Hah, yes. A lot of my tomatoes are ending up in the frying pan as well. I planted too densely so they are not maturing very fast.

I try to pick as early as poss with damage. Once I picked a few green beauties that really weren't even blushing, they were in the way of a truck making a delivery down the driveway.

My dog greeted me with wild enthusiam coming through the door and one dropped and split. I left it to see what happened. It ripedned up just fine! i was amazed! I had to cut that part out as it got a little rotten, but it was a huge tomato - brandywine - and the rest was lovely.

"My tomatoes are spending so much time on the vine they are getting mishapped, bruised, and other ugly spots."

I've tried to wrap my mind around that statement, and it just makes no sense to me. The amount of time a tomato is on the vine would not affect it's shape, barring any physical damage. If it is a round tomato to start with, it will stay round, it will just get bigger (up to a point) the longer it is on the vine, then it will ripen. The same with any other shape.

I suspect that what you are seeing is catfacing. Catfacing isn't a function of time, it is caused by external factors when the bud is developing.

Catfaced tomatoes can be misshapen with large scars and usually have cavities in the blossom end. They may have streaks and bands of scaly, dark greenish and tan scar tissue occur between their lumps bumps and bulges. The fruit can be distorted into weird shapes and can vie for the ugly tomato title.

Catfacing is caused by abnormal development of the flower bud before blossoming. This is primarily due to cool weather below 60°F (15° C) when the plants are young. There is some evidence that excess nitrogen levels or over zealous pruning can lead to the development of catfaced tomatoes.

I used damaged tomatoes all the time, I just cut away the damage and throw them into the Victorio and make them into sauce.

I hope that helps.

Betsy