When Is the Right Time to Harvest Tomatoes? Here Are 5 Signs They're Ready to Pick

Tomatoes are the most popular crop grown in home gardens, but harvesting your homegrown tomatoes at the right time is key—making the difference between a flavorful, juicy tomato and a flat, mealy one. 

Because tomatoes come in a range of colors these days, deep red color isn't a good indicator of tomato ripeness. If you started your tomato plants from seed, the days to maturity (42 to 70 days for early-season varieties, 70 to 80 days for mid-season varieties, and 80 to 110 days for late-season tomatoes) gives you a timeframe but not more than that. The growing and weather conditions have a significant influence on tomato plant growth and ripening of the fruit. 

The best way to determine when a tomato is ready to be harvested is to know what the fruit should look and feel like. 

How to Know When Tomatoes Are Ready to Pick

Here is a checklist of five signs to look for:

1. Color: With exceptions, ripe tomatoes have a uniformly deep color and no green spots. Red tomatoes should be a deep red, yellow tomatoes should be a deep yellow, etc. However, some tomatoes have a naturally paler color and many heirloom tomatoes are ripe before the color deepens or the green coloring remains even if the tomato is ripe, such as the Black Krim tomato, whose shoulders (the area around the stem) remain olive-green or a tinted green when the tomato is ripe. Check the description on the seed package or the plant label. 
2. Skin: Ripe tomatoes have shiny, glossy skin, unlike unripe tomatoes which have a dull, powdery look.
3. Texture and feel: A ripe tomato feels tender and supple. Use your index finger and just a little pressure to see if it lightly gives to the touch. Avoid too much pressure, as it will bruise the fruit. If it feels hard like an apple, it is not ripe yet.
4. Attachment to the vine: Ripe tomatoes come off the vine easily and you should be able to remove it from the vine with one hand by giving the tomato a little twist or tug. If you need to pry the tomato off the vine, it is not yet ripe.
5. Smell: Unripe tomatoes have no smell whereas ripe tomatoes have a subtle fragrance. You’ll have to hold your nose very close to the tomato because the tomato foliage itself has such a distinctive strong smell.

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What to Do With Split Tomatoes

Your tomatoes may split on the vine even if you give them the best possible care by watering the plants regularly and deeply, choosing varieties that are less prone to splitting, and taking other preventative measures. 

While split tomatoes are disappointing and unsightly, in most cases, they are still edible. Pick them as soon as possible. Split tomatoes are prone to rotting and pests nibbling on them. Don’t delay harvesting them after a rainstorm, which is notorious for causing massive tomato splitting. 

Split tomatoes won’t keep as long as other tomatoes. Eat them raw within a few hours or use them for cooking. 

If there is heavy rain in the forecast and you have tomatoes on your plants that are almost ripe, it is often better to pick them a bit early and let them ripen indoors instead of risking them splitting.

How to Ripen Tomatoes Off the Vine 

Some gardeners choose to ripen their tomatoes indoors, for various reasons: to prevent them from splitting, to lighten the fruit load on a plant, and to have better control over the ripening process. 

The best time to harvest the tomatoes is when they are half ripe, which for red tomatoes is half green and half pinkish-red. 

The ideal temperature to ripen tomatoes indoors is around 70 degrees F. Lower temperatures slow down the ripening process. 

There are different ways to ripen tomatoes indoors: in a paper bag on their own or with other fruits such as apples or bananas that release ethylene, on the kitchen counter, or wrapped in newspaper. No matter the method, check the tomatoes daily for progress and any signs of rotting.