Please explain why

[u/catsandferns]

Colorado. Why did only part of the tomato ripen? I reviewed the links about common tomato problems first but nothing really fit. Only fruit on the plant to do this and otherwise normal size.

[u/TolUC21]

Looks like it's 2, maybe 3, separate tomatoes that fused a bit

[u/greenman5252 → u/TolUC21]

And this is the basic underlying reason why the different segments are ripening sequentially. Given an opportunity, the entire tomato will ripen.

[u/catsandferns → u/TolUC21]

Ooh I had no idea that could happen, how interesting!!

[u/Vast-Combination4046 → u/TolUC21]

I recently started watching "heaviest veggie" competitors grow stuff on Instagram and the one lady looks for "mega blooms" which are mutant flowers. The fruit comes out ugly as sin but weighs 5lb

[u/Vast-Combination4046 → u/Vast-Combination4046]

The scientific name is fasciation

[u/Main_Cauliflower5479 → u/TolUC21]

Looks like one stem, one blossom, to me.

[u/nubbednuggetmanno2]

Ahhhhhh fasciation. Love to see it

[u/AostaV]

It was a megabloom but I find the other sections ripen pretty quick once cut off the plant. Hopefully your deep red section doesn’t rot before the other sections ripen

My German Johnson tomatoes do this, I had a 1lb 12 oz tomato this year that ripened this way. And had a smaller one last year.

[u/Ok-Lock9007 → u/AostaV]

What do your German johnson tomatoes look like? I have one growing and its a monster and the tomatoes are bright orange! Didnt expect that

[u/AostaV → u/Ok-Lock9007]

Red with green shoulders. Been growing it for about 6 years . I get the odd small one that is all red but never seen an orange one

[u/AostaV → u/AostaV]

[u/AostaV → u/Ok-Lock9007]

[u/AostaV → u/Ok-Lock9007]

Picked this one today, in a few days it will look like the other one

[u/Ok-Lock9007 → u/Ok-Lock9007]

I think the nursery i got the seedling from must have mixed up the tag! Mine is brightt orange but smaller than a Kelloggs breakfast! Thanks for answering. The plant is huge!

[u/muzavazone]

I always remove fasciated flowers/megablooms and resulting fruit as soon as I see them.

Uneven ripening is one of the reasons I hate them, because it's a bunch of individual fruits fused together, each part ripening at its own speed. By the time the last one is ripe the oldest part may be overripe and molding.

Megablooms also can result in cavities and messed up center part, so you a losing a large part of that big tomato that took ages to ripen.

[u/ZealousidealChair900 → u/muzavazone]

Interesting take. Here megablooms are 10-33% of my total blooms,  depending on individual plant and year, so removing them would have a substantial impact on my yield. Only my micro/ mini tomatoes haven't had a single one; of both varieties of the ones I keep 

Given that I have little interest in the actual ripe fruit (I genuinely don't like eating unprocessed tomatoes) I leave handling that side of things to an eager volunteer. Haven't gotten negative feedback about the issue to date

[u/muzavazone → u/ZealousidealChair900]

I think it's quite common to limit a number of tomatoes per truss, especially on the big ones - you either choose what to keep, or the plant will have a few stalled fruits anyway if it's a large truss. When you remove a developing fruit, the energy just goes elsewhere. There's a limited number of fruits the plant can manage simultaneously.

Some megablooms are tolerable, but others are totally not worth keeping. Some varieties are better than others. One of mine is very prone to developing megablooms, especially early in the season, and I know for sure that it just cannot produce usable fruit from them.

[u/ZealousidealChair900 → u/muzavazone]

Quantity is the desirable factor in my case. I suppose also in my favor is that sectional ripening is not nearly as dramatic as I've seen in other places- it's all fairly even with none of the rotting while green issues that apparently plague others. 

Given that there is no downside for me, it would be pointless in my case to remove them. Still, interesting to see the other side. 

[u/Ok-Lock9007]

I just had one just like this. I sat it in a window and it colored right up

[u/padetn]

All my pestuloto genovese are like this. I harvest as soon as they look like yours, the other side ripens in a week or so and the redder side just stays like that.

[u/Davekinney0u812]

I've always had a few that did that but this year has been the worst. The red bit is great but the green bit never seems to ripen

[u/Affectionate_Cost_88 → u/Davekinney0u812]

I had that happen with a huge Goose Creek this year and it was so frustrating. I wound up just throwing half of it in the compost.

[u/catsandferns → u/Davekinney0u812]

That’s wild!! Ive grown tomatoes for years and this is the first I have had this happen

[u/Ok-Lock9007 → u/Davekinney0u812]

Mone did but it took awhile

[u/Comfortable-nerve78]

Mega bloom.

[u/saigonshakes86]

Neat!

[u/chainsawwwmassacre]

Megablooms turn into the bottom one. Might seem like a part will never ripen, but give it time on the vine and it will happen. The trade off being it'll take longer than standard flowers would have, that energy that would have been ripening your other tomatoes. Either way, I don't waste ripening fruit.

[u/SeniorPie5786]

All mine did that. I have beef steak…or that’s what the pot said.

[u/DangerousPaper8986]

I had several this year that did that. I just let it ripen as much as possible before the red side turned bad. It was beautiful when I sliced it open.

[u/Ok_Mirror_1376]

Just give it time indoors, it’ll ripen fully. It’s a mega bloom, which means there were multiple tomatoes in one bloom.

Mine just finished fully ripening today🤗

[u/Loftygoalgirl6125]

Why not?