I am growing tomatoes in my backyard this year for the first time. So far I am immensely happy with them. I have two grape tomato plants and two beefsteak. There are lots of tomatoes on all of them, mostly green. I have gotten two red beefsteaks so far and several grapes. Right now I have two beefsteaks that are starting to orange, and a bunch of grapes that are orange-y. I am going away from Sunday to Friday, and I'm curious how long these tomatoes will last if I leave them on the vine while I am gone. Do you think they will still be okay when I come back? I have a neighbor that will come to water if there is no rain, and if the tomatoes need to be picked I will tell her to do so...but I'd really like some to stay so I can share them with my parents when I get home- they are anxiously awaiting some tomatoes, and I haven't had the chance to get them any yet. Any thoughts? How long do tomatoes keep when you leave them on the plant?
If they're ripe now, they won't stay ripe for another week. Probably will get attacked by bugs. I'd say pick them!
In our neck of the woods, it takes about 2 weeks for tomatoes to go from orange to ripe. I would leave them. But if you choose to pick them, leave them on the counter and they will continue to ripe, but won't have the same flavor as those allowed to ripen on the vine. Don't put the tomatoes in the refrigerator - it destroys them quickly.
We are new to growing tomatoes. We are getting cracks around the tops of them. Are we letting them on the plant for too long?
I get cracks in mine also and honestly don't know what causes it. I suspect it comes from growing too fast and water getting on the fruit. I just cut out the cracks and eat the rest of the tomato. The flavor and texture is the same fresh and processed. I'm finally managed to get rid of blossom end rot on my tomatoes this year and am happy about that!
I've got blossom end rot due to water issues this summer...not enough rain...guess I didn't water enough to compensate. Tomato cracks:http://www.tomatodirt.com/tomato-cracks.html
I grew mine in the wrong season down here - my wonderful cousin gave me some plants... but they were on the northern growing schedule. I've cut them all back to the first sucker so that maybe I'll get a fall harvest. I'd say pick the grapes. The beefsteaks will probably take another week to ripen completely.
Blossom end rot is caused by a calcium deficiency. I mulched egg shells in my tomato bed all winter. When I planted the plants, I added more broken egg shells at the bottom of the hole along with a fertilizer rich in calcium. I've got close to 200 tomatoes coming on and not one of them have end rot. Last year, about 10% of my tomatoes had it. The calcium really works.
That's what happened to my peppers. My cucumbers are round, but I guess they are ok. I just picked them. lol. I had one plant that was doing amazingly well - looked gorgeous and lots of green tomatoes. I came out one morning and the whole things had shriveled up and died overnight. It was brown and dried up. Looked like someone sprayed it with a chemical or something. So weird. The rest of them look nice as plants but they aren't producing much.
Thanks everyone! I picked some before I left, and when I got back last night many others were ripe and I picked them this morning! Another question- my grape tomatoes look great, but my beefsteaks are covered in tiny little brown dots. I mean TEENY tiny. They look like they have freckles. As far as I can tell, they don't go through to the inside of the tomato. There is no bruising, and they seem perfect except for these brown specks. Ideas????
