Best Time To Pick Tomatoes | Tomato Season | Joe Gardener®

Prepare Plant Grow Care Courses Resources When is the Best Time to Pick a Tomato? April 24, 2017 | Grow

When is the best time to pick a tomato? It’s one of the most often asked questions as we get closer to that time and the temptation to harvest gets greater by the day.

When a tomato reaches a full size, and the fruit becomes a pale green, it begins the ripening process, regulated by an internal gas produced within the fruit called ethylene.

While tomatoes develop their optimum flavor, nutrition, and color when the tomato is in the full red ripe stage, this doesn’t have to occur on the plant.

Once the tomato reaches a stage when it’s about ½ green and ½ pink (called the ‘breaker stage’), the tomato can be harvested and ripened off the vine with no loss of flavor, quality or nutrition.

This is the same tomato about 48 hours after picking

You can also speed up or slow down the ripening process once picked by raising the temperature (to an optimum of 85°F) or lowering the temperature to slow it down (to a minimum of 50°F).

Although it may sound tempting to leave fruit on the plant to enjoy that ripe vine tomato, you might want to consider the risks of doing so. We’ve all experienced that moment when we waited a day, or even a few hours too long and regretted doing so.

A sudden shower can cause that perfect tomato to split or crack as the roots take up a bit more water than the fruit can bear. The internal pressure of the expanding fruit on the skin is just too much. Splitting is the result. Or a bird, squirrel, raccoon or any other of many critters might try and sample that tomato before you do.

It’s a common occurrence and just not worth the risk in my book. Instead, harvest at or shortly after the breaker stage, with the confidence of knowing your tomatoes will be every bit as good as if you left them on the vine, but without the risk of any number of things you can’t control.

If you want to hear my discussion with Craig LeHoullier (author of Epic Tomatoes) where we talk about this “breaker stage” and other issues around tomato growing, check out my podcast episode: What’s Wrong With My Tomato – Mid-Season Care.

(Photo Credit: Nancy Suttles – top featured image)

Links & Resources

Episode 003: Growing Epic Tomatoes with Craig LeHoullier

Episode 004: Heirloom Tomatoes: Past, Present and Future with Craig LeHoullier

Episode 005: What’s Wrong With My Tomato? Mid-Season Care With Craig LeHoullier

Craig LeHoullier

Epic Tomatoes

About Joe Lamp'l

Joe Lamp’l is the creator and “joe” behind joe gardener®. His lifetime passion and devotion to all things horticulture has led him to a long-time career as one of the country’s most recognized and trusted personalities in organic gardening and sustainability. That is most evident in his role as host and creator of Emmy Award-winning Growing a Greener World®, a national green-living lifestyle series on PBS currently broadcasting in its tenth season. When he’s not working in his large, raised bed vegetable garden, he’s likely planting or digging something up, or spending time with his family on their organic farm just north of Atlanta, GA.

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2 Responses to “When is the Best Time to Pick a Tomato?”

• Pat Wisniewski says: June 26, 2017 at 3:17 pm

  I read years ago that tomatoes can be picked when they have the slightest bit of red at the bottom. the reason to do such would be to get them before any critters do. been doing it for years now and they always taste great

  Reply
  • Joe Lamp'l says: June 26, 2017 at 3:23 pm

    Absolutely Pat! One more reason to bring those precious tomatoes in before something else gets to them. Thanks for your comment.

    Reply
• Pat Wisniewski says: June 26, 2017 at 7:17 pm

  I read years ago that tomatoes can be picked when they have the slightest bit of red at the bottom. the reason to do such would be to get them before any critters do. been doing it for years now and they always taste great

  Reply
• Joe Lamp'l says: June 26, 2017 at 7:23 pm

  Absolutely Pat! One more reason to bring those precious tomatoes in before something else gets to them. Thanks for your comment.

  Reply
• Donna says: July 9, 2018 at 2:53 pm

  Is it proven that the nutritional value is the same as leaving on the vine ?

  Reply
• Menolly says: June 20, 2021 at 7:25 pm

  How do you finish ripening it once you picked it at the breaking stage, and how long does it take?

  Reply

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