These cherry tomatoes had to be clipped off of the plant, because the plant was beginning to suffer blight on the base stem. That is a darkening fungus that spreads onto all of the cells of the plant, eventually blighting the fruit as well, if kept on the vine. I learned from Ukranian gardeners to pick off the fruit, and let it ripen off the vine. The plants were in a hanging basket, in a cooler part of the patio, and not in direct sun. I guess you could say putting it there was a compromise - the pot kept drying out, leaching out the nutrients in the soil. I thought I'd made a good choice, but now I've learned that sometimes, you solve one problem only to gain another....kind of like most solutions in life.
