To ripen on or off the vine: that is the question

[GardeningCook]

Normally I leave mine on the vine as long as possible, but lately we've had some nighttime raccoon raids, so I've been bringing them in a little earlier than I normally would. So far they seem to be ripening up just fine in a shallow bowl on the kitchen counter.

[lexusnexus]

If you plan to save seeds they will be viable if you have to pick them prior to fully ripening on the vine.

Dan

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by Slg Garden

Re: hardening of the stem. That makes sense but then I wonder why they split when they're over watered even when they're quite ripe. It's all confusing to this relative newbie.

I doubt that cracking is due to watering. How much water can cause internal pressure to cause split/crack ?

Cracking can be due to sharp temperature changes between day and night ( high /low). Also, it is possible that fast ripening process itself might be responsible to create gas and pressure (in hot weather) inside. And the fruits with thin skin develop cracks.
JMO

Gardeneer

[b54red]

Cracking is definitely caused by over watering especially on ripening fruit and that is another advantage of picking them at blush stage. I have had nearly ripe fruit literally explode right after a very heavy rain. Of course some varieties are much more likely to split from over watering especially the black tomatoes.

Bill

[Lee]

Originally Posted by b54red

Cracking is definitely caused by over watering especially on ripening fruit and that is another advantage of picking them at blush stage. I have had nearly ripe fruit literally explode right after a very heavy rain. Of course some varieties are much more likely to split from over watering especially the black tomatoes.

Bill

I also agree with this from my observations. Some varieties are more prone to this happening. Sungolds in particular like to split later in the season as compared to earlier.... This differentiation between seasons is curious....

Lee

[roper2008]

If I don't have any problems with pest eating my tomatoes, I let them ripen on the
vine. I was able to do that earlier in the season, then I had to pick them earlier
when something started to eat them.

[Gardeneer]

I have seen some Sun Gold Split after picking /on the counter/in the basket . Think about that.


Gardeneer.

[Worth1]

There is a high pressure condition in a plant that has a name, I cannot think of what it is called.

Here it is, it is called guttation.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...98717601,d.eXY

The reason your tomatoes split on the counter was the pressure was already there and had no place to go.
They finally split.
I can assure you a heavy rain will sometimes ruin a tomato crop if all other conditions are right.
These conditions would be the plant has everything it needs to grow fast.
Proper soil PH and fertilizer.

I have cut leaves from plants and they would drip water for days at the cut point.

Worth

[saltair]

I like to place the tomatoes on a plate and Completely and Lightly cover the tomatoes with a paper towel or dish towel. The tomatoes will ripen more quickly than leaving them uncovered. If I pick them directly from the garden and place them in a plastic grocery bag and lay them on the bench in the warm garage they seem to "sweat". So I let them lay on the bench uncovered for a day and then cover them loosely. To me, placing the tomatoes in a warm environment and covering them will cause them to ripen faster.

[bower]

I always blamed splitting on watering, but come to think of it, I have seen it a couple of times when the plants hadn't been watered but the relative humidity was high - as in a closed greenhouse.

I had an Indian Stripe exploded one day, I had gone off to town without watering or opening up because it was cool and overcast, but the sun came out while I was gone and really drove up the heat and the humidity in there.

Another time we had thunder storms off and on all week, and every day I was finding a lot of fruit splitting. Also have seen Black Cherry split after it was picked. That was around the same time iirc.

Someone mentioned Sungold, last year I helped my farmer friend to pick a bunch of them at her greenhouse pretty late in the fall. We were filling baskets for market, and she told me not to put any splits in them. Dang if a lot of the fruit didn't keep splitting - as soon as I picked them! It's like the pressure was there and they were just ready to pop. The ground in the greenhouse was very much on the dry side that day, and hadn't been watered for some time. But the sun had been out, so there was some humidity inside.

[Gardeneer]

Yeah. It is not watering after color breaks that causes split. RH , big temperature swings .also are factors..
But rain is different. Tomato (ripe) skin being in the sun and heat is pretty dry and relatively strong.
What the rain does is that it softens that skin and causing it splits easily. Try this the next time. everybody can try this. Pick some ripe tomatoes before the rain and leave them outside , in the rain. See what happens. I don't think that the rain water goes through the plant's delivery system to pressurize it, causing split overnight.

Gardeneer

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Yeah. It is not watering after color breaks that causes split. RH , big temperature swings .also are factors..
But rain is different. Tomato (ripe) skin being in the sun and heat is pretty dry and relatively strong.
What the rain does is that it softens that skin and causing it splits easily. Try this the next time. everybody can try this. Pick some ripe tomatoes before the rain and leave them outside , in the rain. See what happens. I don't think that the rain water goes through the plant's delivery system to pressurize it, causing split overnight.

Gardeneer

Nope its pressure.
A few years ago we had a big rain storm come through at night.
About an hour after the storm left we started hearing what we thought were gun shots going off.
All of the neighbors lights came on, dogs started barking and the police were called.

I stepped outside to see what was going on and got hit up side the head by tomato shrapnel.
When the police arrived and heard what they thought was gun fire they called in the the SWAT team for support.
It started with the Sungold tomatoes sounding like small arms fire and by the time SWAT arrived the big ones started blowing up.

It just so happened I knew the captain of the SWAT team (another avid gardener) and he asked me what was going on.
I told him it had came rain storm and the tomatoes were exploding.
He looked and sure enough thats what was going on.
He told the boys to stand down and so they did and watched as the exploding tomato display played out.

Then about 15 minutes later to the east another tomato patch started doing the same thing.

The police were up all night tracking down false alarms.

It became known as The Night Of Tomatogeddon.
I'm surprised you haven't hear of it.

Worth

[My Foot Smells]

glad nobody got hurt . although agree with the content about burst, esp t-storms that bring nitro into play. my plants grow a foot when ben frank comes around.

[Gardeneer]

Thunder storm, rain actually should cool the tomato off and reduce the pressure , if there was any. Me thinks

Gardeneer

[Worth1]

I now have pressure sensors connected to the different varieties that come back to my TCC (Tomato Control Center) that monitor the average pressure.
Right now they are averaging around 10 psi when it goes up to around 20 psi you have to start worrying.

Yes there is a such thing as root pressure which can cause certain plants to weep fluid from the leaf tips.
Many times this is mistaken for dew when it isn't.
I have seen it many times on my plants.
This root pressure is what allows people to collect sap from sugar maples in the spring when the sap is rising.

Worth