The newspaper trick...ripening green tomatoes

[Wandering Rose]

I planted Urbikany, an early DTM determinate tomato, in the same EB with Black Giant, a mid-season Indeterminate, knowing that the Urbikany would be finished about the time the BG started coming on. and I would take it out then to give the big guy the whole box to itself.

After the Urbinkany put out several Toms, I cut it off at the base and hung the whole plant upside down for ten days, but the tomatoes stayed green longer than I thought they should. I took them off the plant, wrapped each one in newspaper, and they all (3.5 lbs worth) ripened in less than a week.

So, to whomever it was that gave me that great idea, thank you. It really works.

rose

[baileyj]

Rose,
Do the tomatoes have to be already ripening to get the results you did?  I have tried them in a brown bag at the end of the season, but it did not work to make them ripen....

Is it the newspaper itself or the tomato being wrapped that causes it to ripen ? 

Interesting...sounds like the opposite of those green produce bags they sell that do not let the veggies spoil in your refrigerator.
Judi

[Wandering Rose]

Judi, when I took the plant down, NONE of the toms had started to ripen. Nor were they showing any blush at the end of the hanging period.  Perhaps the 'decapitation and hanging' technique would have worked too if I had left it long enough, but I was tired of looking at it.

I don't know what caused them to ripen under these conditions. My guess is that some sort of gas was created, perhaps that worked on the same principle as the commercial gas-ripened produce.

rose

[grandmamac]

It's ethylene gas - used by commercial growers but occurring naturally in the fruits. Bananas produce a lot of this gas so keeping them in a fridge or in the fruit bowl is not recommended but they are great if you put them with unripened tomatoes, avocados, pears etc. Putting them in a bag will work faster but any kind of enclosure will do.

[Wandering Rose]

I thought so, G-mamac. Supermarket tomatoes are so bland and I was afraid that I had sacrificed on taste in order to speed up the ripening process, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

rose

[grandmamac]

I haven't tried it with tomatoes - this is my first ever venture with any sort of tomato growing. Steep learning curve

I have used it with unripe, supermarket avocados and it works. I can't speak for flavour because I don't eat them but my family say they're ok.

[benhuntin]

Placing an apple or , better yet, a ripening banana in a small paper bag with the green tomatos will ripen them quicker also.

[Wandering Rose]

What varieties are you growing, Gmamac? Did you start them yourself?


Thanks, Bin. I'll bet that would ripen them really quickly!

We North American tomato nuts have two holy grail quests each year.  The first is to have a ripe tomato by....whatever the earliest possible date might be in our zone; the second, to have homegrown tomatoes on the table at Thanksgiving or Christmas. Some of us go through all sorts of contortions to achieve that and I can see how it would be useful to have a variety of slow to fast ripening techniques handy.

rose

[Sun City Linda]

I too was pleasantly surprised last year by the newspaper trick. 

[cushman350]

Back in the days when I had bunches of green toms before the first freeze, I would pick them in November or early December and store them in my garage ( insulated but not heated) in a open basket and they ripened slowly, not all at once. Had a half buschel and ate the last one in January. Must have been the temperature and maybe the lower sugars. Fall toms are never as sweet as summer toms, too me anyway.

[grandmamac]

The variety is Tiny Tim - a dwarf cherry. The problem is it just hasn't been good water for tomatoes - cold and wet - since they were transplanted. I added some liquid fertiliser at the top because they weren't doing anything and they have started to grow. One is in flower.

I'm allergic to tomatoes so these are for my son and grandchildren who all like cherry but don't like the full size ones. Too many seeds and too gloopy.

I'm going out every day and looking at tiny spots on the tiny leaves and looking at photos to see if they've got problems. It's been a poor spring for vegetable growing in the UK.

[Wandering Rose]

Cushman, I'll keep your method in mind, in the unlikely event that I end up with half a bushel of green tomatoes.

You are a great grandma, Gmamac.

Don't give up on the Tiny Tims. They are a bit slow (compared to the Red Robin. Robin and its sister Yellow Canary have been bred to bear fruit in lower light conditions) but if you can put a makeshift cover over the plants to allow them to get light, but keep them dry at the same time, perhaps you will capture a bit of ground heat to help speed them along?

rose

[grandmamac]

Thanks. I'm glad to know about the variety. I'll move the boxes around to try to maximise warmth - nearer the patio doors is more sheltered but warmer - next to my brick-built raised beds.

I think prolific outdoor tomatoes in Scotland may not be possible. Even the Scottish BBC gardening programme is planting outdoor bush tomatoes in a poly-tunnel for a trial. Still, it's worth a go.

It's a bit blustery right now but but it's bright outside intermittently. And my cat's staying out in the garden so I'll do that first.