Under ideal growing conditions in the garden - 6-8 weeks from fruit set to ripe fruit, depending on variety. Cherry and other small fruit varieties are less time, large fruit varieties are slower.

Dave

Does someone here have the link to Paul's timed photos of tomato ripening?

Paul used to post here all the time and took over for me when I opted out of coordinating the new FAQ's that are here.

I've got that link somewhere in my faves, but, but, I have about 1000 links in my faves and I'm not in the mood to go searching. LOL

He set it up on his own website, so don't do a search here at GW for a thread.

Carolyn

Thanks Carolyn, sounds interesting. Zach and I were just talking the other day that there are so many interesting non-hybrid tomatoes, it is too bad we were not reading here first to start some different varieties. I do enjoy your comments and genealogy information. I'd love to see the link if you could find it. Does it have a calendar time frame? Thanks for all your help.

Larry

I did a bit of calculation last year based on the website photos of ripening (Paul's?). It was a 75-80 DTM beefsteak which ripened from green pea fruit in about 55 days (pick at 50 days), so I figured about a month between planting out in the garden to flowers-tinyfruit, subtract that (25-30 days) from the most commonly published DTM value to get a rough approximation how long it takes for tiny fruit to grow and ripen under good conditions. (Some seed companies add extra days because they are in cooler regions, but most list the same DTMs for the same varieties). This calculation worked for me when I set out plants that were in flower or flowered soon after when compared to those that flowerd after an establishment period, several 80 day DTM varieties ripened the first fruit in under 60 days, but then there was a lag for the bulk of the "first" fruits produced by those plants, which ripened closer to the listed 80 days.

I used the same rough calculation to prepare for frost by nipping off all new bud trusses starting 8 weeks before expected frost. That way I had few immature green fruits when frost hit.

One oddity was that I had some dormant green pea fruits on the first trusses that decided to grow after I picked the ripe fruits off those trusses, so those oddballs were spring flowers but ripened last of the season befor frost.

I *think* this was the link, now broken. :(

http://www.tomatoenthusiast.org/index.php?NT=Cultivation&RE=Truss_Timeline

Thanks everyone for the great info. 50-55 days corresponds to the earlier 6-8 weeks. Or internal debate revolves around the speed of fruit production. Our plants have obviously grown faster then normal outdoor plants in soil, so does that carry over to shorter times to produce fruit? I am not too sure and Zach thinks it will be faster. It will be an interesting observation. We need some of the pea sized guys to start the clock on the countdown. Come on 'Maters! Happy gardening

Larry