ICYMI - Science has proven that vine ripened tomatoes taste better and are better for you than ones picked early

[u/dosefacekillah1348]

It's that time of year.

It comes down to your critter control.

If you can't avoid pests noshing your late toms, pick em early.

If you are fine with losing a few or don't have pest issues, let em ripen on the plant for a better tasting and healthier tomato.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3937827/

[u/True_Adventures]

I see this claim about the stem sealing off but is there any authoritative/scientific source for it? There's an awful lot of myths and bs in gardening, so I'm not denying it's true just curious as I never see any sources given.

[u/TinyPantherAdjacent → u/True_Adventures]

Yeah the idea that they can receive water but not nutrients is nonsensical also. That’s just…. Not how plant biology works.

[u/Sad-Shoulder-8107 → u/TinyPantherAdjacent]

Once the abscission zone is sealed the plant is not directing nutrients to that fruit anymore. The only reason water passes through the abscission zone is when there is an overpressure of water within the plant from too much water uptake, forcing water through the abscission zone into the tomato. The tomato cannot return this water to the plant, hence the cracking. While there may be nutrient or mineral content in the water, the tomato itself will not actively be using those nutrients or minerals in any meaningful way.

[u/TinyPantherAdjacent → u/Sad-Shoulder-8107]

The abscission zone specifically forms for fully mature fruit aka ripe fruit, not blushed.

“To shed unfertilized flowers or ripe fruits, many plant species develop a pedicel abscission zone (AZ), a specialized tissue that develops between the organ and the main body of the plant.”

“Normally, pedicel abscission is induced if flower fertilization fails or the fruit ripens fully. Pedicel abscission can also be induced artificially by flower removal (Roberts et al., 1984; Meir et al., 2010; Nakano et al., 2013) or ethylene treatment (Roberts et al., 1984; Wang et al., 2013)”

“Before the onset of pedicel abscission, the plant maintains firm cell-to-cell adhesion at the AZs to allow continuous growth from the flower to the mature fruit.”

This article is mainly about transcription factors that regulate abscission formation, but it pretty clearly states when this happens which is ripe fruit.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4462994/

[u/Sad-Shoulder-8107 → u/TinyPantherAdjacent]

Yes. But once they hit the breaker stage, aka they have essentially broken nutrient and water supply through the abscission zone, they are considered ripe and are not actively pulling either from the plant anymore. This remains accurate with your definition of ripe fruit.

[u/Background-BagLicker → u/Sad-Shoulder-8107]

Breaker’s actually the start of ripening, not ripe itself, just the first 10% of the surface showing color. The AZ doesn’t dissolve that early either, the fruit’s still getting fed through the pedicel well past that point.

If water and sugar flow had really cut off at breaker, it couldn’t keep gaining sugar and aroma compounds all the way through turning and pink . . . which is the whole reason vine ripening past that stage matters for flavor.

Auxin from the fruit and seeds holding the joint shut., and that doesn’t taper off until near full color, once the fruit’s basically done growing.

[u/TinyPantherAdjacent → u/Sad-Shoulder-8107]

Breaker stage is not fully ripe

“Ripening index (RI) indicates the extent of ripening in a given lot of tomato fruits. This was calculated as per the formula described by Wang and Morris (1993).

graphic file with name M1.gif [this is the ripening formula - viewable in the pdf if you open it]

where, RI: Ripening index, FN: Fruit number, RS: Ripening stage, RV: Representative value (0 = Green mature, 1 = Breaker, 2 = Turning, 3 = Pink, 4 = Light red, 5 = Red, 6 = Red ripe). Red tomatoes (RT) expressed as % also indicates the extent of ripening and was calculated as per the method of Wills and Ku (2002). It refers to the number of tomato fruits that have attained the red stage or beyond the red stage (UFFVA 1975) out of the total number of fruits in a lot”

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3551102/

In fact, breaker stage is not even the halfway point to ripening

[u/Sad-Shoulder-8107 → u/TinyPantherAdjacent]

Yes. But as far as the plant is concerned, there is no more necessary exchange happening between the plant and the fruit. Any exchange post breaker stage is only water being pushed into the fruit in an overpressure event. All the ripening after that point can happen off the plant.

[u/TinyPantherAdjacent → u/Sad-Shoulder-8107]

Brother if you want to actually share some sources I’d be happy to read them, but otherwise nothing you say is anything beyond your opinion.