Will this help those green fruit to ripen?

cleo88 · August 20, 2011

Hi,
Here in Massachusetts it's probably been better for tomatoes than in many parts of the country. My issue is that I have some big and beautiful green tomatoes on my vines that are just taking their sweet time to ripen. I think this is primarily caused by our cooler-than-normal August temps - the high are typically in the high 80s consistently, but we've had a bunch of days where we haven't gotten out of the low 70s. Plus, after 2pm or so I sort of lose my sun to the tree line, so that isn't helping.

My question is: I don't care about new fruit set, of course, because anything setting now will never become a blushing tomato by the time of first frost. So will topping off my plants help to ripen the big fruit? (Or is there anything else I can do to speed it along?)

I'm not just impatient - I'm in a bit of a race against time because squirrels and chipmunks are eating my green fruit. Luckily they seem to have slowed down in their consumption, but it's not like they've packed up and moved to someone else's yard.

beeman · August 20, 2011

We always top our vines when they reach 5 trusses. There just isn't enough time to wait till all get ripe with a full sized plant.
Shoot the squirrels!!

cleo88 · August 20, 2011

beeman - are you saying that you think topping the plants off helps to get the existing fruit to blush? Or do you just do it so that you don't have to keep trussing branches that you won't use anyway?

lakelady - are you saying that you are going to sever roots on three sides to shock the fruit into blushing? You said you wanted to "force the plants to start greening up" but perhaps you meant "force the fruit to start ripening"?

lakelady · August 20, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by cleo88

beeman - are you saying that you think topping the plants off helps to get the existing fruit to blush? Or do you just do it so that you don't have to keep trussing branches that you won't use anyway?

lakelady - are you saying that you are going to sever roots on three sides to shock the fruit into blushing? You said you wanted to "force the plants to start greening up" but perhaps you meant "force the fruit to start ripening"?

lol....yes, that is exactly what I meant. This is what happens when I try to multitask, thanks for the clarification!

beeman · August 20, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by cleo88

beeman - are you saying that you think topping the plants off helps to get the existing fruit to blush? Or do you just do it so that you don't have to keep trussing branches that you won't use anyway?

I don't use green tomatoes, so I don't want them producing fruit to see it go to waste. In my opinion the plants do seem to put more effort into ripening the bottom ones.
Perhaps the poster has a shortage of (Potassium or Potash) one or the other helps fruit to ripen. I can never remember which one it is. I am suffering from a 'Seniors moment' so should look it up.

**carolyn137** · August 20, 2011

Cleo, yestrerday I saw the predicted weather for our area for Septmeber,meainig all of New England aswell as NY State and it's supposed to be much warmer and drier than normal so depending on how you feel about projected forecasts you may want to do nothing.

If you decide to do something I think that shovel pruning the plants, about one foot out from the main stem might be the best. What it does is to sever the top most feeder roots making the plant think it's time to wrap it up for the season and this helps ripens fruits b'c that's the normal cycle of the tomato.

You can shovel prune all the way around the plant without killing it since what you're doing is severing just the topmost feeder roots, not those that are deeper.

My tomatoes are so pathetic I'm just planning an elaborate funeral service and not even worrying about getting some of them to ripen.

lakelady · August 20, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Cleo, yestrerday I saw the predicted weather for our area for Septmeber,meainig all of New England aswell as NY State and it's supposed to be much warmer and drier than normal so depending on how you feel about projected forecasts you may want to do nothing.

If you decide to do something I think that shovel pruning the plants, about one foot out from the main stem might be the best. What it does is to sever the top most feeder roots making the plant think it's time to wrap it up for the season and this helps ripens fruits b'c that's the normal cycle of the tomato.

You can shovel prune all the way around the plant without killing it since what you're doing is severing just the topmost feeder roots, not those that are deeper.

My tomatoes are so pathetic I'm just planning an elaborate funeral service and not even worrying about getting some of them to ripen.

Aww Carolyn, that sounds totally sad, and I can empathize because I'm praying every day that I get these tomatoes to harvest after all the bragging to my neighbors who don't know what heirloom tomatoes are...I sorta promised them some fruits and have none to even eat myself yet! My mother only knows the red Italian tomatoes she grew up with in Italy and still insists all tomatoes need to be red. I have to prove it to her.

And I did not know you could shovel prune all the way around and not kill the plant, so that's a great tip, thanks!

lakelady · August 20, 2011

I'm in Northern NJ and this morning when I woke up the temps were 60 degrees! No wonder I was cold.... and it's only August 20th. My tomatoes are mostly green too. I'm going to try the shovel/spade around 3 sections (not 4 don't want to kill them, just shock them) and see if severing the roots forces the plants to start greening up.

What about any type of coverings at night? I was wondering if that would help extend the harvest myself. I have some of those red plastic sleeves you slide over the plants.

August 20, 2011	#1
cleo88 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Sharon, MA Zone 6 Posts: 225	Will this help those green fruit to ripen? Hi, Here in Massachusetts it's probably been better for tomatoes than in many parts of the country. My issue is that I have some big and beautiful green tomatoes on my vines that are just taking their sweet time to ripen. I think this is primarily caused by our cooler-than-normal August temps - the high are typically in the high 80s consistently, but we've had a bunch of days where we haven't gotten out of the low 70s. Plus, after 2pm or so I sort of lose my sun to the tree line, so that isn't helping. My question is: I don't care about new fruit set, of course, because anything setting now will never become a blushing tomato by the time of first frost. So will topping off my plants help to ripen the big fruit? (Or is there anything else I can do to speed it along?) I'm not just impatient - I'm in a bit of a race against time because squirrels and chipmunks are eating my green fruit. Luckily they seem to have slowed down in their consumption, but it's not like they've packed up and moved to someone else's yard.

August 20, 2011	#6
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	Cleo, yestrerday I saw the predicted weather for our area for Septmeber,meainig all of New England aswell as NY State and it's supposed to be much warmer and drier than normal so depending on how you feel about projected forecasts you may want to do nothing. If you decide to do something I think that shovel pruning the plants, about one foot out from the main stem might be the best. What it does is to sever the top most feeder roots making the plant think it's time to wrap it up for the season and this helps ripens fruits b'c that's the normal cycle of the tomato. You can shovel prune all the way around the plant without killing it since what you're doing is severing just the topmost feeder roots, not those that are deeper. My tomatoes are so pathetic I'm just planning an elaborate funeral service and not even worrying about getting some of them to ripen. __________________ Carolyn

August 20, 2011	#2
beeman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 692	We always top our vines when they reach 5 trusses. There just isn't enough time to wait till all get ripe with a full sized plant. Shoot the squirrels!!

August 20, 2011	#8
lakelady Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: northern NJ zone 6b Posts: 1,862	I'm in Northern NJ and this morning when I woke up the temps were 60 degrees! No wonder I was cold.... and it's only August 20th. My tomatoes are mostly green too. I'm going to try the shovel/spade around 3 sections (not 4 don't want to kill them, just shock them) and see if severing the roots forces the plants to start greening up. What about any type of coverings at night? I was wondering if that would help extend the harvest myself. I have some of those red plastic sleeves you slide over the plants.