Anyone else's tomatoes taking forever to ripen?

[PaulF]

Fruit set for me was the same as always; tomatoes got to a certain stage and stayed green longer than ever. A few are beginning to ripen three weeks later than usual. It will be a very good crop unless it all stays green.

[VirginiaClay]

Hot weather will slow or nearly halt tomato ripening. Here's what Purdue University extension has to say about it:

Ripening and color development in tomatoes is governed primarily by two factors: temperature and the presence of a naturally occurring hormone called “ethylene.”

The optimum temperature range for ripening mature green tomatoes is 68–77 deg. F. The further temperatures stray from the optimum, the slower the ripening process will be. And, when temperatures are outside the optimum range for extended periods, conditions may become so stressful that the ripening process virtually halts.

At the same time, tomatoes do not produce lycopene and carotene, the pigments responsible for ripe tomato color, when temperatures are above 85 deg. F. So, extended periods of extreme heat cause tomatoes to stop ripening. The resulting fruits often appear yellowish green to yellowish orange.

https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/yar...-not-ripening/

[CrazyAboutOrchids]

In Fairfield County CT as well. Worst year ever for my garden. It's been too wet, too cold, too dry, too hot.... FINALLY got green beans - mid August to pick green beans is CRAZY!!!! Don't think I will be canning my typical load of sauce and salsa this year. I was able to get a small batch of roasted chunky tomato sauce made with what tomatoes I have but it's a sucky year so far.....

What has produced well are Start F1, Sungold, NAR, Buffalosteak and we got a few Cherokee Carbon. Really disappointing as the plants that went into the ground were my best starts in the last 10 years.

[brownrexx]

Here is one from Cornell from 2012 which must have been another hot year.

BTW, the article from Perdue calls Ethylene a hormone and it is not. Ethylene is a gas that causes ripening.

https://cvp.cce.cornell.edu/submission.php?id=91

[VirginiaClay]

Originally Posted by brownrexx

BTW, the article from Perdue calls Ethylene a hormone and it is not. Ethylene is a gas that causes ripening.

You're correct that ethylene is a gas, but that doesn't make it not a hormone. It's a major plant hormone with a broad range of effects in plants. Here's one link with details:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4730734/

From the article:
Ethylene gas is a major plant hormone that influences diverse processes in plant growth, development and stress responses throughout the plant life cycle.

We don't typically think of hormones as gases, but ethylene is the big exception. As another example, the gas nitric oxide is characterized as a human hormone by some biologists.

[uzlaguzla]

Mine were late this year , also. The wait was worth it. This is the best year ever for great fruit.

[ramapojoe]

I'm in NJ ten minutes from NYC. it's been very hot and very wet. Been picking around a dozen tomatoes every day for around two weeks now [11 plants]. Many, many green ones that will ripen all at once pretty soon. seems to be the same time period as earlier years. no complaints .

[GreenThumbGal_07]

Tomatoes are two weeks later than last year. This spring was chilly, cold May and didn't warm up until mid June.
That said: Fruit harvest is good and disease seems to be in check, some foliage disease but no deadly wilt seen so far.
Tomatoes are round and handsome. Just picked first Santa Clara Canner and St. Pierre today.

[JRinPA]

I agree, slow to ripen. Some years we are canning in the 4th week of July. This year, we could probably start canning now, since I have so many, but many of the plants have yet to ripen off their entire first truss. There were very few ripe before August.

I don't think it has been particularly hot - the okra did nothing, presumably because many nights were in the 60s, some in the 50s, and at least one night in July it dipped all the way into the 40s. We haven't had and "heat waves" - 3 days of 90+ - at all this year. It was dry here up until early August, now we've probably five big storms.



Aug 6th -This is an Estiva first truss on left, a Black Krim first on the right.
Aug 13th -Two of those black krim were already burst bottoms, 2nd pic off camera right foreground.

[Volvo]

Hokeydokes , my Take on the matter is depending on type of soil , underground moisture/water for tap root to sink down to , whether you water regular or periodical all makes a difference .
Ive heaard Tomato Growers who say they only water their plants to start them getting their tap root down far enough to find their own water /moisture and then they dont water at all and from the looks of their plants they looked good.
I tried both watering and non watering this year at least to the level ive watered previouse years and found that the plants i watered once or twice a fortnight ripened well and in time.
Others that i layed off from watering as ussually do i am still waiting for the fruits to fully ripen and thas some time overdue now.
Being i live on a hill with soil being Rocky and Clay below the surface i ussually have to water regular, but will to try all angles for better Tomato Crop/taste.
Normally find for our State that Tomatos do far better when Climate is Dry that way less Disease n Pests to do Battle with and the way its been this Years season though Fruitset has been a tad less though more tastier than last season.
And never too old to listen to new ideas wherre Tomatos are concerned ..

[asaump]

Mine were running behind as far as ripening, even my Early Girls. I have topped all my tomatoes and now I have more ripe tomatoes than I can use. Not sure if it was a coincident or if the topping helped move things along.

[Milan HP]

Seems like late ripening is a problem worldwide this year. I am at least 3 weeks behind my average schedule. My first ripe tomato came the latest in the past 4 years. It's really been a strange year.
On the other hand late blight hit much earlier than usual - 5 weeks earlier than last year. It probably loves cold and rainy weather. Fortunately, I mostly grow lb-resistant varieties and those are doing fine. If it weren't for them, my season would have finished 2 weeks ago.


Milan HP