Tomatoes aren't ripening ?

[Craig]

I have a lot of tomatoes on my plants but they are not ripening at all, The plants are about 5 to 6' tall now and get full sun all day long. The days have been hot and dry all summer and I have watered on a very even schedule. The nights have been warmer then normal all summer as well, between 63 and 73.

They were all planted about Memorial Day.

I have never had this happen before, it seems that some would be starting to turn red by now.

Maybe I am just being impatient. The cherry tomatoes are ripening fine though, these are the big boy type that aren't ripening.

Should I just be more patient or is there something else I should be doing.

Craig Denver, CO.

[Pat Kiewicz]

This is an old tip that I've never had the occasion to test directly (but I will comment more after):

Drive a small spade down in one or two spots around one of your plants and cut a few roots. This might shock the plant into ripening the tomatoes.

OK, this year one of the new varieties I was trying was not ripening any tomatoes, not even a hint of color, even after all the others were doing so. It was so full of green tomatoes that the stake was leaning over threatening to crash into the fence. (I have electric wires at the top so this would have been a Bad Thing.) I drove in a couple of small stakes to tie off the larger one and stop the leaning. And shortly after that, a whole bunch of tomatoes on that plant started turning red.

Now, I would think this was entirely coincidental, except for having remembered that old advice. So I may have unintentionally confirmed it works. Or, maybe not. I doubt it would hurt to try.

[John Bachman]

I have had the same experience here in Southern NH. They are finally coming but it sure took a long time.

John

[Jenny]

It has been COLD in Southern NH this summer! (I'm only a few miles from the NH border myself).

Still no blue morning glories and primroses in bloom here, fer cryin' out loud!

--Jenny

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[John Bachman]

Hmmm, I recall sweating profusely for most of the summer. The spring was cold and wet but the summer has been pretty normal.

You are just a few miles from the NH border? That is New Hampshire right? Not New Holland?

John

[simy1]

Of 5 Brandywine I have this year, one has fruited, with first fruits in late July. The other four have not. The one that fruited had been severely attacked by hornworms (this is the first time I have them, so I was late recognizing the problem). I have two Yellow Pear, one has fruited, the other has just started, about ten days later. The one that fruited has been damaged by hornworms, the other has not. Probably there are lots of ways to shock a plant. Underground rodent activity might do the trick as well.

I wonder if the OP is not getting tomatoes because the plants were exposed to sub-50 temperatures early, delaying development. Now it is august, and a watched green tomato, as the say goes, never ripens.

[Craig]

There are a lot of big green tomatoes on the plants, all of them. I have 5 of them. And some are leaning as well and I've tied the cages to the fence. I had that problem last year as well but they were all ripening by this time. I haven't any evidence at all of bugs or disease or rodents. June was very hot, abnormal in fact and extremely dry but I did water deeply.

All summer has been very hot and dry, driest summer ever actually here, and one of the hottest except a cold weekend around July 4.

I would be sort of nervous to dig and cut some roots, at this time anyway.

I have read that maybe pruning the new growth would help the tomatoes ripen. I dont think the plant really needs any new growth or blooms. Craig

[JoeSpareBedroom]

I use cages, but I've read that caged tomatoes are a trade off. You get cleaner fruit, but ripening takes longer. I've never seen an explanation, but I wonder if it's because the fruit themselves are shaded by so much foliage when grown in cages.

As far as pruning, the deer are whacking all the foliage that sticks out of my cages. That's probably 25% of the total plant material. It doesn't seem to matter.