TOMATOES GROWING NOW, BUT NOT RIPENING???
by
Jim Ginas
+29
So NOW the TOMATOES ARE growing, yet a couple GREEN ones are starting to ROT before they are ripening! ?????? why are they not continuing to get bigger and turn red??
16 answers
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Got pictures, Jim? Hard to tell without a visual.
Catherine Smith
on Aug 10, 2013
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I'll take some in the morning Catherine. Plants look like they are doing pretty well and I am getting tomatoes (I think my grandson and I counted almost 20 this morning, but ALL GREEN and that's when I spotted a couple now getting either like root or something ugly.) I'll post the pics in the morning.
Jim Ginas
on Aug 10, 2013
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Catherine and Jim, I planted some tomatoe's in big plastic containers and used Miracle Grow for the soil. Planted some in ground with some new dirt. Both performed badly and got almost no tamotoe's. Didn't have many blossom's. Cucumbers had lots of blossom's but got a few bad ones only. All my gardens for the last 6 years have been bad. I used to give away both of them many times. I got big red tomatoe's and foot long cucumbers but no more. Have been growing them for many years. Whats wrong?
Barb M.
on Aug 10, 2013
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Barb: I'm clueless! I count on Doug, Catherine and others on Hometalk to help me. Cherry Tomatoes doing REALLY well now, slicing tomatoes are growing LOTS of fruit now, just won;t go from green to red..... EGG PLANT is starting to BLOSSOM so HOPEFULLY MAYBE THIS is good!! ** ME: Mix of new soil, using crushed egg shells & Coffee Grinds and Smithfield Garden tells me: FEED the PLANTS with Herb& Garden fertilizers! ? I don;t have a clue though.
Jim Ginas
on Aug 10, 2013
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Jim, it's not blossom end rot, right, with the tomatoes rotten on the bottom? How hot has it been where you are? Extended periods with the temperatures over 85 can cause tomatoes to stop ripening. (Which is why, in the height of summer, it's impossible to get a good tomato here in Florida.)
Douglas Hunt
on Aug 11, 2013
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Barb, get yourself a soil testing kit from your local extension office, for starters. Sounds like you may need to add amendments to your soil. From your description it sounds like it needs some balancing, as it may just be "tired". As far as containers, it's hard to tell, and since I garden organically, I don't use MiracleGrow, as it contains chemical fertilizers. I use an organic potting soil combined with my compost and worm castings. My Roma type are going great guns, but I am also having slow ripening on my bigger tomatoes this year. I have a feeling that has a great deal to do with the weather we've been having this year. If push comes to shove, pick some of those green tomatoes and ripen them in the house. Either on a sunny window ledge or in a brown paper bag with a banana, which gives of a methane gas and will ripen them up very quickly. You have to FEED the SOIL to feed the plants, which means not killing off the microbial life, beneficials and earthworms with chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.
Catherine Smith
on Aug 11, 2013
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Bottoms look good, and plants look healthy, JUST can't get the fruit now to ripen. Its been high 90s for a couple weeks, then high 80s since, with a rare day in the low 80s. MAYBE that's why we didn't get any tomatoes last season until SEPTEMBER! So I have to figure out why I really didn't get them growing till mid July, that NOW that they are growing, but won;t ripen! *** 2 PLANTS growing tomatoes are in planter buckets.. think I should bring them in the Sunroom?? (Cat?? understand the cat SHOULDN'T bother them, but we have Lucifer - the Cat!)
Jim Ginas
on Aug 11, 2013
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Your mater plants look wonderful, JIm. The only thing I see is some yellowing on some of the leaves, and that normally is a result of too much water. Considering the "monsoons" we've been having lately, not surprising. I'll look for your Cuke pics.
Catherine Smith
on Aug 11, 2013
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Catherine: I've picked 2 bigger GREEN ones off, and put them in a brown paper bag with a banana to ripen. I'll check them tomorrow, though assume 2-3 days?
Jim Ginas
on Aug 11, 2013
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Fried green tomatoes are wonderful. Use them that way too. Tomatoes need cool nights, like in the mid to low 70's. Very few really good one here on the Gulf Coast after June.
Lgsmith
on Aug 11, 2013
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uggghhh, so my dilemna is I start them in the sunroom and they start off well. I replant them and the PLANt grows well, but NO FRUIT, I FINALLY get fruit, but its too hot to ripen! I have a feeling that in September, I will get a few tomatoes!!! ALL YEAR for a FEW in SEPTEMBER?? How do the local farms do it? Wish I could find a local farmer!
Jim Ginas
on Aug 11, 2013
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**** SO... Does anyone think if I bring the potted tomatoes back inside the sunroom, THOSE TOMATOES might still grow and ripen?
Jim Ginas
on Aug 11, 2013
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Jim, you could try offering them some protection by means of a shade cloth. They come in varying degrees of blockage, but I don't think you would want to go above 50 percent.
Douglas Hunt
on Aug 12, 2013
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Patience, Jim, patience. Still got plenty of time for them to ripen here.
Catherine Smith
on Aug 12, 2013
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so I learned by accident.... yup, got it, due to the heat, the tomatoes would not ripen (read this on Hometalk and various searches), BUT what I learned by accident is if I cut the tomatoes and leave some vine and HANG them on my Banana Holder with bananas hanging also, the tomatoes ripen quickly! So I pick them when they are green and hang them inside to ripen! I avoid the concern for bugs, birds or animals getting to them and they ripen beautifully. I eat them and then the next few are ready to be picked! (Now my CHERRY tomatoes... they did GREAT!) Thank you all!
Jim Ginas
on Sep 30, 2013
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Learn long ago,if you see a star on the bottom of your tomatoes you can pick it cleaned and they will ripping inside, They do not loose any flavor and you will have tomatoes long after is cold outside.
Sibella Corbin
on Oct 01, 2013
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