How big of a difference does it make to save seeds from fruits picked unripe?

[UnicornEmily]

I want to get as many seeds as possible from my tomato plants this year, so when the first frost is imminent, I'm thinking I'll pick all the fruits that are just starting to blush, and take them inside to ripen.

How much difference will that make to the vigor of the seeds, as compared to letting the fruit fully ripen on the plant?

I'm also wondering if I would get a lot more fruit (and thus a lot more seeds) if I do that throughout the whole summer.  Would that encourage the plants to set more fruit?  Or would it make more sense to leave them on the plant until they're fully ripe, as long as there's no frost incoming?

[UnicornEmily]

Actually, another thought occurred to me.  Tell me if I'm totally crazy.

Ethylene gas is supposed to help unripe tomatoes ripen.  I know ethylene gas is emitted by bananas.

Is this true with tomatoes still on the plants?

At the end of the season, what if I put a hoop house around the tomato plants and stick a bunch of bananas in there with them?  Would that help the fruit ripen faster on the plant?

[Jeremy Weiss]

In my experience it depends on HOW unripe the tomatoes are. Once they have gotten to the "shiny" stage, or the insides have developed actual gel as opposed to that hard, knobby stuff, the seeds are probably okay. Earlier than that, they tend to not have developed enough to make it.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Tomato seeds reach viability at about 35 days after pollination.

The fruits ripen about 50 to 60 days after pollination.

I typically pick tomatoes at first blush. They store much better on the shelf than on the vine. The Internet rumor is that by the time fruits reach first blush, they have stopped exchanging nutrients with the vine.

[William Schlegel]

I learned to pick them at first blush from Joseph. Probably five years ago and have been ever since. It seems to work ok.

Also it is safer from other animals once picked.

[UnicornEmily]

Awesome.  Thank you!  That's very helpful!

Are tomatoes like peas and squashes?  If you pick all the fruits sooner, will it stimulate new flowers and fruits sooner?

I'm wondering it that would be a possible extra benefit to picking them as soon as they start to blush.

[William Schlegel]

I don't know for sure. I do it more because then I have it picked. With recent backyard squirrel activity I feel it is very important. I don't trust squirrels.

[UnicornEmily]

(Gasp.)  You don't trust squirrels?  But they're always so well-behaved and non-invasive! 

Funny story.  My sister's Halloween pumpkin got eaten by a squirrel.  After it had been outside for only a few hours.  It wasn't even carved.  The squirrel chewed through the hard rind and ate the entire interior.  She was exasperated!

[William Schlegel]

These are invasive in the West. Eastern squirrels!

[Jeremy Weiss]

(Gasp.)  You don't trust squirrels?  But they're always so well-behaved and non-invasive! 

Funny story.  My sister's Halloween pumpkin got eaten by a squirrel.  After it had been outside for only a few hours.  It wasn't even carved.  The squirrel chewed through the hard rind and ate the entire interior.  She was exasperated!

That's basically certain here, or why I keep the Halloween pumpkins in the house until Halloween night. If I don't, I can more or less be certain they will have been chewed hollow within a day or two (though, generally, once all of the seeds have been eaten, they don't bother with the rest, and it just sort of stays there until we toss it on the mulch pile.

On the other hand, they must miss the odd seed (or cache it). since having spontaneous pumpkin vines show up around this area is not at all uncommon here.

That the seeds are their goal is borne out by the fact that the percentage of the fruit they consume doesn't appear to very whether the pumpkin I'm using or setting out is a standard carver or an eating type.

The only one they didn't get through easily was a super ugly one I got many years ago, and that's only because that one had so much gourd DNA in it it had a woody shell underneath the skin (but flesh within the shell, so it wasn't pure gourd either.)   

[Diane Whitehead]

The Eastern Gray squirrels that an idiot let loose on our island bury walnuts in my garden.  No one is feeding them walnuts but there are a couple of walnut trees in the neighbourhood.  I regularly dig out young walnut trees.  One day I saw a squirrel burying a green walnut, so I went out to dig it up and found it was a small green apple.  The squirrel had been fooled.

[Tim DH]

I think the beasts you are referring to are sometimes called 'American Grey Tree Rats' round here. The name 'Squirrel' being reserved for our native species. Red Squirrels are delightful creatures.

Tim DH

[William Schlegel]

https://fieldguide.mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=AMAFB07040