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When do you harvest your tomatoes?

 
C Hall
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This is the first year my partner and I have been able to have a garden together. Among our plants, we have two tomatoes and we've gone back and forth on when the best time to harvest them is. They think we should harvest them sooner, after they start to blush, since it helps protect them from pests, etc., but I always thought that they have the best flavor the longer they're on the vine, and I'm not sure if I'm just making that up.

I know that they continue to ripen on the counter once they're harvested, but I was wondering when everyone else harvests them.
 
Christopher Weeks
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I wait till they're soft, or until it's going to freeze. If I think they've cracked only this morning and they aren't covered in gnats, I'll harvest, otherwise they get plucked and composted.
 
randal cranor
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Howdy,

I harvest my tomatoes when they are soft to the touch, a slight pinch with thumb and finger, like a ripe peach. If it is hard I leave them on for a day or 2 more. The color has to be "ripe". When I pick them I like the stem on, and then will let them ripen in the house cause I don't get enough to do canning and have to pick ripe ones over a few days time, like today, I have over 4 lbs. from last week to today.

Did that help?

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John F Dean
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Depends. I like to wait until they turn. But, during years with bad insect or bird problems I will take them indoors as soon as they start to turn color.

At my age, Happy Hour is a nap.

 
Samantha Lewis
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they get a massive about more nutrients in the final few days of ripening!  leave them on as long as you can stand it!

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Samantha Lewis
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I would only harvest my tomatoes early if I was worried about frost.   When frost is coming I harvest them all and let them ripen slowly in a box.  If you have nearly ripe tomatoes you may want to stop or slow down on watering.  Getting watered when they are almost ripe can make them split and then they will not store.

Perfect The Dwelling Land

 
Anne Miller
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I pick our tomatoes when they are yellow or as soon as the green starts to fad if I don't the birds will enjoy them more than I do.

Even then these tomatoes are superior to those in the grocery store.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
r ranson
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It depends.  Some tomatoes are more sensitive to pests and environment, harvest these sooner.  Some tomatoes are better at growing and thriving during stress.  I usually grow these kinds because I don't baby my garden.  Some locations have different pests, so that's a factor.

Then there's personal preference.  I like my tomatoes fully vine-ripened, so I leave them on the plant until I'm hungry, then head out to the garden with a shaker of salt.  Other family members like room-ripened tomato flavouring best.  So they pick them at the first blush and then eat them a few days later.  Other family members like to eat tomatoes while they are mostly green.

Try lots of ways and see what works for you.

That said, if there's a threat of frost, we harvest them all and put them in dark paper bags and eat them as they ripen.  

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Carla Burke
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"What works for you"
This. If I'm worried about pests (2, 4, or 6 legged!) I'll pick sooner, if I'm traveling, like I did, this past weekend,  or there's a frost danger, I'll pick sooner, etc. But, one of my favorite ways to eat them is sun-warm, fully ripe, straight off the plant, like an apple, or sliced on bread with mayo, and the only way to get that, is to leave them alone, until they're so ripe, they're threatening to go home with someone else.

"The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance."~Ben Franklin
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." ~ Plato

 
C Hall
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Thanks for all the feedback! Seems in general people wait as long as they can, but that isn't necessary (especially if there's outside pressure). The tip about not watering close to ripe to prevent splitting is one I'll need to remember!
 
Roy Hinkley
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Pests are a problem so I mostly grow cherry tomatoes and I like peak sweetness. A gentle pull on the tomato to see if it comes off easily, if not then a gentle rocking to see if the stem is ready to separate. If some stem breaks off with the tomato it wasn't quite ready and if the tomato splits it was a bit too late.
 
C. Letellier
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When they start to soften being right up to dead ripe.  Otherwise before frost.

Country oriented nerd with primary interests in alternate energy in particular solar. Dabble in gardening, trees, cob, soil building and a host of others.

 
Chris Whitehouse
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I hold my thumb against the knuckle where the tomato stem meets the truss stem, and then gently lift the tomato against it. If the fruit separates easily at the knuckle then it’s good to harvest, otherwise I tend to leave it a while longer. I tend to pick little and often, then keep the fruit on a tray in the house until I am ready to use it.

Top tip, never keep in the fridge, you lose the flavour.

