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Prairie Du Sac Wi

Hello!
This is my first year growing giant tomatoes! Im growing big zac. The weigh off that i go to is on Oct 6 this year. When would be a good time frame to pollinate so as not to have rotten fruit by weigh off time.???? how long can you store them if you pick them before they turn red?

thank you!

7/6/2013 1:44:39 PM

Allentown, PA

Hello Catond,

You can successfully store an unripened tomato for approx. three weeks in the refrigerator without worry.

The key is to have viable megablooms in which to have a potential heavyweight to grow from at any given time.

Utilizing a bloom booster like Miracle Grows 10-52-10 will vastly increase your bloom count thus increasing your megabloom count in which to choose from.

In order to have a Big Zac grow a heavyweight concerning your time frame I would suggest at least six weeks of growing time on the vine.

Be sure to shade your tomato from direct sun in order to minimize maturation rate.

If my calculations are correct ideally you would have a tomato growing from mid August to mid to latter September then have the tomato stored prior to it turning ripe in the refrigerator until your weigh off date.

I hope this helps you.

7/6/2013 2:59:46 PM

East Carbon, Utah

Fully ripe tomatoes stored at 38° will turn to mush within a few days. Ideally store partially ripe tomatoes at 50-60° with lower humidity than a typical fridge. Good air circulation is important. If they are free of wounds and stored properly, you might get lucky at 3 weeks. Picked tomatoes are still living organisms and so continue to metabolize. Plan on a 0.5% weight loss each day you store a tomato. So after three weeks, a 5 lb. tomato might weigh about 4.5 lbs. if there is no leakage.

During hot summer weather where I live, I'm lucky to get 42 days from fruit set to a fully ripe tomato.

If your daytime temps max out at 80-85° and you shade the fruit, as suggested, you might be able to get 70 days or more of growth.

Lots of variables to consider, of course, but I would suggest looking for candidate megablooms the last week of July. Who knows, maybe your September weather will cooperate and you can get 60-70 days of growth!

Good luck!

7/15/2013 2:24:42 PM