Get Tomatoes to Ripen Faster on the Vine - How to Ripen Green Tomatoes
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ส.ค. 2020
- Your first frost will be here before you know it. Are your tomatoes ripe and ready? In this organic gardening video, Brian with California Garden TV (CGTV) will cover 6 ways to ripen your tomatoes faster on the vine. He will also show you what you can do if you are almost out of time.
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Early Tomato Varieties:
Summer Girl
Mighty Sweet
Early Girl
Bloody Butcher (heirloom)
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When I am fortunate enough to have excessive amount of green tomatoes and frost is coming, I store by wrapping each green tomato in a single piece of newspaper (not the shiny ads) inside a covered cardboard box in the coldest darkest room in my house. They ripen very slowly and we often have fresh tomatoes well past Christmas. Check the boxes daily and remove any that go bad. My grandmother taught me this trick. This year was a terrible tomato year because of the wet and super chilly spring, so I won't have the surplus.
I do the same thing. Yes, some are lost to rot and other problems, but here in VA, we can have tomatoes at Xmas.
Same thing happened to us. Snow into the third week of May, and now expecting an early frost. About 10 days early.
When we lived in NH, we used to pull plant by the roots and hang them upside in the garage and the fruit ripened beautifully.
Couldn’t I just stress the plant by inviting my mother in law over? Seems to me to be the easiest and most efficient way!
🤣🤣🤣
Lol, that's a good idea 😄
🤣🤣🤣
🤣🤣🤣
ha ha ha!
So my grandparents always use and taught me to make homemade tomato cages made out of extra large hole welded wire fencing cut into 6'×2' cylinder shape. They were tall and very sturdy. This allowed them to run a 30'×25' double layered tarp over them in early October well into November. They covered them at sunset and my Grandfather would remove them about an hour or two after sunrise. This still gave them a full fall day of sunlight. They also did this with smaller cages for chili peppers. Using stakes in the ground for ground running plants i.e. any melon plants with tarps was also done. It works great!
I know its work but getting fruit into November/December here in Fort Collins, Colorado when your neighborhoods gardens have been dead for weeks is so satisfying!
Old school farming way better than new. The just knew their plants & probably not filled with chemicals either. Sure there was a way to post pics to see what yours and other set-ups look like.
What did they use to clamp the ends of the wire cages together where they meet?
Wow! Very wise grandparents. Thank you for sharing this info.
Such ingenuity is so remarkable and shows a great self-reliance. You are blessed.
Great ideas!
Great idea! Grandparents are always full of knowledge
I put red plastic down when I plant my tomatoes. This helps them ripen fast and come September I have very few green tomatoes. It also helps to get them to ripen early. I have red tomatoes before anyone around me. The sun reflects off the red plastic helping them ripen early. I’ve been using this for years. It helps me get my tomatoes canned early. Everyone that I tell and they try this are amazed.
If you like mincemeat green tomato mincemeat is the best! Also, freezing a mixture of partially ripened tomatoes and ripe tomatoes...even a few tomatillos makes a great sauce.
Thank you for the reminders re getting tomatoes to ripen faster!
I often put the remaining unripe tomatoes in a paper bag with an apple and that does the trick. They taste just fine. 😃
Thank you! Our tomatoes are all green & everything says to use a banana. I don't have one but I have plenty of apples!!
Tomatoes ripened inside may not be as tasty as vine-ripened tomatoes, but they're still better than store-bought, and they can still make a great salsa.
Yes indeed!!
Always better than store bought 😁
Trimmed off all the flowers a couple weeks ago (just made sense to do it, glad to hear it was the right thing to do!) but will go out tomorrow and trim the tops off and a bunch of bottom leaves. Lots of green tomatoes still. I'm in south eastern Ontario and it can get cold really fast! Thankyou for the info!
I am on a bit of a binge on videos like this. Animals and insects keep getting my tomatoes. I have gotten to eat a few. But not many. So I just harvest all of my tomatoes to let them ripen inside. Well all of the larger ones anyway.
If you have a lot of tomatoes I find that cutting the tomatoes off, but leaving them on the vine (no leaves), placing in a cardboard box, separating the tomato layers with newspaper. They keep for a long time in my unheated/un-insulated garage, which stays above freezing quite a lot longer than the outdoors. They do ripen, for the most part, and whatever doesn't ripen, I use for green tomato recipes.
thanks!!!
Here in the UK I notice no real difference between on-vine or off-vine ripened cherry tomatoes... they're both intense and delicious. As for green tomatoes, I usually wait until near the end of October and then harvest every last green cherry tomato for a glut which I then turn into Green Tomato Chutney (I still have 3 x 360ml jam jars in my wardrobe from last year)... yummy.
