Find yourself with more green tomatoes than ripe ones right now. You're not alone. Many gardeners we talk to have the same complaint. "My tomatoes just don't want to ripen this year." Here are some suggestions for ripening those green tomatoes still left on the vine. The idea is to channel the plant's energy away from flowering and leaf production, towards ripening existing fruit.
First of all, harvest any ripe tomatoes as soon as you can. Next, stop fertilizing. Your plants don't need any more Nitrogen at this point in the season. Another way to speed up ripening on the vine is to prune your tomato plants.
Start by removing any diseased and damaged leaves and branches. You can also remove any young branches at this point.
Next, prune off any small fruit and flowers. Fruit that's just setting today isn't going to make it before the end of the season, so you might as well take them off. Cut off any green tomatoes that are soft to the touch. Leave healthy, fully-formed leaves on the plant. These leaves are needed to provide nutrients to the existing tomatoes. Plant pruning will help redirect energy towards ripening existing fruit.
Root pruning will also encourage ripening. To root prune, simple stick a shovel or trowel six to eight inches deep into the ground, all the way around your tomato plant. This will chop off the ends of the roots and force the plant to stop new growth. With those root ends clipped off the tomato plant goes into fruit production mode. It should be noted that root pruning will dramatically decrease the life of your plant.
One last suggestion, be patient. The average first fall frost date is September 27. Your tomatoes will have time to ripen on the vine.
If the nights start getting too cool, cover your plants with an insulating material to protect them. These are several things you can do to speed up the ripening process. If it gets too late in the season, you can always pick the green fruit and bring it inside to ripen.
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