Ripening - Page 2

b54red · September 17, 2016

I removed my first and largest bed of tomatoes today and there were an amazing number of tomatoes on the old vines and some of them quite large but I just need the room for other things for the fall. Hoping to set out beans and cucumbers in the next week or so if it will ever cool off. Those forecasts for the 80s turned out to be wrong and by a bit. Today it was 94 when it was forecast to be 88. I'm not falling for their forecast until I start seeing a bit more accuracy. There is supposed to be a decent chance of rain tomorrow but I won't hold my breath the last storm we were supposed to get didn't even wet the surface of the ground. On a more positive note I am getting a few more tomatoes ripening and if the squirrels and diseases hold off I should have a bumper fall crop from my last row of tomatoes I planted. I still can't believe how many fruit they set with such high temperatures. Our nights have been a little cooler sometimes getting down to the low 70s but still pretty hot first thing in the morning. I guess the constant watering with a dose of TTF due to the dry weather has pushed them to set more than normal. I am trying my best to keep them pruned and tied up but it is hard to get it all done before it gets so hot it drives me inside.

Bill

Gardeneer · September 17, 2016

Two days a go while pruning I harvested a Big Beef by accident that was fully green but very pale green. Now sitting on the counter, it is blushing. In 2 o3 days it will be ripe.
I am planing to relocate within a week or so. I will pick and take some mature green and anything with slight blush tomatoes with me. I know they will ripen in less than a week. They might not be the best for fresh eating but I certainly can use those in cooking.

Ricky Shaw · September 17, 2016

They might not be the best for fresh eating but I certainly can use those in cooking.

Save seed from those blushers if you're inclined, I've been impressed by the viability of seed from window sill ripened toms. They seem to germinate at the same rate as seed from vine ripened fruit. First year I've saved seed, so it's all new to me.

SharonRossy · September 17, 2016

Hey Gardeneer, all the best on your move to a warmer clime! It will be interesting to see how things in the garden do for you there! Keep us posted.
Our nights are definitely cooler and I must go out and take down the last bed. I'm feeling lazy but it has to be done sadly.

Gardeneer · September 17, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by SharonRossy

Hey Gardeneer, all the best on your move to a warmer clime! It will be interesting to see how things in the garden do for you there! Keep us posted.
Our nights are definitely cooler and I must go out and take down the last bed. I'm feeling lazy but it has to be done sadly.

Thanks Sharon. I will be around and keep posting.
With fall cool weather, mature tomatoes will ripen better inside than on the vine. The we get gray mold that can ruin the fruits too. So it is better to pick and bring them inside.

ridgetop · September 23, 2016

Hi Gardeneer!

I'm from Issaquah and didn't get my tomatoes planted till mid July...me bad....but I too have tons of green tomatoes on the vine. Today it's raining but this weekend should be warmer...in the 70's I heard, but it's been in the mid 40's in the early morning. Would you suggest I pick them now or a bit later to give them more time on the vine? thanks for you help! Pam from Issaquah

gorbelly · September 23, 2016

Tomatoes are loving the weather right now here in the mid-Atlantic. I think they're actually happiest in September in my area. In another week or so, the sun angle will be too low creating too much shade and night temps too cold for the larger tomatoes to do much, even if there's no frost. Cherries can produce well right up to frost, though.

b54red · September 24, 2016

We hit 97 today which is really high for this late in the year and it is really dry. The black tomato varieties are ripening well now but the others seem to be holding off on ripening. The forecast is for the eighties to move in next week sometime but they have forecast that several times so far and missed every time. Keeping my fingers crossed because I would like to set out some cucumbers and beans but am holding off due to the extreme heat and dryness.

Bill

bower · September 24, 2016

According to a paper I read recently (although it was an old paper from the 70's), tomatoes can't be expected to ripen with full normal flavor and color at temperatures below 12.5 C that is 55 F. So when the daytime highs drop to that level, there's no point in leaving them to ripen on the vine.

There was a high temperature limit given too, for normal lycopene formation, I think it was 30 C?? That would be 86 F.

Caveat of course is that there's lots of room for variation in different tomato varieties outside of those figures, which probably came from a few commercial vars.

