Here in Zone 8b in the Pacific NW, the harbinger of the end of tomato season is not frost, but rain. We have a solid week of rain in the forecast, so I went out this afternoon and picked all ripe and nearly ripe fruit, snipped the main plant stems for all green fruit. Have about 30 lb of tomatoes to cut and freeze for future use. My tomato mentor taught me that snipping stems will keep the fruit from taking on water (which causes cracking and rotting), but the fruit will still ripen, with much better results than if you brought the green fruit inside to ripen.
Cherry tomatoes are thrown to the wolves, but will go out tomorrow and pick buckets full of all the ripe ones before they explode from water uptake. We cut them in half, sprinkle with sea salt, and dehydrate in the oven.
by PDXisadumpsterfire