Ripening too fast in a bag?

enchant · August 21, 2015

I still feel I'm a newcomer to this scene. This is my sixth year growing tomatoes and my third year growing exclusively from seeds. It's constantly a learning experience.

Last year, I learned that once a tomato blushes, there's nothing more that it can gain by hanging on the vine, aside from damage by nature. I picked everything at first blush and have been very happy with the results. Many things I've read said that it's best to store the not-quite-ripe tomatoes in a brown bag, as the contained gas aids in ripening.

My question is this - is the purpose of enclosing it simply to speed up the ripening, or is the final product a superior tomato? The reason I ask is that after a very slow start, my tomatoes are coming in faster than I can give them away, and with a ton of newly blushed tomatoes on the table, would it make more sense to simply let them sit out in the open, ripening more slowly?

August 21, 2015	#1
enchant Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 142	Ripening too fast in a bag? I still feel I'm a newcomer to this scene. This is my sixth year growing tomatoes and my third year growing exclusively from seeds. It's constantly a learning experience. Last year, I learned that once a tomato blushes, there's nothing more that it can gain by hanging on the vine, aside from damage by nature. I picked everything at first blush and have been very happy with the results. Many things I've read said that it's best to store the not-quite-ripe tomatoes in a brown bag, as the contained gas aids in ripening. My question is this - is the purpose of enclosing it simply to speed up the ripening, or is the final product a superior tomato? The reason I ask is that after a very slow start, my tomatoes are coming in faster than I can give them away, and with a ton of newly blushed tomatoes on the table, would it make more sense to simply let them sit out in the open, ripening more slowly?