I would say it is quite rare to see a tomato plant or fruit grow or ripen when the high temp is 55 F, so it seems like a fair cutoff point to me.

gorbelly · September 26, 2016

Well, shoot. Fully vine-ripened tomatoes keep coming in until mid-Oct, normally, but the long-term forecast has solid rain for at least a week starting Tues. I guess I'll just pull my plants before that, since the wet and the cooler temps with all that rain will kick the early blight, which has been very slow and under control until now, into high gear, and even if it doesn't, I suspect I'll end up with sad, split fruits. Oh well. I'd been meaning to experiment with fall cover cropping, so...

I might leave up my Malakhitovaya Shkatulka plants. It's said they do well in cold, and although other plants have been slowing down their ripening, my MS have not, so I want to see how they do in adverse fall conditions just for my own education.

b54red · September 26, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by gorbelly

Well, shoot. Fully vine-ripened tomatoes keep coming in until mid-Oct, normally, but the long-term forecast has solid rain for at least a week starting Tues. I guess I'll just pull my plants before that, since the wet and the cooler temps with all that rain will kick the early blight, which has been very slow and under control until now, into high gear, and even if it doesn't, I suspect I'll end up with sad, split fruits. Oh well. I'd been meaning to experiment with fall cover cropping, so...

I might leave up my Malakhitovaya Shkatulka plants. It's said they do well in cold, and although other plants have been slowing down their ripening, my MS have not, so I want to see how they do in adverse fall conditions just for my own education.

We have been suffering from just the opposite with high temps and virtually no rain. Some fell yesterday afternoon but the ground was dry when it finished so I don't think I'll have to worry about split fruits unless it picks up a bit. With as hot as it has been nearing nearly a 100 last week for a couple of days the fruits will split with hardly any rain. The skins on some are really rough and tough from this much heat.

This morning it got down to just under 70 degrees before daylight for the first time in many months. I hope this will continue and cool off even more. I would love to be able to spend a little more time in the garden but need it to be a bit cooler before I can do that. I don't want to see a lot of rain because this time of the year that can bring devastating disease problems and bursting fruit. I also fear the appearance of Late Blight with every rain now.

Bill

bower · September 26, 2016

Ironically I just picked yesterday another couple of pounds of blushing fruit outdoors. These I missed or were too small to bother two weeks ago, and goes to show how crazy the weather has been. Frost warnings every month of the year. Temperatures double normal, then half normal, then twice normal again. We had July weather days after the last frost or near-frost, which my plants survived - enough to keep growing the remaining fruit.

I'm still getting a few vine ripe fruit from the plants that are left in the greenhouse, although the sun's angle and trees here means they only get maybe three hours of sunshine a day - when it shines. If no shining, there are days the temperature hasn't gotten to 60 F inside.

High today 49 F with a mix of sun and intense squalls of rain. wind NW and light by local standards, only gusting 23 kph but the dewpoint is 40 F all the same. Normal high this time of year would be around 60 F, and 45 at night.

berryman · September 26, 2016

I have lots of hanging blushing fruit and last thurs and friday the predicted lows were 29F.
Luckily it was a few degrees above that and it looks like at least a week of potential ripening weather for my indian stripe and amana oranges.
Super sunshine today and the last few days with highs in the high 70's and the lows down in the mid 30's.

September 17, 2016	#17
Gardeneer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7 Posts: 4,919	Two days a go while pruning I harvested a Big Beef by accident that was fully green but very pale green. Now sitting on the counter, it is blushing. In 2 o3 days it will be ripe. I am planing to relocate within a week or so. I will pick and take some mature green and anything with slight blush tomatoes with me. I know they will ripen in less than a week. They might not be the best for fresh eating but I certainly can use those in cooking. __________________ Gardeneer Happy Gardening !

