Ripening Tomatoes On The Vine
Here are a few tips to help speed up and encourage tomatoes to
ripen on the vine close to the end of growing season:
Keep plants free of diseased leaves and pinch off new flowers
so all the plant’s energy can go into ripening the fruit.
Watch plants daily and pick off the tomatoes just as they become ripe,
more of the plant’s energy will go to the fruit left on the vine.
Tomatoes should be nice and red but not turning soft yet.
Reducing water slightly can help speed up the ripening process.
If a hard frost is looming, it’s time to get the tomatoes inside.
You can still ripen the green tomatoes on the vine by the following method:
Pull up the plants then brush off the dirt from the roots and hang the plants upside down
in your garage or basement. Watch the tomatoes daily and remove them from the plant
as they become ripe. Keep plants out of direct sunlight but not in total darkness.
Position the plants so there is good air circulation between them.
Ripening Tomatoes Off The Vine
When a heavy frost is looming, pick all the tomatoes from the plant (including the green ones). Sort them according to size and level of maturity, set aside those that are bruised or damaged. Remove stems and wipe off the dirt with a dry cloth.
Save the small tomatoes for cooking in a variety of green tomato recipes.
For those that are larger (about 3/4 the size of a ripe tomato), here are a couple
different ways you can ripen them off the vine:
Wrap the green tomatoes individually in newspaper and lay them in shallow cardboard boxes. You can also lay them in bunches between sheets of newspaper,
just make sure none of the tomatoes are touching each other.
Store them in a dark and dry location.
Check the tomatoes regularly and quickly remove those that have ripened.
Watch for any rotting fruit, they must be removed from the
batch immediately to prevent the others from rotting.
You can also try layering the tomatoes in a shallow box of styrofoam peanuts,
leave enough room between the tomatoes for good air circulation and
remember to check the box daily for ripe tomatoes to be removed.
Be gentle when handling and arranging the tomatoes to prevent damaging them.
Tip: If you arrange the tomatoes stem side up they won’t take to rot as quickly.
Ethylene Gas Fruit Ripening Boosters
Fruit naturally produces ethylene gas which helps stimulate ripening.
No real need to do this unless you’re out of tomatoes and want some quickly.
Here are a few different methods you can try:
Place green tomatoes in a paper bag then add a ripe apple, fold bag closed.
This will help speed up tomato ripening since the apple will add to the
ethylene gas the tomatoes themselves produce.
Ripen tomatoes in a brown paper lunch bag and fold over the top to close,
this will help keep the ethylene gas the tomatoes produce inside
the bag to speed up ripening.
Place green tomatoes in a plastic bag that has several toothpick
sized holes punched through.
Seal the bag closed.
Place green tomatoes in a container with a banana that still has a bit of green on the peel,
seal the container closed. This will help trap the ethylene gas inside the container
to help the green tomatoes ripen faster.
Tips & Troubleshooting
Prolong The Growing Season:
You can still keep your tomatoes in the garden when light frosts are expected but protect them overnight by covering with sheets, tarp or burlap (remove during the day).
When freezing or hard frosts are in the forecast, you need to hustle and remove
all the tomatoes from the garden before the frost hits.
Sorting Tomatoes: Keep the green tomatoes showing a bit of pink around the stem area
together in a separate box, these will ripen the fastest and will save you digging around for them. Boost Flavor: Set tomatoes that are very close to being ripe in a warm window a day or two before you use them, this will help increase the flavor.
Shriveling Tomatoes: If your green tomatoes tend to shrivel instead of ripen, it’s likely because the storage area isn’t humid enough for them.
Moldy Tomatoes: If you have a problem with your green tomatoes developing mold or starting to rot before fully ripening, it’s likely because the storage area is too humid for them.
Tomatoes Have No Flavor: The storage area was too cool, find a location where the temperature is at least 55° F. for best results.
Tomatoes Won’t Ripen: They were either too small or stored in too cool a location.
the other hanging tin basket I also spray painted and added sunflowers ....and hung it up by my back door....
