varieties that don't ripen well off the vine?

jcmorse33 · September 19, 2008

Hey everyone, I was just curious what experiences people have had with varieties that fail to ripen before they go bad when picked at the breaker stage. This year we had a long dry spell during which squirrels and other animals began raiding my garden for tomatoes as a moisture source so I took to picking fruit as soon as they began to show a hint of color to reduce fruit loss to fauna.

Unfortunately while some varieties seem largely unaffected by this... i.e. Brandywine, Stump of the World, Red Brandywine all ripen up just fine and I can't tell the difference from fruit I let fully ripen on the vine; other varieties seem to start to rot before they ever get close to being ripe enough to eat. This seems to be particularly true of the oxhearts I am growing this year. German Red Strawberry seems to ripen from the blossom end tip upwards but the tip end always begins to go bad before the top half of the fruit is ripe enough to avoid tasting mealy and nasty. Yellow Oxheart has been worse, not even reaching the point of being fully ripe at the blossom end before beginning to rot.

So is this just something I need to expect with large oxhearts and certain other varieties? Let them ripen on the vine and take steps to avoid losses to the local fauna. Or is there perhaps some other factor at work as well?

--Justin

September 19, 2008	#1
jcmorse33 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Central Virginia Posts: 242	varieties that don't ripen well off the vine? Hey everyone, I was just curious what experiences people have had with varieties that fail to ripen before they go bad when picked at the breaker stage. This year we had a long dry spell during which squirrels and other animals began raiding my garden for tomatoes as a moisture source so I took to picking fruit as soon as they began to show a hint of color to reduce fruit loss to fauna. Unfortunately while some varieties seem largely unaffected by this... i.e. Brandywine, Stump of the World, Red Brandywine all ripen up just fine and I can't tell the difference from fruit I let fully ripen on the vine; other varieties seem to start to rot before they ever get close to being ripe enough to eat. This seems to be particularly true of the oxhearts I am growing this year. German Red Strawberry seems to ripen from the blossom end tip upwards but the tip end always begins to go bad before the top half of the fruit is ripe enough to avoid tasting mealy and nasty. Yellow Oxheart has been worse, not even reaching the point of being fully ripe at the blossom end before beginning to rot. So is this just something I need to expect with large oxhearts and certain other varieties? Let them ripen on the vine and take steps to avoid losses to the local fauna. Or is there perhaps some other factor at work as well? --Justin