Brian, something I have done is to PULL the vines up and hang them upside down inside. I have an older house with a fruit cellar, but anywhere where the vines won't get nipped is fine. The warmer the space the quicker they will ripen. This allows the fruit to get every drop of flavor still in the vine. I had fresh tomatoes at Thanksgiving!
Wow!
I have never had luck ripening them in the house. Thank you for the tips!
I was literally just thinking about this exact situation! Thanks for reading the minds of all your loyal tomato growers :)
Zone 6b. I take a hand rake and go round the topsoil around the stem popping the little feeder roots. I will do this throughout the growing season, especially before a feeding. But when we get into September - such as now - a bit moreso since our season usually shuts down around mis(ish) October (give or take a cold snap or not). This point in the season (September) I use this method before a bit of watering. It works better than twisting the stem. I will note - some of my seasonal champion tomatz (we all have them per season) ...I do float a bit longer in the fall with a cover.
For those of us in the southern hemisphere it is our last frost date - and mine has come and gone a while ago (hopefully). But I am storing this great information away for the Autumn as I'm always left with lots of green tomatoes, though sometimes its because the plant is too blighted to last. I"ve always been amazed at how the picked green tomatoes ripen up easily - nothing like eating a tomato picked fresh from the vine though, tastes better to me, than any picked ripe and kept for a day or two before eating. Thanks again for this great information.
Had a bumper crop year with some late season tomatoes. Went out, picked all of the, wrapped in newspaper and nestled in a cardboard box in the laundry room off the carport. Dark and cool but never freezing cold. We had delicious fresh home grown tomatoes at Christmas dinner that year. Only lost a few to rot.
Great!
I was actually wondering about this ..thank you so much.
I have been taking tomatoes off recently when they are yellow and ripening them in a bright but not sunny part of the house. Got that idea from another tomato video of yours. They taste just fine. The video today is very helpful for end of the season. Looks like I need to start 1st 3 steps on August 27th. I'm very excited about this!
Great information, and very likable person. That's why I LOVE your videos.
Thanks for the tips. I was always told to pull the volunteers they aren't good, but couple years ago heard to let them grow because they have been through our cold Wisconsin winter and the seeds are hearty. Well I did and you know they are all over the garden producing so many tomatoes.
Great! Yes I always find that my volunteer plants to really well. It's the ones we baby that have problems.🤣🤣
Yes, the volunteers are strong and have a headstart opposed to the ones we have to harden off from the nice weather inside
I think ripening tomatoes in a bag tastes almost as good as ones from the vine. Thanks for your tips today
Thanks Brian, this is my first year of growing tomatoes and your information is excellent. Thanks for giving me the confidence to remove those unnecessary leaves and flowers that won’t ever make it to fruition. London U.K.
Thank you 🙂
We pick our larger tomatoes partially ripe and continue ripening indoors. We typically pick cherry tomatoes when they are fully vine-ripened. We don’t see any degradation taste or texture wise by picking semi-ripe fruit. Thanks for the tips in this video. All good ones especially stressing the plant to ripen fruit faster. I will for sure try that technique.
I think I agree. I'm going to do a taste test video to see🙂
Thanks for the kind advice!
I bring all my tomatoes inside when they are just starting to turn, if i left them the critters feast on them and all other plants around it. And yes they taste slightly different but still far better than the store bought. You are absolutely right, Better fruit than nothing!
Thanks for a great video. I pulled up my tomatoes this morning. They weren’t doing too well in this Texas summer heat. But thanks for this information. I’m sure it’ll come in handy next spring/summer season.
Usually if there's any blush of color when the frost is coming mine ripen fine sitting on the kitchen counter. Otherwise, I dip them in cornmeal and fry them. I notice there is a difference between off-the vine ripening vs. sun ripened, but in most varieties it's not that great a difference. Still, any homegrown tomato, even picked mostly green and ripened indoors, is more flavorful than the cardboard taste of most of those available in supermarkets.
Yes! Homegrown is always better than store bought 😁
My problem isn't the frost. My problem is the squirrels. They keep taking big bites out of my tomatoes the very day I say I'm going to pick them! But you're right, frost is coming! Great tips, as always! I shared with a couple of my gardening groups and they loved this video too. You make me look good!
Thank you 🙂
Great information! Thanks for the link for first frost date !
