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crashdive123
11-15-2008, 09:44 AM
I had cut back my tomato plants this summer when they stopped producing. They are now producing....a lot....just not ripe yet. I always pick the tomatoes as they start to get some color in them and let them finish ripening inside (less chance of bugs and birds getting to them). This week it's going to cool down quite a bit. My question is......has anybody had success at picking tomatoes while they were still rock hard (probably a few weeks away from gaining color) and had them ripen? If not, I guess it's fried green tomatoes and tomato relish.

nell67
11-15-2008, 11:53 AM
Not from rock hard and dark green crash,I have better luck when they have turned light green or get a whitish green color to them,once picked,wrap in newspaper,and store in a single layer in a cool room/basement/garage,and check everyday for any that may be rotting.

if you want them to ripen faster,place in a cardboard box or paper bag,single layer and place a couple of apples in with them.

tacmedic
11-15-2008, 12:23 PM
The problem is, that once they are off the vine they never actually "ripen." They will change color from the exposure to ethylene gas (ie putting them in a paper bag) but the inside will never fully ripen, so you could end up with a beautifully colored tomato that is still rock hard and green on the inside.

nell67
11-15-2008, 02:43 PM
thats why you wait for the color to lighten up a bit on the outside before picking then and wrapping them in paper,they ripen better that way.

Rick
11-15-2008, 09:17 PM
I planted one tomatoe plant in a large container this spring and brought it in to the sun room before the cool weather started. I did the same thing with carrots. I have some really nice tomatoes still growing and I'm still pulling carrots out of my new "garden". Everything outside is dead.

redneckfarmboy
11-17-2008, 11:07 AM
I planted one tomatoe plant in a large container this spring and brought it in to the sun room before the cool weather started. I did the same thing with carrots. I have some really nice tomatoes still growing and I'm still pulling carrots out of my new "garden". Everything outside is dead.

Rick, would it be safe to assume then with your experience that a tomato plant started today inside and kept inside with sun exposure would bear fruit? all my outside tomatos died and I still want to have some growing.

Runs With Beer
12-02-2008, 07:51 PM
How about Fried Green Tomatos, Yummmmy.

nell67
12-02-2008, 07:56 PM
How about Fried Green Tomatos, Yummmmy.

Thats good stuff right there!

crashdive123
12-02-2008, 09:00 PM
Picked about 30 tomatoes in the last week. A bit smaller than what came out in the summer. About 1/2 of them had started to turn and should ripen. Those that don't - fried. Yummy.

Runs With Beer
12-02-2008, 10:29 PM
Have you ever had a Fried Red Tomatoe?

crashdive123
12-02-2008, 10:30 PM
Green, red, yellow, purple (planted a variety of heirlooms this year) and they were all good.

SARKY
12-02-2008, 10:53 PM
crashdive, have you thought about getting some twin wall (That is the green house material) and putting an "A" frame up over the plants? That should keep them warm enough to continue ripening and it will keep the critters and bugs out.

crashdive123
12-02-2008, 10:59 PM
I have. TDW is not keen on the idea. Small yard - just outside kitchen door - can see from street - you ain't puttin that up....you get the idea.

bulrush
12-03-2008, 08:48 AM
The problem is, that once they are off the vine they never actually "ripen." They will change color from the exposure to ethylene gas (ie putting them in a paper bag) but the inside will never fully ripen, so you could end up with a beautifully colored tomato that is still rock hard and green on the inside.

Correct. Which is why tomatoes shipped from Mexico to the US look red, but taste terrible. The sugars have not had time to develop because the tomato was picked.

wildWoman
12-04-2008, 06:35 PM
We always have to pick a lot of our tomatoes at the small, green and rockhard stage. 90% of them ripen without a problem in a paper bag and taste good, too (at least to us :eek:)
I don't have a green thumb this year. The two tomato plants I have inside have already move on into the next world, the zucchini plant has been suffering from some sort of mold that softens and shrivels the fruit, and my great squash experiment produced one lone squash which is stuck at about fist-size and refusing to grow any more :(
Farmers of America, you need not fear. I am no competition.

crashdive123
01-03-2009, 12:37 AM
Sarge - Move to Homestead Gardening & Food Storage

musicianfriend
02-16-2009, 09:39 PM
Pull the plants up...roots and all and hang them upside down in the barn...out of the moisture...

They will continue to ripen and will taste sweet and wonderful...




I had cut back my tomato plants this summer when they stopped producing. They are now producing....a lot....just not ripe yet. I always pick the tomatoes as they start to get some color in them and let them finish ripening inside (less chance of bugs and birds getting to them). This week it's going to cool down quite a bit. My question is......has anybody had success at picking tomatoes while they were still rock hard (probably a few weeks away from gaining color) and had them ripen? If not, I guess it's fried green tomatoes and tomato relish.

crashdive123
02-16-2009, 09:43 PM
Pull the plants up...roots and all and hang them upside down in the barn...out of the moisture...

