It depend on many things like the tomato variety, how you want to eat/cook it, how much insects are attacking it, and the weather (rain). Usually you can go by color and feel. Many heirloom tomatoes don't ripe evenly, it will be red in the bottom but the top is still a bit green, you need to be wary of this and pay attention to the bottom especially after rain, because even if it doesn't look ripe on top, its overdue in the bottom and pest can get in. Some variety have thicker skin than other and more resistant to cracking. I tend to pick the ones that crack sooner so insects can get in and ruin it.

This year I had stinkbugs attacking my tomato and a lot of rain so I had to pick all of them early and bit unripe. For the ones I pick unripe, I put them in an enclosed bag which help speed up the ripening. I never store my home grown tomatoes in fridges because it ruin the texture and flavor.

The one in your photo is a megabloom, which mean the flowers merges to make a large fruit and hence that non-uniform shape.

A good example of why fused blooms should be removed - unless you want to enter it into the Ugly Tomato Contest. :)

The deformed monsters they develop into are not only ugly but often not edible due to all the scarring, hard cores, and uneven ripening. Agree with pick it now if only to give the plant a break from having to deal with it. With normal fruit they can be picked anytime after they show a bush of color on the blossom end and finish ripening inside away from bugs and weather.

Dave

Ugly… maybe.

But, Guinness World Records' record - 8.41-pound.

Yeah. To me it is some kind of sport, like catch a fish and then let it go.
But some double fused ones make a good tomato, shaped like a boat.
I have some megabloos and I want to keep them for sports.

But about OP's question. You could've picked it days ago. You can do it now, obviously.

Sey

Post some pictures of Seymour! ("Feed meeeeee!")

I must say, that is an amazing first tomato to grow. Good job.

Shoulda called it elephant man

Hmmmm, so did you name it Seymour before you almost cut your finger off, or after that ;-)

PC

What variety and how heavy is that tomato?

Maybe someone - Kellianne Murphy ? - makes a thread: THE HEAVIEST TOMATO OF 2015...

Now that is a real FrankenTomato! I love it!

Wow, Kellianne, that is some fused tomato. It looks like a whole cluster of blossoms fused together. What variety is it?

Wow, it looks great! It even looks reasonably edible! I see at least 5 tomatoes fused (not counting the little green nose). Enjoy!! OH WAIT, weigh it before you enjoy it!

Thanks for the lovely pictures Kellianne. I love "interesting" tomatoes and find it fascinating to see how they develop into crazy cool shapes. It dates back to when the first clown took a plain balloon and turned it into what he called my own special pony even though it just looked like a pack of hotdogs. I fully understand why some experienced growers don't appreciate the novelty, but I'm glad you got to grow this and see how it turned out, even if you decide not to go for these again. Each one expresses its individuality.

Now you are going to have to eat it! That too is an enjoyable challenge. My thought is that these go great with lobster in the shell. Just boil a lobster, crack open the shell, squirt some lemon in and have butter and mayo on the side. Then for your tomato, just a little salt and mayo too. That's the interesting part. Here's the tomato eating & serving technique, which I'm proud to have invented after a little bit of trial and error. Of course I hope you enjoy it by whatever method you find most delicious, but let me share mine:

How to "Skin" a 'Mater

- Wash well, with soap if necessary.
- Don't cut anything off for scrap. It's too good to waste and you worked too hard to grow it
- Use a paring or small sharp knife to section it into nice chunks conserving best their convex tomato shapes. It's best to section so scarrings are on one side of the the cuts near the edge of each chunk.
- Rinse a little more and at that point just remove any core only if that bothers you
- Put each whole succulent chunk in your mouth and lightly munch on it and slurp (lips closed) too, don't be bashful - enjoy
- Any of the scar tissue is perfectly natural and when no one is looking hold them in your front teeth and use your index finger and thumb to remove them once they've been de-fooded clean and just a little core remains that is so minimal. They are just like the stem scar, identical material that every tomato has, and fresh from your garden ;-) When you are done you will be amazed how minor the scars are, and will have gotten so close to the amount from a perfect globe that the difference is laughably negligible. Plus this is more fun. Think watermelon eating contests ;-)

Then, continue with your lobster ... no one will notice and tomatoes make lobster taste great.
If you don't eat seafood, my bad, please substitute a whole artichoke or coconut ;-)
Cheers! I've got one beastie almost as pretty as yours right now. It's a Neves Azorean. Not my favorite (Delicious is similar and yummier), but I like them well enough ;-)

Now back to your very handsome tomato, while I go eat mine!

Saúde!

PC

Wow! Thank you so much for this PC! It's funny because one of the dishes my mom served during the holidays was tomato slices with a dollop of mayonnaise on top.

That was the most fun thing I've written today ... and your Mom has very good taste! Make it a big dollop! Mayo on raw tomatoes is part of authentic Southern eating in some parts ;-) Did you know that when a tomato grows like this, we call it cat-facing? Yup.

Meow!
PC

Purrrr.... tomatoes with mayo... are the best!

It's like a tomato sandwich. Just without the bread. Gluten-free!