Tomato Question??

[daylilydude]

I was wondering i had a really good first year at growing o/p and heirloom tomatoes as my pics show. What i was wondering could that possibly have been to my picking the mater's that weren't fully ripe? Making the plant think it wasn't producing enough seed maybe? I mean would it be like dead heading flowering plants?

[cottonpicker]

Sounds like a reasonable possibility to me.

[dice]

I don't know if it affects the plant, other than it can get by
on less water (water does not flow into those fruit that have
already been picked when the soil is wet, making more of what
the roots take in available to the rest of the plant). Most
non-commercial growers who pick early do it to avoid splitting
of ripening fruit that may happen if wet weather shows up. I pick
most of mine like that, for just that reason (rain is a frequent
occurence here in late August and September). It does not
affect the flavor (once they blush, the flow of nutrients into
the fruit stops, even if the flow of water does not).

A side benefit is that it reduces the exposure to 4-footed and
winged pests that may otherwise find ripening fruit too
tantalizing to resist.

(Nice batch of tomatoes there.)