They will continue to ripen and will taste sweet and wonderful...

Thanks for the tip. Just one problem - no barn here.:D Hey when you get a chance, plant yourself on over to the Introduction section (you do not have to hang upside down) and tell us a bit about yourself. Thanks.

edr730
02-17-2009, 09:29 AM
We've always had good luck saving tomatoes for a couple months after frost. They taste good to me. But, the area of the country and climate conditions make a big difference with tomatoes. The north grows good flavored tomatoes the south can't. I've bought tomatoes from the field when I've been in Florida and I've given them away. Strawberries and other berries are best from the north also. California strawberries are the worst, but I don't know why. They have a hard flavorless white center. Tomatoes south of Mexico always are the Italian type and without flavor. I suspect that the different experiences concerning the success of ripening after-frost tomatoes might be due to climate.

Alpine_Sapper
02-17-2009, 09:51 AM
We've always had good luck saving tomatoes for a couple months after frost. They taste good to me. But, the area of the country and climate conditions make a big difference with tomatoes. The north grows good flavored tomatoes the south can't. I've bought tomatoes from the field when I've been in Florida and I've given them away. Strawberries and other berries are best from the north also. California strawberries are the worst, but I don't know why. They have a hard flavorless white center. Tomatoes south of Mexico always are the Italian type and without flavor. I suspect that the different experiences concerning the success of ripening after-frost tomatoes might be due to climate.

That's the biggest load of **** I've heard in a long time. I've been all over the country and the tomatoes are just as flavorful, if not more so, here in the south than they are "up north".

edr730
02-22-2009, 08:49 PM
I can't say I know all the varieties of tomatoes. Or which ones may grow very good in the south. I can say that I visited family every year in Tennessee, Alabama and Missouri as a boy. I now visit my daughter in Florida. I spend a couple months each year south of the border as well. I've ate lots of tomatoes and strawberries from these areas and I've searched the markets, fruit stands and mercados for good ones. I, also, don't think we ever visited a relative without a garden. I had a great uncle and his son who had a very large vegetable farm in the San Joaquin Valley since the 30's. Part of his produce was tomatoes. While he was visiting my father, he took a bushel of tomatoes home with him because he said they were the best he had ever tasted. The tomatoes were Big Boys...not some spectacular new variety. I've picked, hoed, and canned a lot produce as well and, of course, I've ate them while I picked them. I know the push-pull rhythm of the hoe, the quarts and bushels, the bathtubs full of canning jars and how the work made me tired when I was little. I didn't do it because I liked doing it, I did it because I had to do it and I did it since before I can remember. It's not a big deal to me and I think there are people here, at this site, that have done the same thing. Others have no clue. I don't know much about varieties, PH values or exactly why climate makes such a difference with different berries and vegetables. I do know what they taste like and so do many others I know. I don't search the internet or call a seed salesman who wants to sell me something to create my opinion and rattle it off as if I knew something

mmszbi
06-06-2009, 11:43 PM
Since moving to Colorado, have started my first garden in years. Tomatoes here are ok in a bucket for short while, but can't keep enough water to them, so now in ground. Bush is less than 18 inches tall and already 14 tomatoes growing great.
Have a raised bed, 15'x30', 65 corn stalks now 5 inches tall, lettuce, brocolli, beans, peas, cayenne peppers, fresno peppers, 3 kinds of bell peppers, canteloupe, 2 kinds of zuc's, watermelon and cucumbers. Will be crash course in canning and my favorite....SALSA!
My wife has never had a garden, i can't keep her out if it, weeding and talking to all the plants. What a load of fun to watch.

agail
02-02-2010, 06:36 PM
Ive read that one fo the problems with picking them early - like the supermarkets do to keep them fresh on the shelves - is that the chemical changes that take place on ripening to give the tomato its taste stop - the product being not the greatest tasting fruit.

Here is a great article explaining this - ***************
(http://www.practicalhomeandgarden.com/growing-tomatoes)

crashdive123
02-02-2010, 08:09 PM
Gee golly there agail. can you try a post without linking to your site? Kind of spammy don't you think?

your_comforting_company
02-03-2010, 07:23 AM
I didn't ever worry about picking them early. When you grocery shop, just get the biggest paper bags you can and cover the maters with them when you expect frost. The blight is what kills mine.. not the cold. you can pick up old sheets and curtains, etc, at yard sales too to cover whole rows. After easter theres usually no worries here.