Saving Green Tomatoes B4 Freezing

[AlittleSalt]

Well, the forecast has changed locally. They are now saying it will below freezing from 2am - 9am. Seven hours of freezing temperatures.

I was hoping for only an hour or two with temps around 32. Oh well, cleaning out the garden has left me already thinking about the next garden

[bower]

We're having our first official hard frost tonight, too - weeks later than normal, we may tie or beat the record for latest frost, depending the hour the mercury drops.

My tomatoes have been down a good while though, we haven't had ten hours of sunlight per day for weeks anyway.

Mine are picked and sitting in a cool spot. We will have ripe tomatoes for a month or so.

When I was fourteen years old, I started driving a truck too farm markets in many cities hauling fresh produce back to my home town. Every variety of produce from melons, vegetables, tomatoes; and fruit was seasonal, meaning if it was too cold in Texas to grow tomatoes and melons; it was probably the peak of the season in Florida or the Rio Grande valley of Texas. Something was always available somewhere.

I can't remember ever buying a crate of ripe tomatoes. They were always green and hard as a rock. Every crate of green tomatoes was "run" every three or four days separating the ripe tomatoes from the green tomatoes. Shortly before each crate had ripened and been sold, it was time to look for another truckload of green tomatoes. Most people who purchased my tomatoes in grocery stores and restaurants couldn't tell they were not eating vine ripened tomatoes.

Ted

[AlittleSalt]

With the low temperature below 30F for hours this morning, my last tomato plant looks like it was put in a dehydrator. Tomorrow's forecasted low at DFW is 24F and 21F for a town 25 miles south of us. Oh well, I gave it a try.

I picked the rest of the tomatoes off that one Porter plant. There were 185 tomatoes growing on it.

[b54red]

I'm hoping I didn't mess up too badly because the forecast has changed since this morning and I didn't see it. Now they are forecasting at least 30 degrees for the next two nights but it is already in 30s so it may get even colder and might damage the many tomatoes that I didn't get off my plants. I left them on the plants hoping to pick them the first of next week when it is forecast for the low to mid 20s. I'll get out there and pick a few tomorrow if they don't freeze during the night. Oh well it was the best tomato growing year I have ever experienced and now it is time to start planning for next season.

Bill

[OldHondaNut]

Don't think I would use a tomato seed from one picked green even though I have seen volunteers sprout and do well when left out for a freeze.

I usually let a tomato get fully ripe before using it for seed.

[b54red]

I picked most of the nice sized fruit and those turning lighter but left hundreds on the vines yesterday and they were all killed by last nights freeze. Forecast was for 28 but it got down to 23 so good by tomatoes and peppers.

As you can see from the size of some of these green ones picked yesterday I was going to have quite a harvest if the weather had just held off another couple of weeks.

Bill

[Zana]

b54red,
Looks really familiar. Now that they're "inside" in the warmth....and even a cool room is going to warmer than outside, they're going to ripen up fairly quickly....so be prepared to get busy! Just sayin'.

[b54red]

They are on the porch right now and it is quite cold but the forecast is for it to be back up into the mid 70s over the weekend. That is one of the reasons why I take the chance with fall tomatoes down here. If not for that freakish arctic blast I would probably gotten all of these and many more off the vine ripe.

Bill

[ChristinaJo]

I am sooooo jealous!!!!!!! Those look great even green.

[AlittleSalt]

Bill, they look nice.

I have around 200 green ones stored in a dark cool area (Around 45F). Most are Porters and 15-20 Rutgers. Most of the Rutgers are not full grown in size. I'm hoping to mature 10 at a time. So far - so good. I just ate a large Porter tomato (Slightly bigger than a golf ball) and it tasted like the ones that matured on the vines from June - August.