to more fruit?
Ah, but Tracey, when is the right time to pick them?
Read on to find out. The answer lies within, the tomato, that is.
Ripened on the Vine
What if I told you you’re probably picking your tomatoes wrong? Believe it or not, most gardeners pick tomatoes too late. This leads to fruits that spoil quicker and a lower overall yield.
Most of us have gotten it into our heads that tomatoes ripened on the vine are the way to go. After all, it’s what’s on every food label for tomato products. Ketchup made with “vine-ripened tomatoes.” Cans of “sun-ripened” tomatoes. In reality, it’s all just good marketing.
The best time to pick tomatoes is when they reach the breaker stage.
Okay, what the heck is the breaker stage?
The Breaker Stage
From the time your tomato plant sets blooms, it takes about six to eight weeks for the fruit to ripen and be ready to eat. A lot happens in that time, but for the first half of that period mostly the fruit is growing larger. It’s forming seeds and the jelly-like substance that surrounds the seeds. All the sugars and acids that will give the tomato its final flavor are being formed.
Once the tomato has reached full size, it’s called “green mature.”
Then, some interesting things start happening within. If the weather is warm enough, it will trigger the tomato to begin producing a plant hormone – ethylene. You’re probably familiar with the effects of ethylene if you’ve ever watched a banana go spotty on your kitchen counter.
This hormone is essential for the synthesis of lycopene. Lycopene is what gives tomatoes their characteristic red color.
Heat, ethylene and lycopene all come together to ripen your tomatoes.
But the cool part is that tomatoes can produce ethylene and lycopene even if it’s not on the plant, as long as it’s someplace warm.
Technically, tomatoes ripening on the vine aren’t a part of the plant anymore.
Once the fruit begins to produce ethylene, it also seals itself off from the rest of the plant by the hardening of cells where the stem attaches to the plant. The fruit is no longer receiving nutrients and water from the plant, and this hardening of the cells makes it easier for the ripened tomato to break away from the plant – breaker stage.
So, when does the breaker stage occur? Surprisingly, it’s well before the tomato is completely ripe. Tomatoes ripen from the inside out, meaning that unripe tomato is far more ripe than it appears. In general, once the plant looks to be about 50% ripe (when it starts to get an overall pinkish hue), it’s hit the breaker stage.
Stage IV in the illustration above is the breaker stage and is the ideal time to pick your homegrown tomatoes.
Of course, determining the breaker stage in tomatoes that aren’t red can be a bit tricky. But once you’ve got a few ripe ones on the plant, you should be able to tell.
If you leave the tomatoes on the plant at this point, it will slow down the production of more tomatoes. After all, to a plant, its job is done – it has produced fruit, which will continue the species after that plant dies. However, if you keep picking your tomatoes as they hit the breaker stage, it signals to the plant to put out more blooms and start the process over.
What to Do with Your Tomatoes Once You Pick Them
Once you’ve picked your breaker stage tomatoes, all you need to do is keep them warm. Heat is the necessary ingredient for a tasty, well-ripened fruit. Place your tomatoes on a warm, sunny windowsill, a table on your back porch, or even a cardboard box in your garage. Light doesn’t really play a role in the ripening process.
Set up your tomatoes so they aren’t touching each other and the warm air can circulate around them. You can even layer them, placing a few sheets of newspaper between each layer. Check them often and rotate tomatoes as needed. Eat or cook tomatoes with soft spots or bruises first.
By the way, this is also a great way to encourage stuck tomatoes to ripen when it’s too hot outside. If temperatures climb much higher than 90 degrees F, the production of lycopene slows or stops. If you have tomatoes on the vine that are at the breaker stage, and you’re experiencing a heatwave, go ahead and pick them and bring them into your house where it’s cooler.
And that’s that, now you know the perfect time to pick tomatoes.
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