September 17, 2016	#16
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	I removed my first and largest bed of tomatoes today and there were an amazing number of tomatoes on the old vines and some of them quite large but I just need the room for other things for the fall. Hoping to set out beans and cucumbers in the next week or so if it will ever cool off. Those forecasts for the 80s turned out to be wrong and by a bit. Today it was 94 when it was forecast to be 88. I'm not falling for their forecast until I start seeing a bit more accuracy. There is supposed to be a decent chance of rain tomorrow but I won't hold my breath the last storm we were supposed to get didn't even wet the surface of the ground. On a more positive note I am getting a few more tomatoes ripening and if the squirrels and diseases hold off I should have a bumper fall crop from my last row of tomatoes I planted. I still can't believe how many fruit they set with such high temperatures. Our nights have been a little cooler sometimes getting down to the low 70s but still pretty hot first thing in the morning. I guess the constant watering with a dose of TTF due to the dry weather has pushed them to set more than normal. I am trying my best to keep them pruned and tied up but it is hard to get it all done before it gets so hot it drives me inside. Bill

September 17, 2016	#18
Ricky Shaw Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Zone 6a Denver North Metro Posts: 1,910	They might not be the best for fresh eating but I certainly can use those in cooking. Save seed from those blushers if you're inclined, I've been impressed by the viability of seed from window sill ripened toms. They seem to germinate at the same rate as seed from vine ripened fruit. First year I've saved seed, so it's all new to me.

September 17, 2016	#19
SharonRossy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Montreal Posts: 1,140	Hey Gardeneer, all the best on your move to a warmer clime! It will be interesting to see how things in the garden do for you there! Keep us posted. Our nights are definitely cooler and I must go out and take down the last bed. I'm feeling lazy but it has to be done sadly.

September 23, 2016	#21
ridgetop Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: issasquah, wa, usa Posts: 2	Hi Gardeneer! I'm from Issaquah and didn't get my tomatoes planted till mid July...me bad....but I too have tons of green tomatoes on the vine. Today it's raining but this weekend should be warmer...in the 70's I heard, but it's been in the mid 40's in the early morning. Would you suggest I pick them now or a bit later to give them more time on the vine? thanks for you help! Pam from Issaquah

September 23, 2016	#22
gorbelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Posts: 1,069	Tomatoes are loving the weather right now here in the mid-Atlantic. I think they're actually happiest in September in my area. In another week or so, the sun angle will be too low creating too much shade and night temps too cold for the larger tomatoes to do much, even if there's no frost. Cherries can produce well right up to frost, though.

September 24, 2016	#23
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	We hit 97 today which is really high for this late in the year and it is really dry. The black tomato varieties are ripening well now but the others seem to be holding off on ripening. The forecast is for the eighties to move in next week sometime but they have forecast that several times so far and missed every time. Keeping my fingers crossed because I would like to set out some cucumbers and beans but am holding off due to the extreme heat and dryness. Bill

September 24, 2016	#24
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	According to a paper I read recently (although it was an old paper from the 70's), tomatoes can't be expected to ripen with full normal flavor and color at temperatures below 12.5 C that is 55 F. So when the daytime highs drop to that level, there's no point in leaving them to ripen on the vine. There was a high temperature limit given too, for normal lycopene formation, I think it was 30 C?? That would be 86 F. Caveat of course is that there's lots of room for variation in different tomato varieties outside of those figures, which probably came from a few commercial vars. I would say it is quite rare to see a tomato plant or fruit grow or ripen when the high temp is 55 F, so it seems like a fair cutoff point to me.

September 26, 2016	#25
gorbelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Posts: 1,069	Well, shoot. Fully vine-ripened tomatoes keep coming in until mid-Oct, normally, but the long-term forecast has solid rain for at least a week starting Tues. I guess I'll just pull my plants before that, since the wet and the cooler temps with all that rain will kick the early blight, which has been very slow and under control until now, into high gear, and even if it doesn't, I suspect I'll end up with sad, split fruits. Oh well. I'd been meaning to experiment with fall cover cropping, so... I might leave up my Malakhitovaya Shkatulka plants. It's said they do well in cold, and although other plants have been slowing down their ripening, my MS have not, so I want to see how they do in adverse fall conditions just for my own education.

September 26, 2016	#28
berryman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: central utah Posts: 233	I have lots of hanging blushing fruit and last thurs and friday the predicted lows were 29F. Luckily it was a few degrees above that and it looks like at least a week of potential ripening weather for my indian stripe and amana oranges. Super sunshine today and the last few days with highs in the high 70's and the lows down in the mid 30's.