Ripening

b54red · September 11, 2016

We have not really had much of a break in the heat other than a day or two for the past 3 and a half months with days in the 90s and nights above 70 but for the past month tomatoes have been very slow to ripen despite the heat. I don't understand why this happens during this intense heat. June and July with temps just as high or sometimes a bit higher fruit ripened so fast tomatoes had to be picked every day and now I am lucky to get one or two ripe ones a week despite having plants loaded with large green tomatoes seemingly ready to ripen. I assume it has something to do with the time of the year but still don't understand why it would change the ripening speed without the temperatures going down. This is true for my very old plants set out in March all the way through my newest ones set out in late July. Yesterday it was 97 with last night getting down to 75 and despite this slow ripening they are setting new fruit like crazy.

Bill

Hellmanns · September 11, 2016

Same here. Day length always plays havoc in September, I just forget to figure it in each year.

bower · September 11, 2016

Well we sure have the opposite condition here. I've been waiting and waiting for outdoor fruit to blush. They've been hanging looking ready but only a few have actually ripened out there - because it's too cold. Daytime highs around 70 at best, nights down to 50.

A couple of days ago I brought one of the experimental plants into the greenhouse - this one was the determinate I was looking for. Within a couple of days all the large fruit on it are just about full ripe. Just a bit warmer, it made all the difference.

Yesterday I cut nearly all the fruit off the outdoor plants by the cluster and brought them indoors to ripen because of a frost advisory last night. More of them are blushing already after just one warmer night.

GrowingCoastal · September 11, 2016

"Daytime highs around 70 at best, nights down to 50."

We are about that on this coast too though no frost warnings for a while yet. My tomatoes have also slowed or stopped ripening, especially the determinates.

Gardeneer · September 11, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrowingCoastal

"Daytime highs around 70 at best, nights down to 50."

We are about that on this coast too though no frost warnings for a while yet. My tomatoes have also slowed or stopped ripening, especially the determinates.

Similar situation up hear. Opposite of what Bill is experiencing.
My dark/black varieties are ripening better than beefsteak type reds. The problem is low night temperature than day temperature. The tomatoes seem to ripen inside much quicker than on the vine.

Hellmanns · September 11, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Similar situation up hear. Opposite of what Bill is experiencing.
My dark/black varieties are ripening better than beefsteak type reds. The problem is low night temperature than day temperature. The tomatoes seem to ripen inside much quicker than on the vine.

My lows have been in the 60's for weeks until last night, when it dipped to the upper 50's.

salix · September 12, 2016

Picked the bulk of my tomatoes this afternoon, all green. It got down to 0 C (32 F) last night, but nothing seemed to be affected in the garden. Predicted to get even colder tonight. What a shame, we had such cool wet weather for half of June, most of July and the first part of September. August was OK. Our season was about 5 or 6 weeks behind last year, the only variety that ripened on the plant was Cole (thanks John!). Fortunately they usually ripen nicely once they are warm and cozy inside - even the unheated garage is better than the garden apparently.

berryman · September 12, 2016

Only cherries making much ripening progress here. Days have been in the 80's and low 90's but nights down into the 40's.

I have lots of green fruit on the vines outside and will have to wait a few more weeks to see what happens.

Gardeneer · September 12, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hellmanns

My lows have been in the 60's for weeks until last night, when it dipped to the upper 50's.

All summer long our night lows have been in 50s,, better than 90% of the time.

mid to upper 60s for lows is great. Even when we have highs in high 80s, night lows gor down to 50s. Only in PNW.

EPawlick · September 12, 2016

We have had a few days above 80 in September although our normal lows are 50 and highs 70 for September. Last week we actually had a heat advisory.

With first frost expected around October 13, I'm thankful that I was able to harvest about 5 large tomatoes this past week. Still getting lots of hot peppers daily.

Better boy, early girl, healthy, yellow plum and sugar rush are just starting to blush again on new growth where I topped them off in July. I moved three of my containers to the front porch so they would get more sun.

"Winter's coming."

b54red · September 13, 2016

I finally picked about a half dozen tomatoes today with only half of them ruined by varmints and birds. It is still getting into the 90s but it is a bit cooler and it is forecast to be in the high 80s in the next couple of days so that will be nice.

Bill

sjamesNorway · September 13, 2016

Most of the varieties in my greenhouse stopped ripening for a month. It didn't happen last year, and I don't have a clue why it did this year. I maintain a minimum nighttime temperature of 60F, and usually manage to keep the daytime temperature below 90F. Couilles de Taureau was an exception. It just kept giving me 1 pound sized excellent old-fashioned tasting fruits. The others started ripening again about a week ago, and are ripening quickly.

Steve

b54red · September 14, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjamesNorway

Most of the varieties in my greenhouse stopped ripening for a month. It didn't happen last year, and I don't have a clue why it did this year. I maintain a minimum nighttime temperature of 60F, and usually manage to keep the daytime temperature below 90F. Couilles de Taureau was an exception. It just kept giving me 1 pound sized excellent old-fashioned tasting fruits. The others started ripening again about a week ago, and are ripening quickly.

Steve

I love Couilles de Taureau because of that quality to produce big beautiful tomatoes even in the hottest weather. I lost my last one to TSWV so I don't have one anymore. Another big fruited variety that does well in the heat is Red Barn.

