Is there a name for tomatoes that fall off before ripening?

9 years ago

You know how you go out to pick some tomatoes and there are already some on the ground? Often they are ripe, but sometimes they are not.

You have to pick them up and bring them in or otherwise you are just feeding the slugs. Then your partner asks you why you are picking unripe tomatoes.

I have been calling these tomatoes bycatch, after what fishermen call it when they catch things that they were not fishing for.

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Comments (6)

PupillaCharites
9 years ago
Bycatch sounds like a colorful name for that problem that is usually related to heat/dry stress. "Dropped tomatoes" is probably what other tomato aficionados would understand best, but I don't think the name is official ;-).
dodge59
9 years ago
if they drop ripe, we call them "Ploppers", if they drop unripe, we call them "Droppers"!

Who is "We", I haven't the "faintest idea"!!!

Gary
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sluginator
Original Author
9 years ago
Good one, Gary!
goodground
9 years ago
I picked up 3 unripe so far and put them in a jar with vinegar so I call mine "picklers".
John A
9 years ago
Could it be deer? That's my problem. Sometimes they will pick them off the vine without leaving any teeth marks. Check if you have some that are partially eaten.
John A
sluginator
Original Author
9 years ago
No deer. I am in a city. I have a lot of rugrats running around, though.

These are a roma-sized tomato, called Juliet. They really want to fall of the vine. If I so much as brush past a cluster off tomatoes while reaching for a ripe one, they will fall off the vine.