when to pick tomatoes
 

Hi

When is the right, or best time to pick tomatoes from the plant? Also
storage.
Is it as soon as they turn red, or X amount of days after colouring, or
firmness??
I'd like to eat them at their best stage, ripe I think is the term.

This is my second season growing tomatoes and them questions have always
eluded me.
It's a bit like when you see the ladies giving fruits a squeeze at the
market, I always think they know something that we men don't know. :-)

--
Regards
p.mc

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p.mc sigadd1to wrote in message
...
Hi

When is the right, or best time to pick tomatoes from the plant? Also
storage.
Is it as soon as they turn red, or X amount of days after colouring, or
firmness??
I'd like to eat them at their best stage, ripe I think is the term.

This is my second season growing tomatoes and them questions have always
eluded me.
It's a bit like when you see the ladies giving fruits a squeeze at the
market, I always think they know something that we men don't know. :-)

--
Regards
p.mc

For personal replies please leave or type signature
"p.mc" In the body of the message otherwise
posts will not be received.
Thanks


Hi pmc,

Picking them is fairly straight forward and is, to a large extent, dependent
on your preference and intended usage:-

a) green .. not ripe, nor usually considered edible, but can be used for
chutneys or sliced and fried for breakfast.

b) orange and firm .. starting to ripen. Pick one and see if you like it;
if you like it pick more.

c) red and firm .. ripe but not over-ripe.

d) red and soft .. over-ripe (in my opinion). In the supermarket, often the
result of too many ladies squeezing them!!

I've never had to store a glut of toms, but common sense suggests that you
store dry, healthy fruits, preferably a little under-ripe.
Other methods of storing might be as processed toms, e.g.: cooked and frozen
... souped and frozen .. bottled .. Have a look in a good recipe book.

Spider

You can always freeze them as ripe tomatoes, make sure they are dry and
just put them into a plastic bag and pop them in the freezer. When you
come to sue them run hot tap water over them and the skins will split
and slide off. Great for making tomato sauces, soups, curries,
bolognese etc. in fact any cooking uses.

Thanks Spidr and Jolly, that's answered my question nicely.
Any ideas on my other post (trimming toms)??

--
Regards
p.mc

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"Jollygreenp" wrote in message
ups.com...
You can always freeze them as ripe tomatoes, make sure they are dry and
just put them into a plastic bag and pop them in the freezer. When you
come to sue them run hot tap water over them and the skins will split
and slide off. Great for making tomato sauces, soups, curries,
bolognese etc. in fact any cooking uses.

p.mc sigadd1to wrote in message
...
Thanks Spidr and Jolly, that's answered my question nicely.
Any ideas on my other post (trimming toms)??

--
Regards
p.mc

For personal replies please leave or type signature
"p.mc" In the body of the message otherwise
posts will not be received.
Thanks

"Jollygreenp" wrote in message
ups.com...
You can always freeze them as ripe tomatoes, make sure they are dry and
just put them into a plastic bag and pop them in the freezer. When you
come to sue them run hot tap water over them and the skins will split
and slide off. Great for making tomato sauces, soups, curries,
bolognese etc. in fact any cooking uses.



Hi pmc,

Sorry I didn't respond to your 'trimming' post. This isn't actually my
forte, but I believe it is better to pinch out the tops after only 4 or 5
trusses, as well as removing side shoots. As the toms begin to ripen, and
to help them do so, it is usual to remove some of the older (sometimes
yellowing) leaves which are shading the toms from the sunshine. I'm not at
all sure about the yellow spotting you reported .. could it be sun-scorch
following watering?

Spider

Hi spider

Maybe it is sun scorch, cause I cut back a lot of the leaves to allow
sunlight and ventilation around the plants, I might have overdone it!

--
Regards
p.mc

For personal replies please leave or type signature
"p.mc" In the body of the message otherwise
posts will not be received.
Thanks

"Spider" wrote in message
...

p.mc sigadd1to wrote in message
...
Thanks Spidr and Jolly, that's answered my question nicely.
Any ideas on my other post (trimming toms)??

--
Regards
p.mc

For personal replies please leave or type signature
"p.mc" In the body of the message otherwise
posts will not be received.
Thanks

"Jollygreenp" wrote in message
ups.com...
You can always freeze them as ripe tomatoes, make sure they are dry
and
just put them into a plastic bag and pop them in the freezer. When
you
come to sue them run hot tap water over them and the skins will split
and slide off. Great for making tomato sauces, soups, curries,
bolognese etc. in fact any cooking uses.



Hi pmc,

Sorry I didn't respond to your 'trimming' post. This isn't actually my
forte, but I believe it is better to pinch out the tops after only 4 or 5
trusses, as well as removing side shoots. As the toms begin to ripen, and
to help them do so, it is usual to remove some of the older (sometimes
yellowing) leaves which are shading the toms from the sunshine. I'm not
at
all sure about the yellow spotting you reported .. could it be sun-scorch
following watering?

Spider