accelerating tomatoes?

[George]

We have about a dozen tomato plants (Cherokee Purple, Better Boy, Super Marmandes, Brandy Boy). Lots of good-sized tomatoes ... all GREEN. It's been a wet summer, which I suspect it will continue to be. And, we're losing sun anyway.

Is there a way to push to ripen faster? In particular, would pruning help? I heard once that you should cut back new growth that won't have time to mature. OTOH, my past experiments with pruning have just produced very low yields. Maybe cut the small fruits and new flowers?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks, George Zone 5+, CNY

[Billy]

I suspect that any major trimming/pruning would be a shock to your tomatoes and delay ripening. I would pinch off any flowers and meristems, and maybe some very small fruit. Some organic 0-10-10 may help as well. Clear or black plastic mulch (sheets) around the tomatoes would help to warm the ground.

[JRY]

Insert your spade along the root line and that will speed the ripening up. Learned that tip from Joy Of Gardening by Dick Raymond

[CrazyGardener]

If you can still find them, get red plastic mulch. This will really speed up ripening. Check out this website for great gardening tips and lots of pictures

they have some tomato tips on there too.