When picking 'maters...

[huntsman]

...Should I leave some of the stem attached or is it better to remove the tomato where it joins the bush? If it does make a difference, why?

(I know you remove the end bit when taking to market or it might puncture adjacent fruit.)

Thanks!

[TZ-OH6]

Most of the varieties I grow are tightly attached to their stems and pulling those stems off often causes little tears that allow bacteria and fungi to enter the fruit, which will speed up rotting. I've found it easiest to just snip the stem as close to the fruit as possible to prevent it poking holes in others.

[mensplace]

This may seem extreme for tomatoes, but in pruning any tree that carry fireblight, one should disinfect the pruning shears between each cut with a disinfectant. Wouldn't going from plant to plant among tomatoes also carry the risk of spreading disease,i.e., should you not have a similar disinfectant cloth if disease spread is a real concern?

[Worth1]

I just hope I get a tomato. With only 20 plants this year I should be able to take better care of them.

Stem on stem off it matters not to me.

Worth

[TZ-OH6]

I do fire sterilize my clippers in between each orchid to prevent spread of viruses, but with tomatoes there would be no way I could pick very many fruit doing this. Also, tomatoes are annuals and inexpensive so the rare chance that something would be spread by clippers is worth the gamble, and viral diseases would probably show up before fruit are ready to be picked and the plant would be pulled. With the orchids, and fruit trees etc, the plants are long lived, valuable, and have a history of getting infected from dirty blades.

[mensplace]

Originally Posted by TZ-OH6

I do fire sterilize my clippers in between each orchid to prevent spread of viruses, but with tomatoes there would be no way I could pick very many fruit doing this. Also, tomatoes are annuals and inexpensive so the rare chance that something would be spread by clippers is worth the gamble, and viral diseases would probably show up before fruit are ready to be picked and the plant would be pulled. With the orchids, and fruit trees etc, the plants are long lived, valuable, and have a history of getting infected from dirty blades.

I don't fire sterilize my grafting or pruning tools ( don't want to mess with the temper of my 30 year old BUCK or CASE knives, but do carry a cloth that is saturated with a light bleach and water solution, so a simple rub across the blade is adequate. Then I rinse and re-oil when done as I use only high carbon steel that will hold a razor edge. Either would go through a tomato stem very easily.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by mensplace

I don't fire sterilize my grafting or pruning tools ( don't want to mess with the temper of my 30 year old BUCK or CASE knives, but do carry a cloth that is saturated with a light bleach and water solution, so a simple rub across the blade is adequate. Then I rinse and re-oil when done as I use only high carbon steel that will hold a razor edge. Either would go through a tomato stem very easily.

That's a good point.

If the metal turns straw, purple or blue you have killed the temper.

You would then have to re-temper it which is impossible to do if you don't know what you are doing.

Worth

[pete]

Send me a basket of each and I'll let you know.

Pete

[huntsman]

Ok, so apart from giving me a hankering to own a good knife, what's the consensus?

I've noticed that some stems are far thicker than others, so perhaps they, at least, should be cut?

[geeboss]

I just dip my pruning shears in clorox/water solution after each cut and shake. I have 5 cups spread out among the 28 SWC.

George

[ddsack]

I let the tomato decide! Some pull easily off without the stem, some will break at the stem if the stem is thin and twiggy. The ones that are in clusters sometimes have really thick stems and have to be cut or you might crack the main stem which may still have less ripe fruit attached.

I don't normally carry shears or knives with me unless I'm planning to do clean up pruning, so I usually just hand pull and take what comes. Except at the end of the season when I am rushing to get in the greenies before frost, in which case small pruning snippers speed things up, but at that point I'm not going to be worrying about spreading disease.

I'm just talking here about harvesting a few ripe tomatoes per day as I spot them. If I were growing for market and had to collect a large number at one time, then yes I would use a snipping tool and maybe a disinfectant dip.

[huntsman]

Yeah,

This makes good sense! I'm often in need of a snack with no shears/clippers/knife in sight!