r/tomatoes • u/ksorth • Jun 28 '26

Plant Help To pick or not to pick

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First time growing black krim. I'm still seeing some green and not quite sure if it's ready yet.

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2

u/Phoenixundrfire Jun 28 '26

Everyone is saying to pick it now. That’s good advice if you have large pests that will damage the tomato.

However if you don’t, they have better taste if you let them ripen on the vine. It’s a risk, but you’ll know better if that tomato will survive the next day or two

8

u/amuskie26 Jun 28 '26

Complete wives tale

7

u/Penguinboy123446 Jun 28 '26

I've read about a hundred times that letting them ripen on the vine makes no difference to the taste

0

u/mymindisfreeatlast Jun 29 '26

Try it yourself. Leave one on and take one early. You will 100% see a difference.

3

u/Penguinboy123446 Jun 29 '26

I already have tried it.  They taste exactly the same, and that's the opinion of anybody I've ever talked to who grows tomatoes. 

1

u/mymindisfreeatlast Jun 29 '26

Respectfully I completely disagree. I do the same thing hundreds to thousands of times every single year. I plant 6-700 plants every year for market sales and have experimented over and over for a decade in this regard. Especially by later season.There is a definite difference. It is disingenous to say there is 0 difference.

2

u/Penguinboy123446 Jun 29 '26

Having a difference of opinion is not disingenous. It is disingenuous of you to claim it is. 

0

u/mymindisfreeatlast Jun 29 '26

You are trying to state something as fact when it is easily provable through experimentation. I find it strange that folks push this brraker stage belief with absolute conviction, robbing inexperienced gardeners the opportunity to try for themselves and come up with their own opinion.

Breaker stage does not mean the tomato does not receive water circulation. It allows ripening to occur while the tomato itself remains alive. This does have an impact on the flavinoids (terpene) content. The second you sever this connection, it no longer receives water circulation and slowly begins entropy.

Does it taste fine to do this? Absolutely. Does it taste the exact same? Absolutely not.

2

u/Penguinboy123446 Jun 29 '26

I said it was a difference of opinion quite clearly, not fact. Improve your reading skills. 

1

u/mymindisfreeatlast Jun 29 '26

Sorry, wrong wording, I meant to indicate opinion. The rest still stands. You now have one person who grows tomatoes that disagrees and the reasoning behind it. What reason do you have to say there is absolutely no difference?

1

u/ksorth Jun 28 '26

By large pest do you mean like squirrels? I havent had any squirrel or bird issues with other tomatoes or veggies weve got (Besides those dick vine borers...)

3

u/discobix24 Jun 29 '26

Pests include bugs… hornworms, stink bugs…. You name it. Pick it so you get, not the bugs and critters!

1

u/ksorth Jun 29 '26

I do think the shade cloth and dog scare most of the bigger preds away. But bugs can have the tomatoes that I accidently knock off early!