My tomatoes are gradually ripening. Its cool outside, so I pick them when they first turn pinkish. I think they ripen quicker if I bring them in the house where its a bit warmer. Tomatoes need dark to ripen and I've read its best to put them in a paper bag in the cupboard to ripen. But who wants to hide their tomatoes? I'm one of those who likes to see them lined up on the window sill.
Hi Carletongardener,
ReplyDeletePretty pics.
I'm having similar issues with my tomato plants. The tomatoes are still gree, i'm concerned about frost and i'm not sure if i should just harvest all the mature green fruit and let them ripen inside, instead of leaving them outside.
Any thoughts?
Newbietomatoplanter
Unless you are expecting a frost, or want to eat green tomatoes, you shouldn't pick a tomato that doesn't have at least some red on it. They won't ripen. I think tomatoes ripen faster inside, so when I want more tomatoes faster I pick them when they are half ripe (mostly light red) and bring them in. I put them in a warm spot, out of the sunlight, preferably in a paper bag, but sometimes I like to see them on the windowsill). I was doing this early in the season. Then, when I started getting more ripe tomatoes than I could eat and I left them on the vine as long as I could, so they ripen slower. At the end of the season, I will wait until a frost is forcast for my area, then I'll pick ALL of the tomatoes, red, green and otherwise, and bring them in to ripen. Usually only the tomatoes with at least a little red will eventually ripen. I compost the ones that don't ripen. My first frost is usually near the first full moon in October which is early this year, around Oct 7th - next week. I hope we can go a little longer than that.
ReplyDelete