How to Know When to Pick Your Tomatoes
There’s a good chance some of your tomatoes are starting to turn colour by now. Maybe you even have some that look like they’re ready to harvest. But how do you know when it’s time to harvest your tomatoes? You can’t just rely on the colour of your tomatoes to know when they’re ready to harvest because many need a couple of days after their final colour to complete the ripening process.
How Do You Know When to Pick Your Tomatoes?
A few different indicators will help you know when is the right time to pick your tomatoes. Unless you’re going to make fried green tomatoes, which are very good and definitely worth a try, you should wait until the fruit is ripe, or nearly ripe, to pick them for eating. If you want to preserve your tomatoes, you may want to pick them a little before they’re fully ripe to avoid the skins splitting. But how do you know when they’re ripe?
- Ripe tomatoes are their full deep colour, with no green spots left. Green areas mean they’re not quite ripe yet.
- Ripe tomatoes should come off the vine quite easily. Ideally, you should be able to pick them with one hand, cup the fruit in your palm and give a gentle twist, and it should pop right off the vine. If you need two hands to separate the stem and the fruit, they’re not quite ready.
- A ripe tomato won’t be too firm or too squishy; they will feel supple, slightly soft, but not too soft. It should feel similar to a ripe peach or nectarine, just a little bit firmer. If it still feels quite hard like an apple, it’s not ripe yet. If you squeeze the fruit gently and it has a bit of give to it, it should be ready to harvest.
- Ripe tomatoes are shiny and glossy. Before they are fully ripe, they will usually have a slightly duller or powdery appearance.
How to Avoid Splitting Tomato Skins
One of the most common problems people have with waiting for their tomatoes to ripen is splitting skins. Unfortunately, they can split at any stage of growth when they’re green or ripe. In many cases, tomatoes splitting their skins is related to inconsistent watering.
Tomatoes are very thirsty plants. They need at least 1 inch of water per week and plenty of nutrients as well. Once they start growing fruit, they use up even more water to create those lush tasty toms. Make sure your tomatoes are getting consistent watering while the fruit is ripening. A layer of mulch will help retain moisture in the soil as well, so they have less water and heat stress.
Tomatoes grown outside can be at extra risk of splitting. When they experience drought conditions, the flesh may grow faster than the skin, making it get very tight. It’s very common for water-stressed tomatoes to split their skins after a sudden rainstorm, which is not uncommon in Powell River. So if your tomatoes are nearly ripe and rain is in the forecast, it may be best to pick them and let them finish the ripening process indoors. Tomatoes grown indoors or in a greenhouse may also split.
Don’t despair if you do discover your tomatoes have split. They are still usable. Pick split tomatoes as soon as possible, and check them for any signs of pests nibbling or tunnelling into them. If no one else has been chewing on them, then you can still eat them. Make sure to use them up quickly as they won’t keep as long as other tomatoes. If you catch split tomatoes right away, they’re still fine for slicing or eating fresh. If you think they’ve been split for a day or two, they’re probably better for cooking. Even if they’ve been nibbled on, you can still save the seeds from them for next year if you like the variety.
Enjoy your harvest, and share with us—we love to see images of your bounty!