The reason I am interested in this subject is that I want to get just a ball park figure, so that I will snipe all the blooms that will not have a chance to produce ripe fruits at the end of growing season.

For example, if it take a BrandyWine flower 5 weeks to produce a ripe fruit and I am 4 weeks away from average first frost date, I will then just snipe it/tem off and let the plant concentrate its energy on the existing green tomatoes.

I would appreciate your inputs.
Thanks in advance.

For me it's a difficult question to answer b'c it depends on whether the variety is early season, mid season or late season b'c time to first fruits differ.

I don't keep such data..

I can tell you that I've never taken off blossoms late in the season for any variety when frost is expected, and to date I've grown about 3600 different varieties.

I used to run out to the field and pick any greenies that had a blush when frost was expected, but stopped doing even that many years ago.

I know I'm not contributing the specific info you want, but it's the the best I can do.

And I also know that the specifics for one person usually cannot be the same for another person b'c of all the variables involved.

Carolyn

Carolyn

So then I have a ball park figure. I take the 52 days COLOR BREAK. I think that smaller cherry types might require less time than Big Beef. It will also depend on the temperatures. Obviously, at the end of season when generally it cools off(in general) then it might even take longer.

I am going to take this as my guide line To eliminate any truss or blossom activity roughly as of 50 days prior to the first average frost date in my area. I will also snipe any new growth at the same time. I want to do this because here at PNW, Seattle area, we have cooler summers, with lots of overcast and cloudy days.

The biggest variation is based on size and genetic tendencies. Large Fruited, Late Season tomatoes are setting fruit from blossoms at the same time that Cherry tomatoes and Early varieties do. But they take longer to grow the fruit and ripen.

As an approximation, from flower to fruit, I always estimate 30 to 35 days for cherries, 45 to 60 days for mid season varieties and 65 to 80 days for late varieties. BUT, it will vary also based on amount of sunlight, levels of fertilization, watering, rain, temperatures, etc etc.

I live in Zone 6 and if I set out healthy plants on May 1st, I often have blossoms by early June (blossoms 30 to 40 days from plant out), and ripe fruit by early July (30 days after blossoms), for small and very early types. Mid season fruits come on late July to early August, and Late Season varieties from mid August to early September.

However, I also plant in walls of water, sometimes as early as early March. It is not unusual for me to have some fruit by mid to late June, with large amounts of production by mid July.

Your experience may vary.

Thanks for the input.
My question was/is about the last ripe fruit not the first fruit.
I agree, that it depend on variety and growing conditions. As you mentioned a medium fruited will take about 50 days (like early girl is advertise 52 days). So I was looking for ball park cut off dates. I will count backward from the first frost date of: 35 days, 55 days 65 days for small, medium and large fruits maturity (from flower to ripe fruits) respectively. At that time I will stop any new flowering and growth since they will not have any benefit.

@fcivish

Thank you but you did provide relevant information .

But with regard to your question, If it came EARLY, my decision would not hurt much. But if it did come late with lots warm fall days, I would've lost some opportunity IF There was NO single green tomato left on the plants. But that is not likely , because I will use conservative figures. I believe this (doing SOMETHING that you think will improve your odds) is better that doing NOTHING.

Some of my tomatoes have flower around 10th of May(maybe sooner). So if we take it as reference point and take 55 days ( that is Big Beef from bud to fruit) from flower to fruit then I should get some ripe fruit by JULY 3rd. THAT IS A PERFECT TIMING. I drink to that.
But most of my early ones are small-fruited EARLY varieties.

Here is a picture of a glimpse of first tomato on Memorial Day.

Thank Linda. I have never heard or thought about that method to improve fruit ripening.

End of season (around first frost) we all get tons of green tomatoes. Few near color break might ripen inside. Then I make some nice green tomato pickles. But I end up composting bucketful of them. That is why, on suggestion of MANDELL, i experimented topping toward the end of season. I will do it this season too, more conservatively: say top any new growth, buds from 45 days remaining to FFD on. This way I should end up with enough green ones to pickle.