When to harvest tomatoes

Harvest

UMN Extension (Minnesota): harvest fruit when they have reached a usable size and color. Some tomatoes will drop when ripe. Others cling to the plant and you should cut them off in clusters. You may choose to pick the fruit of varieties that drop before it is completely ripe. Most types will come off the plant easily when ripe or close to ripe. Cue on their sheet — not a yield claim.

Frost

UMN Extension (Minnesota): when frost threatens at the end of summer, pick all the fruit and bring it indoors. Tomatoes picked truly green will probably never ripen to a good flavor, but those picked when the green color is decreasing and starting to turn white or pink should not disappoint. Fruit that is mature green, fully developed in size but not color, will often ripen satisfactorily. Some gardeners look for a star, or streak of white, on the bottom of the tomato. If the fruit is so truly unripe that the bottom is as green as the rest, it will not be worth ripening indoors. Their frost-and-stage note — not a flavor promise.

Ripen

UMN Extension (Minnesota): store unripe fruits at room temperature, one layer deep, spaced apart without touching each other. Light is not necessary. Warm temperatures are more important than light in ripening the fruit. Fruit will ripen over the next few weeks. Check them often. Their indoor layout — not a shared protocol.

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Minnesota tomato sheet. Harvest and indoor-ripen as cited. Not a fridge page and not a keeping promise.

Harvest

Clemson HGIC 1323 (South Carolina): fruit is picked fully vine-ripened but still firm. Harvest cue on their sheet — not a keeping promise.

Ripen

Clemson HGIC 1323 (South Carolina): if immature (green) fruit is harvested, ripen them at 70 °F. Light isn’t necessary for ripening green tomatoes. Their indoor-ripen note — not a fridge protocol.

Store

Clemson HGIC 1323 (South Carolina): green tomatoes can be stored at 50 to 70 °F for one to three weeks. Source range — not how long yours keeps.

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South Carolina HGIC 1323 Harvest & Storage. Harvest cue and indoor-ripen as cited. Not a fridge page.

Harvest

Maryland Extension (Maryland): harvest as soon as fruit color begins to change. Tomatoes will finish ripening on your kitchen counter. Their pick-stage — not a keeping promise.

Frost

Maryland Extension (Maryland): pick green tomatoes before the first killing frost and store in medium cool (50°–70°F), moist (90% RH) conditions for 1 to 3 weeks. When desired, ripen fruits at 70°F. Source range — not how long yours keeps.

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Maryland tomato garden page. Color-change cue and green-store as cited. Not a fridge page.

Harvest

Iowa State University Extension (Iowa): tomatoes should be allowed to ripen fully on the plant. Pick carefully from the plant when the entire fruit is a uniform color. When ripe, the fruit will be slightly soft to the touch, rather than firm or hard like unripe green tomatoes. Iowa sheet — not a national color rule.

Frost

Iowa State University Extension (Iowa): when frost is imminent, mature green tomatoes can be harvested and ripened indoors. Just before the first frost, remove all mature, greenish-white fruit from the vines. They should be solid, firm, and free of defects. Remove the stems, then clean and dry the fruit. Individually wrap each tomato in a piece of newspaper. Store wrapped tomatoes in a cool (60 to 65°F), dark location. When the tomatoes begin to color, remove the newspaper and place them at room temperature. An alternate method on their sheet is to leave the green fruit on the vine and pull up the entire plant; hang the tomato plant upside down in a cool, dark location and pick the fruit as they ripen. Two methods on one Iowa sheet — not one BioArva protocol.

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Iowa tomato garden page. Uniform-color cue and frost methods as cited. Comparison only — not one protocol.