Does anyone have any red tomatoes yet

wadsleyowl

A few orange toms here in sheffield but no red yet. But do have a great way for growing them, empty your compost heap onto your pototoes to earth them up and leave. I now have about 10 very healthy plants with flowers and some green toms, outside too. All from just putting my compost, which was a bit lumpy, onto my toms. Also have some winter squashes and other stuff growing, only downside haven't been able to dig up pototoes yet so not sure what crop is like. :rotfl:

1ubthrifty

Mine are orange in Wales too! May have to ripen on the windowsil if this weather carries on!!

reddyman

How do i get my tomatoes to ripen like these? Basically all going red at the same time. Or is that impossible and do the seed sellers use photoshop to make them go red while still attached to the vine?



My gardeners delight ripen one at a time...Surely must be a photoshop trick?

wssla00

Reddyman- they spray a gas (ethalyne maybe?) over them to fool people in supermarkets that they ripen at the same time, it makes them taste of water. However tomatoes don't. The mature at different rates but the red ones naturally give off that gas to spur the others on to becoming ripe. Not checked mine today but will take a look a little later

Primrose

reddyman - I wondered how the supermarkets manage to sell a batch of all ripe tomatoes on the vine because in their natural state they only ripen one or two at a time. But I suppose that's why I like to grow my own. I'm fed up with all the unnatural processes which food growers and supermarkets put their food through. It's come to the point where few people understand how their food is actually grown and produced any more. I'm sure that half the kids in this country truly believe that milk originates from plastic bottles rather than from cows!

reddyman

Found this Primrose :

http://www.drgourmet.com/askdrgourmet/ethylenegas.shtml

Sunny_Donny

Hi
Mine are all green still, but some are a nice size. 6 plants growing against the side wall.
Dug up 4lbs of red potatoes from 3 plants in a tub yesterday!!!

ALIBOBSY

the ethylene gas thing is why ripe fruit causes unripe fruit to ripen up quicker. Ie put a ripe banana with an unripe avocado.

Same priciple applies to using banana skins under tomato plants. So I suppose its a natural gas, just don't liike the thought of the shops piping loads of it in lol.

ali x

BTW non red here either, need some sun.

lola34

I have 8 tomatoes, one getting rather large!!!! but still all green

Marcusp

I have had 2 yellow golden sunrise tomatoes and half a dozen sweet millions here in sunny (cough cough) Scotland in my greenhouse.

What varieties do people find ripen quickest? I tried Shirley F1 and Ailsa Craig as well as golden sunrise and sweet millions and the sweet millions are ripening first.