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.

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.