Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
Moderator: Chris_W
- Chris_W
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Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
Hi,
Any suggestions as to why I'm not getting any ripe tomatoes? I'm wondering if they are shading themselves too much, or is it just a matter of time. Have no idea what kind they are, so I guess maybe they are a variety that are longer to mature. The bushes themselves are 5 foot tall and almost the same wide - they are monsters
Any suggestions as to why I'm not getting any ripe tomatoes? I'm wondering if they are shading themselves too much, or is it just a matter of time. Have no idea what kind they are, so I guess maybe they are a variety that are longer to mature. The bushes themselves are 5 foot tall and almost the same wide - they are monsters
Re: Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
Same here, Chris. The plants are green and robust and still growing, setting blossoms and developing fruit. They have a fair amount of green tomatoes on them but nothing is ripening. I have 3 varieties and none of them show any sign of ripening up. I don't have a lot of use for green tomatoes, either. You can only eat so much relish or fried green tomatoes.
Glo
Glo
- audre
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Re: Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
I've been doing the 'upsidown pot' experiments with my tomatoes this year and I've found that even though I had two of the 'same' tomato plants hanging right next to each other, getting the same amount of sun, nutrients and water etc, their progress has been totally different. One plant I've been harvesting ripe tomatoes off of for over a month (nice and sweet, too), the other, maybe one semi ripe tomato I pulled just because I have gotten curious about it.
Both are still blooming, too.
Both are still blooming, too.
- kHT
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Re: Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
How wet is the ground that these are in? We allow our to totally dry out and they seem to start turn color. I have
also been told that the red plastic also helps them turn out here where we are really wet all the time. Full sun is
best for them but way from other members of the same family. We did 9 varieties and some varieties are way slower than
others. I'll also tell you we cut ours back so that the plants stays small and gives back to the fruit, missues the runners and leaves, too. We have some that are
big enough that it covers the whole slice of bread!
also been told that the red plastic also helps them turn out here where we are really wet all the time. Full sun is
best for them but way from other members of the same family. We did 9 varieties and some varieties are way slower than
others. I'll also tell you we cut ours back so that the plants stays small and gives back to the fruit, missues the runners and leaves, too. We have some that are
big enough that it covers the whole slice of bread!
karma 'Happy Toes' (kHT)
The Goddess is Alive and Magic is Afoot!!!!
I'm just a simple housewife.
The Goddess is Alive and Magic is Afoot!!!!
I'm just a simple housewife.
Re: Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
Thanks for the advice, KHT.
I haven't grown tomatoes in some years, except for the occasional one or two plants in a container. Just got back to vege gardening this year and forgot the difference between determinate and indeterminate varieties. Next year, will grow only determinate. I may go out and hack back some of the branches to see if that won't force the plants to concentrate on the tomatoes. We have been pretty wet here this year. Very unusual in that I have hardly had to water at all due to intermittent rain. Maybe that has something to do with it. Will let you know what happened.
Glo
I haven't grown tomatoes in some years, except for the occasional one or two plants in a container. Just got back to vege gardening this year and forgot the difference between determinate and indeterminate varieties. Next year, will grow only determinate. I may go out and hack back some of the branches to see if that won't force the plants to concentrate on the tomatoes. We have been pretty wet here this year. Very unusual in that I have hardly had to water at all due to intermittent rain. Maybe that has something to do with it. Will let you know what happened.
Glo
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Re: Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
Remove all flowers and very young fruit and definitely prune out some leaves (not too many though or you'll risk sunscald). This forces the plant to start ripening what is already there. Also as suggested, quit watering - although if mother nature's providing it's a little difficult to stop that.
Julie
"To Plant a Seed is a Noble Deed - Propagation is Conservation" Norman C. Deno, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
"To Plant a Seed is a Noble Deed - Propagation is Conservation" Norman C. Deno, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
- Chris_W
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Re: Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
Thanks for the suggestions. We've had quite a few tomato hornworm caterpillars do some pruning of the outer branches for us, so I think more light is getting in there now and lots of the youngest flowers are taken off already. Hopefully it will help. While digging through there I noticed that one of the plants is a Roma - a bit of a surprise, since we didn't buy any Romas
Next year we will be started a lot sooner, now that we have a dedicated veggie patch, so that first month in pots for these tomato plants probably didn't help them mature much...
