I often pick tomatoes before they are completely ripe. They ripen fine after they are picked. There is not really a discernable taste difference.

This is a mere days harvest at my sisters house. She cans a lot. Some completely ripe, some on their way. She picks hers to prevent her stupid chickens from eating them and also we have had so much rain that they are in danger of bursting and being useless. I pick them to thwart chipmunks.

Damn - that's a lot of tomatoes!

Can't you compromise and he could leave some on the vine for you and pick some early for himself?

I know with my home grown tomatoes, the longer they ripen on the vine, the sweeter they are. Early picked fruits are never as sweet.

He knows what he is talking about. Tomatoes are climacteric. They continue to ripen after being picked. Total myth that they should be picked on the vine ripe. A scientific fact. I am a tomato breeder. I have named tomatoes. I usually grow over a hundred different varieties .

Oh those pesky non-climacteric lawyers that can't comprehend basic vegital exposure once freed from the earths nourishments.😜 A lovely blushing tomato can sit out of direct sunlight and wait until perfection. Like an avocado, an heirloom tomato can be enjoyed at perfection.

I sometimes pick tomatoes before they are fully ripe for a range of reasons--pests, chipmunks, frost coming etc. I can't taste the difference between fully ripe ones off the plant or fully ripe ones off my kitchen counter.

Wish I had known this last year. I grew a few tomatoes for the first time and the chipmunks got every single one.

I try not to pick cherry tomatoes until they are fully ripe but anything else gets picked at first blush or a day or 2 after and then they finish ripening in my basement. I can't tell the difference. IMO only bad things can happen to a tomato after first blush if left on the vine...splitting from excess water, critter attacks, blister beetles. etc.

Fascinating discussion. Thanks for sharing everyone!

To be clear, I do not let tomatoes fully ripen on the plants, but wait until they are 95% colored up with only a tiny bit of green left. I don't let them fully ripen for the same reason others have mentioned - pests. I had a big problem with mockingbirds pecking the partially red fruits, so I enclosed them in sheer fabric until they were ready for picking.

I also let the small ones(grape) fully ripen though They really were sweeter when I did that. The green ones do ripen when picked early, but they do not get very sweet.

It's been my experience that tomatoes that are ripened inside don't have as much flavor as the vine ripened ones, and some never ripen, it's variable. I've done it many times. YMMV. It may be due to the cultivars I've grown. I grow enough so that I can use a mix of strategies and that would seem to be a good way to go to resolve stylistic disagreements in tomato culture in a marriage. Don't get me started on varmints!! Hubs built me a fortress against them but this year fungus is kicking our butts!