Why Your Tomatoes Aren't Ripening
1. Overfed. Usually the tomatoes aren't ripening in potting containers are overfed. When tomatoes reach to the size you want to get, it is supposed to reduce fertilizer. Normally, you should fertilize tomatoes twice to thrice in the ripening season.
2. Overwatered. Overwatering may slow down the ripening process. In a short growing season, you should reduce to watering often than before, so tomatoes ripen sooner as they have no time to ripen in late times. If you have a longer growing season, you can water your tomato plants enough to get more tomato fruits in plants, but fruits will ripen slowly.
3. Hot weather. The temperature between 68 to 77°F is the optimum to turn green tomatoes into red. Otherwise, the ripening process would be slowed down. Once the temperature reach over 85°F, tomato plants won't produce lycopene and carotene, both of which are the important elments to ripen tomatoes. If the high temperature lasts in a long period, you might get yellowish-green or orange tomatoes.
When there are many green tomatoes in a plant, it may delay the process of rippening as this process need much more energy. Cooler autumn will also make tomatoes rippened slowly. Sometimes, we need to pick green tomatoes off to save energy for smaller one, even turning them into red is a troubled things. Then let me find a way to make this easilly.
How to Turn Tomatoes into Red
There are several ways to turn them into red.
1. Put green tomatoes into a well-ventilated place. Check them every few days and take the soft out. The lower the temperature, the longer the maturation process wil take. For example, green tomatoes usually become maturing within several weeks in the warm temperature between 55-60°F.
2. Stored with Bananas. One of the best way to mature green tomatoes. Ethylene, generated from banana, plays an important role in this process.
If you only have several tomatoes, an appropriate method is to add three to four tomatoe into a jar or paper bag with a matured banana, and then sealed. Put this far away warm and sunshine place, check them periodicly and replace bananas according needs. Green tomatoes will become red in one or two weeks.
If you have a large quantity of green tomatoes, utilize paper boxes. Line the boxes and put a layer of tomatoes on top. Although it is possible to add a second layer, do this only when necessary, as tomatoes tend to bruise. Add some ripe bananas and place the box in a cool but slightly humid place, away from sunlight.
How to Store Tomatoes
There are also two methods to reserve them.
1. In some cases, you need to cut off the whole branch of tomatoes, rather than single. Just pull up the rooted plants and carefully shake off the excess soil. Stand them up in a sheltered place to make them mature.
2. Store them on shelves or in containers. They can also be placed on shelves in a single layer or in shallow containers and boxes. Green tomatoes should be stored at temperatures between 55 °F and 70 °F. Ripe tomatoes can be stored at a slightly cooler temperature. Before storing tomatoes in this way, remove the stems and leaves. Ensure that the storage area is away from direct sunlight and not too humid.
Excessive humidity can cause tomatoes to rot. Suitable storage areas include garages, cellars, porches or pantry.
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