Great post and thank you, I only have 3 total plants that are of concern, so not a lot of room for " experimenting " I did forget to add that in the past few weeks, I have been picking ripe tomatoes but it seems they come one or two at a time, I literally have a pic where one is red ripe and the one directly next to it is green as can be, no blush....it's strange....

One other thing I want to add, my buddy in another state has been harvesting non stop, 30 to 50 at a time, he says he got his beefsteak plants from a farmer's co op and that's why his are so much better than mine, he has one more plant than me, but he hadn't shown his actual tomatoes on the vines, just pics of the tomatoes in his garage floor once about a month ago, so I find that suspicious, I however have been posting every single picture I can of my tomatoes , showing them as they ripen, showing the dozens of green ones etc, etc.....

I rarely water my garden, but this summer has been so hot and dry, if I stopped completely everything would be extremely stressed. Also if you want your plants to make more fruit for the Fall, watering is needed, and more water for bigger fruits. IMHO I think picking at first blush reduces the watered down tomato taste issues as well as cracking/splitting issues as well.

I agree with Dave, try it both ways if you can and see what works for you in your garden and your taste buds. :) Also different people have different ideas and goals about what they want out of their garden, perfect taste or best possible production etc.

< harvesting non stop, 30 to 50 at a time>

30-50 non-top from only 4 plants? Yeah I'd be VERY suspicious too. I can easily harvest 50-60+ fruit at a time but then I have 70+ plants still going ;-) and even then it isn't non-stop harvesting. It's approx. every third day. Now if he has cherry tomato plants it would be possible.

Personally I don't buy too deeply into the claims that the same variety from different sources makes all that much difference - assuming both plants are healthy. It is the growing conditions provided - and the weather of course - that really makes all the difference.

So if you have 3 plants use one as the experiment and let the other 2 be the control plants with no modifications. It wouldn't be a definitive answer but would give you some good indications for next year.

Dave

I noticed the celebrity and big beef taste superior to the store bought ones, I so far haven't tried to compare water to no water but with plants 36 inches apart, it would be tough to NOT get moisture from one plant to another .....we are in a good week + stretch coming up after tonight where no natural rain is in the forecast....I could try the experiment with highly concentrated and localized ( at the base ) watering

Digdirt 2, yeah, he is in Kentucky, I'm in Ohio but as a crowd flies, we are about 10 Miles apart, I'm growing big beef, he has beef steak, etc, but soil is similar....we both use similar fertilizer, anyway here are what he is harvesting every 3 or 4 days

Crow flies

As a crow flies? What is this, Lord of the Rings? :)

30-50 tomatoes non-stop from 4 plants is not possible... your friend is boasting. Unless they are Sungolds! :)

I knew it was BS....