Very nice, Jennie
I have seen this blog before.
I take 52 - 57 days as for the first red ripe tomato.
Not all tomatoes in a truss flower and ripen at the same time.
So from flower to ripe fruit is about 50 days.

Sey

Just thought since you couldn't access this there might be a lot of new people who had never seen it. It is really helpful during the season to gauge your first ripe tomatoes. And just fun.

Jennie

Jennie, if you look at the timeline you'll see was done by Paul.

If you then look at the new FAQ's that some of us did here in I think 2002 or so, you'll also see that Paul was the person who uploaded the articles and pictures. And he did that b'c yours truly was the one who offered to coordinate which Faq's we would do and which persons would do them and I was not savvy enough at the time to use all the passwords necessary to upload especially the pictures. Never again will I volunteer to do anything like that again, but back then there were some very strong minded folks here with strong opinions and I insisted on everyone readind the early versions and giving input rather than doing most of them myself, and that b'c I'm an egalitarian at heart. No words can describe how fractious and nasty some of that was.

I haven't looked at the FAQ's in a very long time, but I did the one on Leaf forms and also helped out with the best one on How to Prevent Cross Pollination.

I've had Paul's timeline one in my faves for all those years, but when I now try to link to the X pollination one in my faves there are many pictures and some text missing which really bothers me. I suppose I should try to read the FAQ's here instead of off my faves, but I don't think I will.

Carolyn

I always think about 120 days from seed to fruit for early tomatoes and 150+ for main season tomatoes here in the PNW.

The timeline is great but we all know that other variables enter into the equasion. In a real world of varying temperatures and tomato varieties the actual DTM will also vary. For instance I find it interesting that 6 of 12 of my Early Treat plants have ripening fruit when none of 12 adjacent 4th of July plants have ripening fruit yet. Although I like that Paul chose Big Beef as a variety to represent the timeline it would be better to view how different varieties perform under specified growing conditions.

Yes, Paul's timeline was also important b'c it was first attempt to do that. and yes, it would be best to view how different varieties perform under specified growing conditions.

Since there are so darn many variables involved in specifying growing conditions anywhere, including geographic location, it would have to be ONE person doing it for how many varieties in one season? I can't see how that could easily be done, but maybe someone could take up the challenge.

I define early and midseason varieties and late varieties in terms of days, and I always saw some mid season ones ripen before earlies and some late season ones before mid season ones. I'm not the only one who defines by days, it's increasingly done by many, and here's the days I defined in my book about heirloom varieties for zone 5.

Earlies, maturation usually occurs in 55 to 65 days

Midseason maturity usually occurs in 65 to 80 days

Late season maturity usually occurs in more than 80 days

Interesting queston but as I see it's just about impossible to specify standard conditions for anything grown from beans to corn to squash, to you name it, and of course tomatoes included. <G>

Carolyn

Totally agree with both your assessments. Too many variables enter into the equation. I do look at it throughout the season, though, just to give me a rough idea of where my tomatoes are on their own timeline as compared with the big beef.

Jennie

Now if Paul had repeated the experiment in another year, when the weather was significantly different, he would have had different results, right?

I have heard tomatoes (and corn) ripen by heat units, and that you can actually calculate how many heat units you area has had, and see how many you have to go before ripeness. I don't hear many people talking about heat units here though. If it were a more common measure, it might be an interesting way to compare tomato maturities?

I do like how Carolyn categorizes early, mid, late-mid, and late rather than a specific number of days. It seems way more helpful in the real world, because then you have an idea of when they will ripen relative to each other. (i.e., they might take 20 days longer in WA than they do in Texas, but they still come in their relative times).

Carolyn, do you have any theories on WHY a mid can sometimes ripen before the earlies? Subtle differences in micro climate of each plant? Or maybe some genetic differences that make them tolerate that year's conditions a bit better/worse than others?

Like Jennie, I look at it as a ball park number. Variety, climate, care and growing conditions ... all can influence the outcome. The same goes for DTM/DTH early, mid , late categorization.
Let me give you an example:
I bought seeds of 4th Of July. On the package it said DTM 49 :
I planted out my seedling about 35 days ago. As of this writing it does not have a flower. Now it has 14 days left to produce a ripe tomato. hahaha

Sey

Carolyn, LOL. My name is Jennifer and I usually just go by Jenn.

Thank you for letting me know the correct term for Growing Degree Days. I agree, I certainly have never bothered to track them in my own garden. I have a little reading to do now :)

Jenn

Update: at the link above is a link to the app store where there is a free iPhone app to calculate growing degree days by zip code. So now it's easy! If only I knew the GDD for my varieties! ;-)

Jenn

Easy? By zip code?

I think not. I don't know what kind of area zip codes cover in your are but here in the NE and also with my own zip code they cover a very wide area. And within that area there's all kinds of terrain that can influence weather at any time. Freda is here right now watering stuff outside, major lack of water coming from the sky right now and we were both laughing at the time it was pouring rain in the backyard and the sun was shining in the front. LOL

But don't let me stop you from getting another app for your probably smart or dumb phone to do what you want to do.<G>

Freda just came in from watering outside and I told her what I was posting about and I won't use the exact words she used, I couldn't, but close enough is when she said....that person has too much time on her hands and yes, Freda has a so called smart phone. LOL

Carolyn

I do live in an urban area with fairly small zip codes. But you are absolutely right, if I really wanted to calculate acccurate info for MY garden, I would need a thermometer here measuring the highs and lows each day and do the calculations myself.

The app is very simple and just gives you cumulative GDDs by month, and compares them to last year. At the very least, it would give you an idea, with no work on the user's part. I mean, it's not like I need to know when my tomatoes will be ready for market, which was your original point :-)