For winter squash, rinsing with dilute (1:10) bleach sterilizes the surface and adds enormously to shelf life. To the extent that decay starts on the outside, I'd think that would help. But ...

On the other had, I see it recommended in several places that tomatoes be stored unwashed. Not clear why. Store out of direct sunlight, stem-side up. Do not refrigerate uncut tomatoes.

Dan makes a good point on sterilizing the surface but water can be the enemy of most ripe tomatoes since the skin may split exposing the interior to spoilage organisms and rendering the fruit unmarketable. Circumstances might be different for harvesting and shipping unripe fruits. Call it a problem for the crop or blessing to local growers who benefit from perishabllity of ripe picked tomatoes.

P.S. It seems that washing the tomato allows crud on the outside of the tomato to enter the tomato through the stem scar, which is the place where the stem was connected. That allegedly speeds up decomposition. It also seems that others suggest storing stem-side down, allegedly to keep air from getting in, and moisture from getting out. Go figure.

Dan,

I have seen that the recommendation is related to fungicide residual left from the garden. Personally I would scrub them and then wash in the 1 tsp bleach to 1 gallon water recommendation

I don't wash them, primary reason being that they get wet. If they have some smaller cracks (they usually do near the stem), it's just inviting mold, not the opposite. Outside things dry much faster than inside due to air circulation.

If they develop problems sitting, I think it's probably some fungal disease they caught in the field, I never get something like this on non-cracked tomatoes, until they are super old and get crinkly and very soft. It has happened with store bought sometimes, usually botrytis symptoms. I store them stem down usually (unless they are visibly cracked and I expect problems) because the bottom is the first to get ripe and hence the softest.

If tomatoes are like eggs, they stay fresh at room temperature much longer if not washed until use. My sister raises chickens and she can leave fresh eggs out for over a week on the counter and they stay fresh. Once washed, they go downhill quickly and therefore need to be refrigerated.

I generally do wash my tomatoes right away, but only because I tend to them very quickly (either eating, freezing or canning). I rarely let tomatoes sit around for more than a few days.

I only notice issues with tomatoes becoming moldy or decomposed if they have splits or cracks in them, as others have stated. Most of my tomatoes keep just fine for quite a long time whether I wash them or not, but again, I almost always do something with them within a couple of days.

I wash my tomatoes. It does seem to help. When I haven't washed them, they seemed to start going bad within three days more often. However, I've washed them a lot more than I haven't washed them. So, more research would be needed. Nevertheless, it makes a lot of sense that it would make them last longer. (And it would invite fewer soil organisms into your storage.) Plus, you never know what the cats do to your tomatoes outside.

I do dry them, too, before storage, though.

This comment is just about whole, unblemished fruits that don't split in storage. I haven't compared washed and unwashed cracked tomatoes consciously.

Disinfecting the storage area from time to time helps me out too.

I do usually keep stems on my washed tomatoes (the little part that naturally comes with the fruit on lots of varieties, usually). They don't wrinkle and dry kind of like raisins as fast, that way, and I think it may help the taste. They don't split as often with the stems on.

One thing I've really wanted to do is to put a fan in my storage area (it works well for drying seeds, anyway). That should help to keep the fungi down.

If you want to avoid infection through the stem scar, leaving a piece of stem on is a smart idea.

Of course tomatoes "going bad" can mean a lot of things. It can mean infection with some bacterial or fungal agent, or it can just mean natural degradation of the fruit. If we're talking about the latter I can't imagine that washing makes any difference one way or the other.

My wife is "one who must store in ceramic pottery". Once I figured out the pottery was a contamination source for incoming produce, the shelf life went up 300%.

My buddy uses a table fan blowing air across his tomatoes. His tomatoes can stay out on a table unwashed for a very, very long time, because of this. It also keeps the fruit flies away. Apparently they do not like flying in the wind.

Well I go along with Dave and several other sites that recommend rinsing with cool water and letting them air dry before storing. I have found this year that rinsing them and letting them dry has definitely extended their shelf life and cut down on rot or mold. I'm also being very careful to keep space between each tomato.

Thanks everyone. Last week, I picked a bunch of tomatoes right before I went away for a few days. Half I rinsed and let dry; the rest I didn't rinse, only because I ran out of time. I put them all in the basement before I left.

The results of my (very unscientific, n=1) experiment showed that rinsing them with water and allowing to dry does seem to help delay the onset of rot and spots. When I returned, every single tomato of the batch I didn't wash had a spot or two or three. The washed ones, only one or two tomatoes had a spot. And it was not related to cracks, bc even tomatoes without cracks got spots.

I like the idea of a fan. And I guess this means tomatoes are not like eggs (eggs are laid with a natural anti-bacterial bloom that is removed during washing). It seems that rinsing tomatoes maybe decreases residual spores from the field that can then grow during storage. Maybe.

Overall though, none of them seem to be holding up for very long this year. It's making for a less-fun canning experience and a lot of waste.

This is for the non sanitizers.. Besides root knot, all the nematodes are in the round worm family. Good luck.

Jenswrens... please try the fan. I have never seen anyone have longer shelf life for tomatoes than my buddy who blows air across his tomatoes 24/7. He keeps them on a dining room table, on brown paper, unwashed. This dining room is not very bright, but not dark. I can only imagine what the longevity of his tomatoes would be if he would wash them first.

So, I experimented with this. This year, I didn't wash the unripe storage tomatoes, and I didn't put them in ideal storage conditions, either. I just put them in a big pot (unwashed, dirt and all), similarly to how I've stored washed and dried tomatoes in the past. The result was they actually lasted longer (after ripening), and there was remarkably less spoilage. I did, however, wash them before using them. I got seven quarts of tomato puree from ripe, good ones, today (and about two plates of spoiled tomatoes).

Now, I still plan to wash tomatoes that I don't store in big pans or such, but (if the results here are indicative of a trend) it seems to be the clear winner for when you put them in a big pan (not for when I give them more space). Much less mold and waste, it seems.

I washed the remaining green ones (so, that experiment is over until next year).