Exactly all of the info I was searching for as a new gardener and needing to figure out how I would have ripe Tom's when I have 8 weeks left before frost. Thank you
Amazing information, thanks! Loved your presentation sense of humor. Better than store bought, especially fried green tomatoes, yum.
Found this video in perfect timing!! I seem to always have late ripening tomatoes , I plant all heirloom varieties. Thanks, I have some tomatoes to stress out and prune :)
Thank you for this information. I think I'm going to need it.
Great info! I still have 15 weeks but will absolutely take your advice to ripen the 🍅’s
I absolutely love your videos. I'm super excited to implement all your advice. Keep up with the great information!
Thank you 🙂
This is exactly what I needed. Thanks from up here in San Francisco, CA.
Brian, another informative video. You just get better and better with each one.
Thank you 😊
Fabulous information! Thanks
Good information. Might be too late for mine but sure going to give it a try. Projected frost is next week.
It is fortunate to live in SoCal, for long growing seasons. I've had hordes of tomatoes from my determinate Celebrity hybrids, and now that they are done, I have new plants almost ready for another crop. I may even try for a 3rd crop later. I'll have plants ready to transplant just in case. It's been my experience that this breed is the best for my area for both disease and spider mite infestation resistance. Also great taste!
Chow chow is another great way to use up a lot of green tomatoes. If you like bread and butter pickles at all, you'll love it! Keeps in the fridge for a good while too so you can enjoy it well into the colder months.
Great Info! Thank You man you're the best!
🍅🍅🍏🍏
Excellent info! Headed out to my tomatoes now!
Wow thank you so much, really needed to hear that great information 👍🏽
Thank you for all the good information. I have a lot of tomatoes and papers.
The plant when I twist the bottom:”I hear the bad moon rising I hear trouble on the way”
Great info, thank you so much! You’ve been such a great help to me this year. 😃
You're so welcome!
Great advice as usual! :) If any viewers enjoy fried green tomatoes, there are some other recipes you can make using green tomatoes: green tomato salsa, green tomato relish and my favorite...green tomato tart.
Great list of tips, concise and well organized... and even more info in comments. I'm in Muskoka, Ontario on Sept 23, 2021 (with a first frost date of Sept 12) looking at a beautiful stand of late planted tomatoes that are all still very green... so absolutely on borrowed time now. I'll let you know how it goes!
Perfect timing! I have so many green tomatoes! I've been concerned whether they would ripen. Thanks for the helpful hints!
You're welcome
Thanks, great tips!!!
Thank you so much this is my first year planting I've got them in the large large pots they're doing excellent but I'm back and forth with the water I have a gauge but listening to you has given me confidence and I have tons of green tomatoes German Johnson and they're looking wonderful getting quite large but not ripening yet I planted them in May 28th so hopefully they'll be ripening soon thanks for all the info You're awesome
Thank you!
I always look forward to your videos and they never disappoint I learn something every time! Thank you! ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️🍅🍅🍅😊
Thank you 🙂
Great info. Thanks.
Good info!
Awesome info, thank you so much !
Nice Summary... to the point and helpful.
Left some tomatoes on the plants last week to get perfectly ripe. Some critters agreed, so we lost them.
We usually pick before perfect ripe moment and let them finish it at home
Thank you so much! Very helpful. It's my first gardening and I'm stressing about how to ripen them alll on time. I have been treating my tomatoes like my babies and spoiling them. Lol, now I have to stress them and I can't wait for my first time 😄
Very good information. Going out to check my tomatoes right now. I had a few cherry tomatoes ripen but others are pretty green yet. I might be safe for a little while yet. Thank you, great channel.
Brian to the rescue! I have lots of green tomatoes and 1st frost date Oct 5th.
Already having lots of leaf disintegration.
Some varieties ripen off the vine better than others. But really, better fresh tomatoes not ripened on the vine than commercial ones.
Lots of folks are enjoying lush delicious fruit because of you, Brian.
I, for one, am very grateful to you and wish you and yours the richest blessings
Have fresh bread dough rising for tomato sandwiches later. We have enjoyed them daily for a few weeks now.
Because of being a little mature and robust we toast a piece of fresh homemade bread, put it on a plate, add mayo or a little olive oil and top with lots of fresh sliced fruit. Black salt and fresh ground pepper follow.
It is absolutely delicious! Since they are open faced you have to use a knife and fork. This way you can enjoy more fruit and its benefits with less carbs and starch. There is nothing like a fresh tomato sandwich with fresh baked bread.
Proof positive God loves us and wants us to be happy.
Your fresh bread sounds so good. That is something that I hope to do. I pay over $4 for gluten free bread.
