This Chef's Choice Orange Tomato is getting soft and ready to pick.
How do you know when your tomatoes are ready?
You know that tomatoes are ready to pick when their skin has changed color, is glossy and there is no green tinge. You will also know a tomato is ready to be picked when it begins to lose its firmness. Once they start to turn to their expected color, just gently squeeze your tomatoes to see if it is firm or gives a bit – if they are starting to get soft, tomatoes are ripe and ready to pick.
Most tomatoes are ready to start harvesting about 60 to 100 days after planting (check the seed packet for a rough estimate). Tomatoes can be picked as soon as they start to change color for best shelf life on the kitchen counter. They will continue to ripen off the vine, we like to keep them in an open air basket until we use them. Picking them slightly early also decreases your chance of garden bandits like mice, squirrels, raccoons and birds from taking a taste of your tomatoes – they usually go for the softest ripest ones and then often just take only a couple bites!
You can also let tomatoes ripen longer on the vine if desired and pick them for same-day use for salads like a Caprese Salad, which fresh basil and balsamic vinegar reduction. Keep in mind that the longer tomatoes ripen on the vine, the more flavor and juice! Which is why they are sometimes enjoyed by your local wildlife. 🙄
Japanese Black Trifele Tomato above is near ready to pick!
Note: Not all tomatoes turn red! The tomato pictured at the top of this post is the Chef's Choice Orange Tomato, and it turns from green to orange. The tomato pictured right above is the Japanese Black Trifele Tomato which turns from green to mahogany with green shoulders. Some Purple tomato varieties like the Indigo Rose Tomato will be purple with green bottom that will ripen to a red with beautiful eye-catching hues of deep purple where the sunshine hits the fruit and red/orange where it is shaded. The Cherokee Purple Tomatoes turns from light green to brown shoulders with pink bottoms (and brilliant deep red inside), and Black tomatoes will turn from green to red to a deep purple/black/brown. Some striped tomatoes have metallic green stripes over the color of wine, like the Berkeley Tie-Dye Tomato. Yellow tomatoes like our delicious Beam's Yellow Pear Tomato start out light green and turn yellow when ripe.
So know what to expect and then once tomatoes start to turn color, use the squeeze test to see if they're getting soft and ready to pick. Some paste tomatoes, like the fast growing Heinz Tomato do not get as soft before turning red, so you can still pick them when somewhat firm – they are perfect for canning as they have thick flesh and they make great sauce and salsa.
Pictured above: Black Prince Tomato is ready to pick!
Do tomatoes ripen faster on the vine or after picked?
It depends on it's ripeness and the weather. If it's windy or cool, tomatoes may not ripen on the vines outdoors as quickly as on a counter, as they produce Ethylene gas that promotes ripening. In the still air of your kitchen counter, they could ripen faster without the wind to blow away the ripening Ethylene gas. However, they will usually ripen fine on the vine as well if the weather is good – and they will have better flavor if left to ripen on the plant. We would have to say they ripen slightly faster on the vine if the weather is warm and decent.
How to make tomatoes ripen faster?
If you have to pick tomatoes before a frost, there is a way to help speed up the ripening process of green tomatoes, simply trap the ethlene gas in with the tomatoes by putting them in a paper bag or cardboard box. To speed it even more, add a ripe banana or apple, which will also give off ethlene to speed the ripening. Many green tomatoes at the end of the season will ripen this way, so don't give up on them!
If you want to make your tomatoes to ripen faster on the plant outdoors (such as before a coming first frost), you can also cap the vine – simply prune back the vines and any new flowers to get it to focus on ripening the tomatoes already on the plant. You can also start watering less, intentionally holding back moisture which will encourage the plant to go into survival mode – but do this only with a plant that has it's fruit fully formed or it could cause blossom end rot. Also, simply harvesting tomatoes that are ready will help speed up in the rest of the tomatoes ripening on the plant.
Do you want to pick your tomatoes earlier in the season?
Make sure to grow Short Season Tomatoes, which are ready to harvest closer to 60-70 days. These fast growing tomatoes are perfect for short seasons, or for those of us who just want our tomatoes sooner in the summer (who doesn't?!)
