Stage IV in the illustration above is the breaker stage and is the ideal time to pick your homegrown tomatoes.
Of course, determining the breaker stage in tomatoes that aren’t red can be a bit tricky. But once you’ve got a few ripe ones on the plant, you should be able to tell.
If you leave the tomatoes on the plant at this point, it will slow down the production of more tomatoes. After all, to a plant, its job is done – it has produced fruit, which will continue the species after that plant dies. However, if you keep picking your tomatoes as they hit the breaker stage, it signals to the plant to put out more blooms and start the process over.
What to Do with Your Tomatoes Once You Pick Them
Once you’ve picked your breaker stage tomatoes, all you need to do is keep them warm. Heat is the necessary ingredient for a tasty, well-ripened fruit. Place your tomatoes on a warm, sunny windowsill, a table on your back porch, or even a cardboard box in your garage. Light doesn’t really play a role in the ripening process.
Set up your tomatoes so they aren’t touching each other and the warm air can circulate around them. You can even layer them, placing a few sheets of newspaper between each layer. Check them often and rotate tomatoes as needed. Eat or cook tomatoes with soft spots or bruises first.
By the way, this is also a great way to encourage stuck tomatoes to ripen when it’s too hot outside. If temperatures climb much higher than 90 degrees F, the production of lycopene slows or stops. If you have tomatoes on the vine that are at the breaker stage, and you’re experiencing a heatwave, go ahead and pick them and bring them into your house where it’s cooler.
And that’s that, now you know the perfect time to pick tomatoes.