Viola Graham Thank you. It is just wonderful. I cheat a little by making the dough in the bread machine.
But I bake it in the oven. It makes the whole house smell just heavenly.
I hope you will try it. There are many forums I am sure anout baking gluten free. Grand that people are so generous to share their knowledge and experience.
I got my bread machine at a resale shop. It had hardly been used and the manual was included. We have worked it steadily for three years and it runs like a champ.
Ambrose McLaren Thanks for responding. I will certainly look into it. I lost my husband last year in February to pancreatic cancer. I am trying to do things that will help fill the void.
Viola Graham Please accept my condolences. May your dear spouse rest in peace and may God grant you His comfort.
You are wise to stay busy. Best wishes to you.
Ambrose McLaren thank you. God bless you!
Great ideas - thank you!
Thanks Brian. I am in SE. Wisconsin. I went right out and pruned the tomatoes and cleaned them up for better air circulation. I have a Superfantastic that is producing large tasty fruit. A yellow pear I won’t grow again as it vines everywhere and is prone to mildew, also not very tasty. Sir Speedy gave a few early tomatoes but the heat in July did it in.
Also if you have a vine where all of the fruit is almost ripe you can remove the whole vine with the fruit on in and let the whole bunch ripen indoors.
Good video. Thanks!
Great tips!! Thank you!
Thanks for the great tips! I love watching your videos!
Thank you 🙂
As long as my tomatoes (on the vine) begin to turn red, I can harvest and ripen them, on a plate... in the house. I space the fruits to discourage rotting. The chief reason for harvesting late season tomatoes is to avoid BIRD PECKING. The birds are running out of food and become more agressive. I'm in Long Beach California.
I like you! Thanks for the information. Out to the garden I go, tomatoes, here I come!
good info, thanks
Have tried to ripen tomatoes indoors a few times . Have never had success. Always would go bad ! I’ve given up on that. But since they get their flavor from that beautiful sun, I certainly don’t feel ripening indoors is a great fix !
Brian, I have a friend who is a produce expert who consults grocery chains around the nation and the world regarding produce ripening. Here is what he says: "Tomatoes ripen to the cycle of the moon. They are a member of the "Night Shade" family, after the cycle of the a full moon count 12-15 days. That is when they really start to ripen. When you have a pinkish/reddish color the size of your thumb nail at the bottom (the flower end). That is when you need to pick them off the plant. That small bit of color that develops is when it is considered a "vine ripe" tomato in the eyes of the U.S.D.A. standards. One of the characteristics of "climacteric" fruits is they ripen from the inside out. If you were to cut that tomato open you would see more red inside than outside. The flavor will not get any better whether it is on the vine or picked...So pick it to avoid growers remorse when you go to pick it some critter has taken a bite out of it. Animals can smell the starch to sugar conversion that happens during ripening. To get the best color you can just use an apple or pear NOT a banana...NEVER use a banana to ripen other fruits as the banana gives off a small amount of ethylene at room temp. In fact you need to use an apple or a pear, they produce 3-4 times MORE ethylene than a banana at 68*F and that 68*F temperature is the ideal temperature to produce lycopene that is what makes a tomato red, a watermelon red, and a strawberry red. Lycopene's greatest production in a tomato is 68*F as per research done at U.C. Davis in CA and U of FL at Gainesville, FL. Just remember one major point...NEVER EVER put them below 50*F as you will stunt the ability to ripen AND the flavor enzymes are physically destroyed below 50*F...Then there is the "mealy" texture caused by getting them cold...just like peaches and nectarines you just make your eating experience a poor one by keeping them cold."
His name is Dennis Kihlstadius. I can give you his contact information if you would like.
Wow. Great information. Thank you!
Very useful information, Exactly what I need now! Checked the forecast the first frost will come around Jan but it has been too wet in past couple of weeks and the weeks coming, which has caused some infections on the plants after pruning them.
Fantastic information , thanks a lot Brian !!!
Thank you 🙂
Liked,shared. Thank you for the tips. All my best.
Thank you 🙂
good suggestions.
I wish I’d seen this video sooner! Oh well! May be next year! Thanks for the helpful tips!
Tomatoes taste better in the garden with a salt shaker in hand. But honestly I can't tell a difference between indoor or outdoor ripened. As long as it's not a hot house tomato, I'm good.
I almost never have frost, but I get green tomatoes when I take them off either to make space to grow other things or because the fruit clusters are so concentrated the fruits won't reach full size unless i thin them. I have had it happen once before due to blight, too. Also, a tomato with the beginning of blossom end rot can be a perfectly good green tomato once you cut out the bottom.
