A Cautionary Tale

11 years ago

I am thrilled to have some impressive-looking beefsteaks on my very first Brandywines, though the total number of tomatoes may be <20 on two plants. After I found my first partially ripe Anna Russian had been pecked one morning, I started picking the bigger tomatoes at color break and I certainly wanted to bring in the Brandywines before the critters started sampling them.

I'm talking about the twinned monster on the upper right.

It's part of a cluster that is quite low, wedged in the crotch of the plant. Unfortunately, this row is a bit tight to the next and I cannot safely crouch behind this plant. From this side I could not get anywhere close to visualizing the stem of the fruit so I felt around it as best I could, guided the tips of my scissors with my other hand and snipped.

Nothing happened. I realized that this was not a good sign.

Now I could wiggle that fruit and eventually I found (blind, with fingertips) the stem that still held it to the plant. I snipped again.

So the stem for this fruit is ~½" long and buried between its monstrous lobes. The stem I cut is, obviously, the central stem of the cluster and I had cut it twice, which means that another fruit was cut, as well, though no other tomato had seemed loose.

Sigh.

Verso:

This butchery took place two days ago. Today the bigger tomato at the bottom is making progress, color-wise. The other one remains green. Is there any point in holding it a while to see if it eventually colors, or would it be better give up and fry it sooner? I'm not a big fried green tomato person, but I am not going to waste a Brandywine!

How to avoid this tragedy in the future? Space the plants better, certainly. But I'm not sure I would have been able to see what I was doing even if I had been able to move all around the plant, given the structure of that cluster. Tie some little tapes loosely around the individual fruit stems when the tomatoes are smaller, so they can be traced by feel when things get overgrown? Or what?

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Comments (7)

digdirt2
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Wait on it. The odds are it will ripen. Just set it, shoulder side down on the counter out of direct sun.

For future ref, don't snip with scissors. Just hold the one you are after, give it a twist and pop it off by hand. Personally I never recommend using scissors to harvest tomatoes. Once a fruit hits color break a membrane forms between the fruit and the stem and seals off the fruit. In most cases that will allow the fruit to release from the stem with just a good twist.

Dave
Labradors
11 years ago
Dave gave you some good info. I have some large greenies that I accidentally knocked off and I'm hoping that they will ripen.

I'm glad you brought this up because I had problems extricating a nearly-ripe Dwarf Rosella Purple that was trapped in the crotch which was inside a tomato cage. I grabbed the fruit and twisted. It eventually came away, knocking off a green tomato in the process.

I am questioning my use of tomato cages (however large) on dwarf plants because they are so restrictive, but what would be better, 3 steaks and some string?

Linda
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Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
11 years ago
Ok, but what difference does it make in ripening, how it was picked ?

Just want to know..

Sey
carriehelene
11 years ago
As Dave said, store and wait. Knocked these ones off while both green beginning of the week. Two days later I had this

Three days after that, I have this
fernwood7a
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks, all. We are now four days post premature snipping.

I do believe the green one is starting to blush. We have eaten only two Brandywines so far. I can't say that those first two fruits had the flavor I was hoping for but the texture was exquisite, so even the greener part of an unevenly ripened fruit was juicy and satisfying.
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
11 years ago
The green one probably was not fully mature. But even then it should get some color but might take longer.

CASE IN POINT: couple of weeks ago I cut a branch with small green tomato on it by mistake. And just left it there. The other day I noticed that it is getting red. This bring the point to proof to me that ripening is an internal process that takes place inside the fruit, once the mother no longer sends in nutrients. Then the fruit kicks into ripening process. However, such fruits might not be as tasty.

Sey
gorbelly
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Dave,

Once a fruit hits color break a membrane forms between the fruit and the
stem and seals off the fruit.

Do you offhand know of sources where I can read up on this mechanism?

EDIT: Never mind. I found a good thread at Tomatoville about it.