Ripening Tomatoes

When a tomato becomes full size on the vine, it begins the ripening process.

From pale green, it becomes about half pink and half green, called the “breaker stage,” and then an internal layer of cells forms that seals the fruit off from the main stem.

It can be harvested at this point and ripened off the vine, because nothing else is passing from the mother plant to the tomato.

The flavor, quality, and nutrition are complete within the fruit.

Optimum ripening to full-red continues when the temperature is 85 degrees (F). If the temperature is lower, the ripening process will be slower, but it will continue as long as it is above 50 degrees.

When the temperature is in the 90s, ripening slows and the red pigments will not develop.

So in hot weather, the tomato can only become an orange hue.