Color scale tells Source at what ripeness level you pick your tomatoes. Source uses this to estimate how long each fruit needs to stay on the plant before it is ready to harvest. A higher color scale means fruit needs more time to ripen, pushing the predicted harvest later. A lower color scale means fruit is picked earlier, pulling the predicted harvest forward.
This directly affects when Source predicts your kg will land across the week. If you set color scale to 7, Source assumes fruit stays on the plant longer than at color scale 4. The total predicted kg over the season does not change much, but the distribution across days and weeks shifts.
Why accuracy depends on entering the right value
Source uses color scale to calculate fruit development time. If the color scale in the system does not match what you actually harvest, the timing will be off. For example:
If you set color scale to 7 but actually pick at 5, Source assumes fruit stays on the plant longer than it does. The prediction will show harvest arriving later than it actually does.
If you set color scale to 4 but actually pick at 6, Source assumes you pick earlier than you do. The prediction will show harvest arriving sooner than reality.
In both cases, the weekly totals end up wrong even though the overall fruit count may be correct.
What to do
Fill in the color scale you actually harvest at, not your target or your buyer's specification. If you pick at different ripeness levels on different days (for example, greener on Monday and riper on Thursday), enter the values per day to reflect your actual practice.
Check and update color scale at the start of each week as part of your weekly routine.