I have made many types of green tomato recipes, including pasta sauce and cobbler. I've also used them in a scramble before. I have even seen recipes online for green tomato bread. No experience making it, so I can't say anything about how it tastes.
I made a green tomato chili just last week. 1 pound pinto beans, 2 pounds green tomatoes, 2 green bell peppers, 1 onion, garlic, a bay leaf, cumin, and a couple spicy peppers. I made it in my Instant pot just like any other chili or bean soup recipe. It came out great, especially for a first time. A little spicier than I'm used to, but still good.
Sounds good!
Thanks for the great tips!!
You're welcome!
This is all new to me. My first year growing tomatoes and a hand me down from someone else. I will try these methods now because I live at 6,200 feet (Sierra Nevada Mtn). It is cold at night now. They will need some help from me 🙂
You can always pickle your green tomatoes the same way as you would cucumbers. They are excellent pickles for the winter time. I always let a few suckers grow a bit bigger in my greenhouse then remove and plant them outside at the begining of June for green tomato pickles. 😊
Good to know. Thank you.
Good info. Thanks! :)
I like both types ripened on and off the vine
Great info!
Thank you
Excellent tips thank you. We will not get frost till November usually but the temperature will drop we will get cold wind in october. So I am preparing to kove my tomatoes and cucumber plants into the small green house.
Green tomatoes pickles are great as well
This was very helpful will try it on my tomatoes.For some reason the twisting of the root brought nostalgia of when i was young and my parents ear pinched me when I didn't listen...that made every nerve inside me wake up and do as I was told...yes am black African!!
Thank you so much, as always, for a great video and content, Brian! I'm north of you in SF and in one of the notoriously cool/foggy city microclimates. On a typical year (or previously "normal" year), however, even my yard would be balmy and sunny for at least most of these days and especially now in August/Sept for our late summer. This year, however, we have literally had almost zero even 70degree days since June. it has been mid and LOW 60s all July and so far August is just as cold! maaaaybe ill get some mid/high 60s this coming week 🤞. fortunately nights are consistently 55 and above.
i have several *gorgeous* cherry tomato plants. the plants are thriving! some got a late start (came up from scraps of store bought cherry tomatoes i experimentally buried and just kept transplanting and helping along...) but they are strong, healthy, gorgeous plants. because the plants themselves dont seem to be suffering in this weather, part of me wants to just see what they (or at least some of them-- im open to some kind of side -by-side experiment) will produce fruit wise, left without something to boost temps. the part of me that wants to ensure i get to eat even a handful of ripe cherry tomatoes desperately wants to build them a greenhouse!!! (but this is my FIRS year gardening and im also honestly feeling a little overwhelmed 🤣)
One more thing, the plants are in full sun, it is just very cool, and overcast weather, which i imagine means some of that sun is filtered out even though they theoretically have enough hours of it.
So thats a long back story just to ask if you might make a video or comment about what to do in my situation where you aren't necessarily fearing a plant-freezing frost, but you do want to max your chances to cultivate some fruit? im guessing it will be some things you have covered to stress the plants to hasten ripening, but I just thought I'd ask this in case the scenario would prompt other kinds of interventions you dont typically mention.
Whether or not you are able to respond, thank you so much for your channel!
I love your experimental approach! If your tomatoes are in a cage or you can otherwise wrap or make a tube around the main plant with agricultural cloth, floating row cover (they come in different weights/thickness depending on how much warmth versus sunlight transmission) or more extreme, frost blanket, they will be kept warmer. You could still leave the top open to the sun if you aren't getting rain or temps that are very low. Or just cover the top at night. A side by side experiment would be neat!
For next year if you want to grow something a little bigger, Jaune Flamme and Black Prince are popular small to medium sized tomatoes grown in your coastal area.
Thanks for excellent info.👍👍👍👍
You're welcome
You have awesome information, thank you! Any chance you have a planting schedule for all vegetables for the whole year in Southern California?
I have ripened tomatoes inside and it is a great trick. I wouldn’t say the taste is the same but it’s good!
Thanks from VT
Thanks Brian, very usefull ! Any similar tips for peppers ?
For the tomatoes that are close to ripening, I put in a bag to allow the ripening process to finish, then eat or can them. For the truly green tomatoes, I make salsa verde. Most of the produce from my garden ends up being canned. I have a small garden; I use the intensive gardening method and I grow vertically as much as possible.
That's great! Can't wait to learn canning later this season!
I learned alot my first time watching
Thank you and welcome🙂
Thank you 😊
You're welcome!