Pine needles do well to prevent bottom rot on my cantaloupes and when I used to "sprawl" my tomato plants the pine needles also worked well for those. Sunscald is my present problem with sprawling tomato plants.

As for picking them early, if they show color on the bottom they will continue to ripen indoors at room temp in the coming days. We have a tomato rack for this picking early purpose when our heirlooms are starting to turn color and heavy rains are expected, this keeps them from spliting. Happy Harvest!

Thanks vgkg! So I'm good if they're all orange already (and supposed to be red)? Do you think they'll taste as good as if they finished growing on the plant?

I can't really comment on Romas and Rutgers for taste since I never grow those, but they should continue to ripen indoors if picked with some color already present.

I found that they taste the same. Just don’t put in fridge.

Thanks callirhoe. Both my husband and I are getting old and unfortunately the grass doesn't get cut as much on our huge property....which is probably good for insects, etc., .....but not my tomato plants! I'll try to think ahead in the spring next year about collecting some early. thanks for your suggestion.......it's a great reminder!

Using grass clippings as mulch is an ongoing venture since 75% of what is placed today will be gone by next week. Weekly additions will maintain layer but most lawns benefit from leaving clippings on them. Another strategy is running mower with bagger over Fall leaves then composting leaves until they can be used to mulch following year.

Part of your problem with spots on leaves might come from overhead watering. Few plants require more attention to details than tomatoes so you certainly aren't along with your frustration. Do your stock tanks have drainage holes? Are they sitting on stone,gravel or sand to allow free drainage?

Hi klem.....No, I never water the leaves of the tomatoes.........just the ground under them. The stocktanks have holes and are up on cement blocks just 1 layer high/ We use our Fall leaves for composting and they turn into great soil that I use in the stocktanks. Are you saying that they wouldn't turn into soil if I just left them for the next spring? Our property is big and our compost pile is pretty far from the house, so I've never really noticed how quickly they turn to soil.

It was never my intent to drill down on the subject nor split hairs. Grass,leaves, wood chips and material in general are fine for mulch when fresh, partly composted or fully composted.

A little good news for you is the fungus you have is Septoria leaf spot and it will not infect the fruits of tomatoes as you claim, and true. I get it every year and never had a tomato infected and also Scientific research has stated the same. (Not some guy with a blog). Some bad news, Septoria leaf spot is common in nearly all soils and infects hundreds of different plants including some trees so it's rare any tomato plant can avoid the spores from this fungus.

The microscopic spores from this fungus travel by wind, on insect bodies, humans and tools so exposure isn't limited to just ground contact or splashing soil. The most important part of controlling the fungus spread is controlling moisture on the leaves, Dry leaves will not support spore growth. The reason the fungus spots start on the lower leaves is because it's always the most humid area and last to dry out from lack of air flow. Knowing why something happens is the first step in preventing the action.

MULCHING; A mulch under the plants will reduce spores splashing up on the plants with the dirt but more than an inch thick may become a saturated sponge when watered. raising the humidity under the plant for an extended period of time long enough for the spores to germinate and can become a double edged sword. Septoria leaf spot needs about 48 hours with a film of moisture on the leaves for germination so the best barrier between the ground and the plant is quality woven weaved landscape cover, (not the fabric) which controls splashing but does not hold moisture. This is what I use and confirmed by creditable sources, (not a guy with a blog).

HARVESTING: Harvesting for me is when a tomato show a slight blush of color, referred to as the breaker stage. A few days prior to this stage is the Green Mature stage at which time the plant isolates the mature green tomato from the rest of the plant restricting the flow of nutrients and water to the fruit. I pick all my tomatoes in the blush stage. set them in bread racks I stack chest high to allow controlled ripening.

There is no benefit to allow tomatoes to turn red on the plant for me, in fact they ripen to red more uniformly in the racks then on the plant, and why I can have 100 plus pounds ripe for canning at one time. I'll pick every 3 days and even the mature green tomatoes that fall off when I disturb the plants will ripen in the racks.

Thanks Kevin. That's good info!

I have another question. I hope it gets noticed after all the responses for the other question. All my roma toms are turning mostly red. I rely on my Rutger toms to add juice to the romas that I'm freezing. My Rutgers are really weird this year. They are very large .....which makes me wonder if this is not Rutgers..........but they are ALL very green with no signs of blushing. I did find one last week, and was letting it progress inside......but it rotted. Is there some reason these aren't ripening? Should I let their soil get drier? Thanks!

Perhaps, as you speculated, what you have isn't Rutgers. Maybe you have a variety that ripens later.

I agree, mix ups happen too often, as is in just once ;-). Did you buy the plants or start from seed? One of my Brandywine seed packs produced red hen's egg size tomatoes, large not jumbo, very disappointing.

If one has high expectations for plants it pays to buy patented brand name seed and transplants.

The same is true for cattle. Outstanding bloodlines can increase per pound by 20% at sale for slaughter, and 100-500% for breeding.

Cath, how hot has it been the last couple of weeks? Air temperature is the main factor for how long it takes for tomatoes to ripen. The optimal air temperature window is between 68 and 77 degrees, anything above or below this will slow ripening or even stop the process. Below 55 degrees and ripening stops completely and above 85 degrees the production of lycopene and carotene responsible ripening the tomatoes slows down or completely stops.

This is one of the reasons I pick when there is a blush and finish ripening them inside a building. Tomatoes will seem like they take forever to ripen when nights are cool and days are hot.

Kevin I hope you don't let Texas tomatoes know they aren't supposed to ripen above 85f