Bill

SharonRossy · September 14, 2016

September in Montreal has been above normal temps with a few cooler days in the last couple of days. Tonight temps dip and are fluctuating. I have taken down half my plants. The other bed looks healthy but I have had damage from stink bugs on many plants. So I will probably be removing the rest in the next couple of days. I have found that many of my tomatoes have not ripened well inside. I think that I have removed them too soon because I wanted to avoid squirrel and stink bug attacks. Can't complain because I have a lot of tomatoes.

Lindalana · September 16, 2016

Most of my tomatoes are done. Just picked some second blush. But new greens are coming on about 10% of the plants. Sad but will start taking them down. I did have weird stalling for second flush coming though

September 11, 2016	#1
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	Ripening We have not really had much of a break in the heat other than a day or two for the past 3 and a half months with days in the 90s and nights above 70 but for the past month tomatoes have been very slow to ripen despite the heat. I don't understand why this happens during this intense heat. June and July with temps just as high or sometimes a bit higher fruit ripened so fast tomatoes had to be picked every day and now I am lucky to get one or two ripe ones a week despite having plants loaded with large green tomatoes seemingly ready to ripen. I assume it has something to do with the time of the year but still don't understand why it would change the ripening speed without the temperatures going down. This is true for my very old plants set out in March all the way through my newest ones set out in late July. Yesterday it was 97 with last night getting down to 75 and despite this slow ripening they are setting new fruit like crazy. Bill

September 12, 2016	#7
salix Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: north central B.C. Posts: 2,310	Picked the bulk of my tomatoes this afternoon, all green. It got down to 0 C (32 F) last night, but nothing seemed to be affected in the garden. Predicted to get even colder tonight. What a shame, we had such cool wet weather for half of June, most of July and the first part of September. August was OK. Our season was about 5 or 6 weeks behind last year, the only variety that ripened on the plant was Cole (thanks John!). Fortunately they usually ripen nicely once they are warm and cozy inside - even the unheated garage is better than the garden apparently. __________________ "He who has a library and a garden wants for nothing." -Cicero

September 11, 2016	#2
Hellmanns Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: kentucky Posts: 1,116	Same here. Day length always plays havoc in September, I just forget to figure it in each year.

September 11, 2016	#3
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	Well we sure have the opposite condition here. I've been waiting and waiting for outdoor fruit to blush. They've been hanging looking ready but only a few have actually ripened out there - because it's too cold. Daytime highs around 70 at best, nights down to 50. A couple of days ago I brought one of the experimental plants into the greenhouse - this one was the determinate I was looking for. Within a couple of days all the large fruit on it are just about full ripe. Just a bit warmer, it made all the difference. Yesterday I cut nearly all the fruit off the outdoor plants by the cluster and brought them indoors to ripen because of a frost advisory last night. More of them are blushing already after just one warmer night.

September 11, 2016	#4
GrowingCoastal Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Vancouver Island Canada BC Posts: 1,253	"Daytime highs around 70 at best, nights down to 50." We are about that on this coast too though no frost warnings for a while yet. My tomatoes have also slowed or stopped ripening, especially the determinates.

September 12, 2016	#8
berryman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: central utah Posts: 233	Only cherries making much ripening progress here. Days have been in the 80's and low 90's but nights down into the 40's. I have lots of green fruit on the vines outside and will have to wait a few more weeks to see what happens.

September 12, 2016	#10
EPawlick Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Southern Ontario, Canada Zone 6b Posts: 232	We have had a few days above 80 in September although our normal lows are 50 and highs 70 for September. Last week we actually had a heat advisory. With first frost expected around October 13, I'm thankful that I was able to harvest about 5 large tomatoes this past week. Still getting lots of hot peppers daily. Better boy, early girl, healthy, yellow plum and sugar rush are just starting to blush again on new growth where I topped them off in July. I moved three of my containers to the front porch so they would get more sun. "Winter's coming."

September 13, 2016	#11
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	I finally picked about a half dozen tomatoes today with only half of them ruined by varmints and birds. It is still getting into the 90s but it is a bit cooler and it is forecast to be in the high 80s in the next couple of days so that will be nice. Bill

September 13, 2016	#12
sjamesNorway Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Norway Posts: 1,049	Most of the varieties in my greenhouse stopped ripening for a month. It didn't happen last year, and I don't have a clue why it did this year. I maintain a minimum nighttime temperature of 60F, and usually manage to keep the daytime temperature below 90F. Couilles de Taureau was an exception. It just kept giving me 1 pound sized excellent old-fashioned tasting fruits. The others started ripening again about a week ago, and are ripening quickly. Steve

September 14, 2016	#14
SharonRossy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Montreal Posts: 1,140	September in Montreal has been above normal temps with a few cooler days in the last couple of days. Tonight temps dip and are fluctuating. I have taken down half my plants. The other bed looks healthy but I have had damage from stink bugs on many plants. So I will probably be removing the rest in the next couple of days. I have found that many of my tomatoes have not ripened well inside. I think that I have removed them too soon because I wanted to avoid squirrel and stink bug attacks. Can't complain because I have a lot of tomatoes.

September 16, 2016	#15
Lindalana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Chicago IL Posts: 857	Most of my tomatoes are done. Just picked some second blush. But new greens are coming on about 10% of the plants. Sad but will start taking them down. I did have weird stalling for second flush coming though