Second top tip, any unripe fruit left that you have to save from the frost, keep it in a bowl with a ripe apple or banana to ripen up. They give off ethylene gas which ripens them quickly - that’s what they do in commercial production, though I don’t suppose they use ripe apples!

And anything left over green in the end can still be added to soups, stews etc, just not quite the same flavour.

Happy harvesting everyone!



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Faye Streiff
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I used to wait until vine ripe,  then husband told me they were at their peak nutrient load at first blush.  After that nutrients start to flow back to the stem as they ripen.  They will fully ripen on your counter.   Pulling them early also makes plant produce more fruit.  Flavor depends on the cultivar and the mineral balance in the soil.  So now I pull at first blush unless I miss one hidden under leaves.  He also told me to pull off a lot of those bottom leaves and it helps produce more fruit.  

With appropriate microbes, minerals and organic matter, there is no need for pesticides or herbicides.

 
Brody Ekberg
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I harvest based off of color and weather. If they look mostly ripe I bring them in to finish inside. If they’re half ripe but we’re about to get a bunch of rain and/or wind I harvest to prevent them splitting or plants getting blown over. If its really nice weather I might let them fully ripen on the vine, but its easy to lose track of them that way for me. If they’re on the kitchen counter I’ll check them daily.

Maybe Life is always like being on a trapeze or a tightrope at the circus...

 
Jen Swanson
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I generally wait until they are red and come off the vine easily, then eat them while they are still warm :)

Some other things to consider though -
If it's been dry for a while and they've been surviving off of hand watering and then it's going to rain a bunch, pick everything that is starting to get the least bit soft, because the rain will make them split their skins.
If you have a lot of green tomatoes towards the end of the season, cut all the blooms and new shoots off to force the green tomatoes to ripen. Actually...I need to go out and do this soon!
And if you still have green tomatoes when frost is threatening to come any day, cut the vines with green tomatoes off and hang them upside down in the garage. It is amazing how long they keep and continue to ripen.  That's how you get fresh tomatoes for Thanksgiving and maybe even Christmas, if there are any left.

Enjoy!
 
Dorothy Pohorelow
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first blush or as soon as I catch on that is showing signs of ripening.  Then leave on counter until ready to eat.  This limits pest damage, unknown folks helping them selves, etc.  I normally have only 2 or 3 plants of any variety and since I save seeds I need to make sure at least one tomato per variety gets picked for that purpose.

In the south when the wind gets to 75 mph they give it a name and call it a hurricane. Here we call it a mite windy...

 
r ranson
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Dorothy Pohorelow wrote: unknown folks helping them selves, etc.  



oh man, that!  That was an issue when we had an allotment and we always had to harvest early.

Now we have geese.  

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Mk Neal
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Well this year like I'll be picking at first blush, or squirrels will just ruin them all!
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Weeds are just plants with enough surplus will to live to withstand normal levels of gardening!--Alexandra Petri

 
Susan Mené
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Interesting post for me, as I am swimming in tomatoes.  For the second year in a row I ended up with at least 20 tomato plants, half of which are volunteers.  I currently have 12 gallon-sized bags of seeded tomatoes in the freezer ready for canning; I'm expecting at least 20 bags by the time all are harvested and ripe.
We have had periods of drenching rain this summer (over 7 inches yesterday!  Not complaining: will take it over drought any day), and the tomato plants got brown spot, same as last year. (have to head over to the soil forums for some wisdom). I rotated crops this year, but as I said, many  the tomatoes came up in the same bed as last year and I let them stay, so the brown spot thrived.  
As a result, fruit from the affected plants got picked while plump and green, but still healthy.  I also have a German Shepherd that loves to chase balls and she "harvested" buckets of tomatoes early, ploughing through the garden after her "prey".
Green ones go in the paper bags, the ones from healthy plants get picked at full or nearly-full ripeness.
So, after all this ramble, my method is "whatever works to get them in the canner".

I choose...to be the best me I can be, to be the strongest me I can be, to learn the most I can. I don't know what comes next. But I'm gonna go into it balls to the walls, flames in my hair, and full speed ahead.

 
Kimi Iszikala
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When we're hungry.

We have perennial cherry tomatoes in our greenhouse year-round and have them in salads several times a week. We like them from firm and orangey-red to way ripe. We don't prune enough so sometimes we have tiny tomatoes that ripen and dry on the vine and they are sweet and chewey like dried berries.

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