Are my tomatoes going to ripen?

~Chameleon~

Lotus-eater wrote: »

There is a lovely story by Bob Flowerdew in one of his books. Basically an old neighbour of his had a greenhouse full of tomato foliage and huge great big green tomatoes, he hadn't eaten any. Bob said his were smaller, but he had been eating them for ages, he advocates not feeding too much (if at all) not over watering and generally not worrying about them too much.

I can advocate that all too well as I'm the world's worst when it comes to nurturing my toms

I overfed them and cause blossom end rot and underwatered them and caused them to collapse, but now I'm reaping hundreds of shiny red toms every day! :rotfl:

You just reminded me actually I need to PM you

2cats1kid

Quick update - just been outside and have toms ripening on 2 of my 4 remaining plants. So it looks like they may come good after all, as the remaining 2 are same variety, sown at the same time and generally treated exactly the same - guess they will start in the next day or two.

Of my original 3 plants, the Tumbler and the Sun Baby are nearly done now - just a few more left on each plant - and the Moneymaker still hasn't ripened a single tomato! I've made green tom chutney with half its fruit, and I suspect the rest will go the same way. Not doing Moneymaker again!

squiggle37

ooooo one of my beef toms is starting to go a lighter greenish also a couple of gardens delights are turning too, looks like the nana skins have worked for me, this sun should bring them on well thats if it stays out:rolleyes:

Primrose

beckstrous - I fear your timing for your tomatoes this year may be a little out of kilter if you want to pick a crop before your wedding. . I have lots of cherry tomatoes - some have ripened and some are still green, but once they start to turn they do ripen quite quickly. If you're going to be away for 3 weeks, could you get somebody to pick them for you, bag them up and put them in a freezer to avoid wastage? They won't be any good for eating in salads once thawed but will be fine for using in soups, stews, caseroles, etc, or simply just cooking in a little olive oil to serve on toast.

Primrose

Just a point to remember for next year for anybody growing tomatoes. The cherry types ( i.e. Gardeners Delight amongst others) generally ripen earlier than the larger varieties like Moneymaker, Alicante, etc.
Mine always seem to ripen just as we're going on holiday. The only good time to take a holiday if you want to grow vegetables seems to January when the garden is thick with frost and nothing needs doing!

maypole

We have tomato plants in the conservatory, planted in June when we came back from holiday, they are beginning to ripen but the small yellow ones have a bit of toughness in the skin, why would that be? the flavour is nice though.

Also what causes part of the red tomatoes to have no seeds, it is like half with seeds and half solid flesh

Money_saving_Diva_2

I grew 6 '100's & 1000's' this year - a relatively new strain. It produces literally hundreds of small tomatoes - most cherry sized but I have had ripe ones as small as peas and they taste sooo sweet. I had just about given up on them ripening but this week suddenly, I have several red ones and lots more have gone transluscent (a good sign they are about to turn red)

Re the feed/no feed, nurture or ignore debate.. I fed all of mine but four plants are each in 14inch hanging baskets but the final two went into great big pots - LOADS of room for the roots thought I and even though they are bred to hang down and not grow upwards, I put them on a step so the foliage could trail. What is interesting is that the ones in the hanging baskets and so with much less soil have produced more fruit than the ones with all the space in the world!

And yes, they live up to their name - I have over 500 toms on each plant and still they flower, though I have trimmed a lot off in the hope so that the plant can just focus on growing and ripening the tomatoes it has already there!!:rotfl:

Diva.x

teedy23

Cant stop, just nipping out to buy a ton of nana,s

Money_saving_Diva_2

teedy23 wrote: »

Cant stop, just nipping out to buy a ton of nana,s

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Money_saving_Diva_2

teedy23 wrote: »

Cant stop, just nipping out to buy a ton of nana,s

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Well it seems to be working for me.... I am getting more ripening now and turning transluscent. Also the huge bowl of green toms I bought in the other day to the lounge have been ripening up a treat, I am eating about 10 cherry tomatoes every day!! Go go banana skins!!

Diva.x