Next year we will be started a lot sooner, now that we have a dedicated veggie patch, so that first month in pots for these tomato plants probably didn't help them mature much...
- kHT
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Re: Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
Chris, it might have helped make stronger plants if left in the pots to get root bound. We tend to leave them get really root bound then we taken the two foot plant and
lay it sideways to plant and all you will see is the top 4". We try to keep them no bigger than the normal tomatoe cage, so that means weekly pruning to keep them focused
on the fruit. One of my neighbors swears by the red plastic and it too keeps the plant on the drier side.
lay it sideways to plant and all you will see is the top 4". We try to keep them no bigger than the normal tomatoe cage, so that means weekly pruning to keep them focused
on the fruit. One of my neighbors swears by the red plastic and it too keeps the plant on the drier side.
karma 'Happy Toes' (kHT)
The Goddess is Alive and Magic is Afoot!!!!
I'm just a simple housewife.
The Goddess is Alive and Magic is Afoot!!!!
I'm just a simple housewife.
Re: Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
What is the "red plastic"? Is it a special tomato thing?
Of course I would say it's plastic that is red, but I'm a smart a** .
Of course I would say it's plastic that is red, but I'm a smart a** .
Spider's Hosta List There are photos there too
"I gotta have more cowbell!" SNL
"If your gecko is broken you have a reptile dysfunction."
"If you don't talk to your cat about catnip...who will?"
"I gotta have more cowbell!" SNL
"If your gecko is broken you have a reptile dysfunction."
"If you don't talk to your cat about catnip...who will?"
- kHT
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Re: Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/9262/
Here ya go spider, the place they got it. All I can tell you is it controlled the weeks and they had tomatoes sooner
than anyone did and it was a bad year last year for tomatoes.
Here ya go spider, the place they got it. All I can tell you is it controlled the weeks and they had tomatoes sooner
than anyone did and it was a bad year last year for tomatoes.
karma 'Happy Toes' (kHT)
The Goddess is Alive and Magic is Afoot!!!!
I'm just a simple housewife.
The Goddess is Alive and Magic is Afoot!!!!
I'm just a simple housewife.
- kHT
- Posts: 10379
- Joined: Oct 31, 2001 8:00 pm
- USDA Zone: 7-8 Z-nial
- Location: PNW, some where over the rainbow?
Re: Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
I took these shot so that you can see just how far we cut ours back and the size of our romas.
- Attachments
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- trimmed back
- DSC05638.JPG (84.76 KiB) Viewed 14821 times
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- roma
- DSC05640.JPG (71.4 KiB) Viewed 14821 times
karma 'Happy Toes' (kHT)
The Goddess is Alive and Magic is Afoot!!!!
I'm just a simple housewife.
The Goddess is Alive and Magic is Afoot!!!!
I'm just a simple housewife.
Re: Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
Thanks kHT. I never pruned tomatoes before, only pulled the suckers off. I will be sure to prune them in the next day or so and we shall see what develops.
Glo
Glo
Re: Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
Chris, that is a frequent problem here in NJ. Has it been very hot there for you? If it is too hot, the tomatoes will not ripen. Have patience, they will as the weather cools.
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Re: Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
Ok so I'm definitely going to prune my tomatoes now. Thanks.
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Re: Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
Studies show that pruning your tomatoes will merely give you less fruit for more work.
- kHT
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- Joined: Oct 31, 2001 8:00 pm
- USDA Zone: 7-8 Z-nial
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Re: Why aren't my tomatoes getting ripe?
Sorry John, but we prune and it seems to put back more to the fruit?
karma 'Happy Toes' (kHT)
The Goddess is Alive and Magic is Afoot!!!!
I'm just a simple housewife.
The Goddess is Alive and Magic is Afoot!!!!
I'm just a simple housewife.