TOMATOES

Fresh Market tomatoes are a warm-seasonal vegetable crop. The market tomatoes are picked green so they can handle the rigor of transport to markets. They are very sensitive and could frost at any stage of growth. That’s why we plant our fresh market tomatoes from March to July and are harvested from June through October.

There are six color stages in a market tomato’s growth cycle . The first stage is a green stage where the fruit is completely green although, it may be a darker or lighter green. Breaker Stage is in between yellow, pink, or red. The turning stage is a combination of yellow green and pink. Pink is the forth stage and its surface is thirty to fifty percent pink or red. Light red stage is ninety percent pinkish red. Finally the last stage is red where ninety percent surface covered in red. Mature green, breaker and pink stage are hand picked into buckets and then dumped into bins, where they are transported to a packing shed.

Heading Text