Newbie question - why pick at first blush?

[feldon30]

In that article, why did he mention "gas"? I was not aware tomatoes release ethylene gas.

[scottfsmith]

I pick in the 80-100% ripe range. I haven't done a side by side comparison but they seem to be better than the early picked ones. Or maybe I'm just not waiting long enough on the early picked ones. I used to be a 100% or bust type person but picking a touch earlier has won me over -- the fully vine-ripened ones are split, bugged, and bruised way too often.

Scott

[SteveS]

Since last year I have bitterly complained because my largest maters would be purloined from my Community garden when ripe.
They didn't go after the cherry maters! They didn't pick the beans!

So picking at first blush or slightly later would solve this problem for me.
I've got to confess, this hadn't occurred to me. It is just so ingrained to want to get the greatest benefit possible by leaving fruit on the plant until dead ripe.

Steve

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by feldon30

In that article, why did he mention "gas"? Tomatoes do not release ethylene gas.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/info-u/...ion/bj763.html

....states quite clearly that ripening tomatoes release ethylene gas and there are lots of other links that say the same.

Actually the gene(s) that make ethylene gas inside the developing tomato is one of the very first substances that causes a cascade of events that turns on other genes in a sequence to ripen the fruits.

The idea of ripening tomatoes in a paper bag is predicated on the release of ethylene from the fruits that's trapped in the bag and hastens ripening. Adding some apple slices or bananas just ups that level of gas that comes from the tomatoes then selves. Of course that's almost the same thing that's done with tomatoes we get in the winter from FL, etc., where unripe fruits are picked and gassed in huge chambers.

Which is why I don't artificially ripen my own tomatoes in a bag or otherwise.



If you look at a list of commerciual varieties you'll even see where some are praised b'c they are more receptive to gassing than others.

[feldon30]

Hmm. Interesting.

[Blueaussi]

You know, I would prefer to leave mine on the vine until fully ripe, but this year some beastie is watching for the ripe ones, too. So I'll settle for picking early and letting it ripen on the counter, and take some comfort form this article.

[zopi]

Sent dear Wifey the article...she told me to bugger off, as she likes them vine ripened..contends that they taste better...maybe so, but I wonder if it is more the sun ripening them and additional heat rather than the vine itself...me I can't tell, hate raw tomatoes...love growing them though.

[Blueaussi]

Originally Posted by zopi

...me I can't tell, hate raw tomatoes...

*gasp!*

And...and...you seemed so very nice,

[zopi]

yeah..mom forced me to eat them when I was a kid....hated 'em since...watermelon too, unless it is full of 151....

I Did eat a yellow cherry off the vine the other day...half of it at least...maybe there is hope...five years ago I wouldn't touch a salad unless I was feeding it to what ieats salad so I can eat it...<G>

[barkeater]

I agree with most of the article except it cannot be true that nothing gets through the "abscission layer".

Ever pick a tomato that was almost perfectly ripe the day after a heavy rain and find it all cracked? How could it absorb that water if not through the stem?

[Lee]

Good point, Bark.... I was wondering that myself.

[dice]

Ever pick a tomato that was almost perfectly ripe the day after a heavy rain and find it all cracked? How could it absorb that water if not through the stem?

Xylem and phloem. Apparently the abscission only applies
to one of them.

[TZ-OH6]

Even if both the Xylem and phloem tubes closed off water still travels betwen the lignocellulose fibers of the cell walls. There is alot of resistance, which is why nonvascular plants like mosses are only a few inches high, but there is water movement. Because Xylem tubes are dead it would seem logical that only the living phloem tubes can scar over. But since they carry the organic molecules of the plant, closing them off is all that would be needed.

[barkeater]

TZ, thanks for that explanation. I understood the nutrient flow stopped a few days before ripeness, but not water. So the water can get in but not back out, causing the skin to pop?

[carolyn137]

It's been posted elsewhere that water only gets thru the cell wall when the immature gren fruits are very small. Which is why I often make comments about spraying fruits with Stop Rot for BER when fruits are much further along.

If water routinely got thru the cell wall, then when it rains or there's too much irrigation, all the fruits at half ripe and beyond would take up that water and split, and they don't. It's more of a variety issue as I see it.

And that's why in a previous post in this thread I said I doubted that any abcission scar could totally cut off water flow into the fruits and nutrients are dissolved in that water. Well, not so much nutrients at that point but all the many organic compounds that are known to be synthesized that have been IDed as being associated with taste.

Which is another reason why I don't pick fruits at first blush.