I usually grow my tomatoes from seeds, but this year I bought a plug plant from the garden center. One of my plants had blossom end rot, so I cut off the affected tomatoes and repotted it in fresh soil. The new growth was great, but now that summer is ending, the weather has turned cooler with less sunlight, and my tomatoes aren't ripening. Is there a way to make them ripen faster, or what can I do with these green tomatoes?
3 Answers
You might not have needed to repot due to blossom end rot; that’s often related to watering issues or a lack of calcium. I've found that my larger tomatoes actually ripen better when it’s in the 70s (F) compared to the hot summer days. As long as it stays warm enough at night, you might still see ripening on the vine, so don’t lose hope!
When I get caught with green tomatoes, I collect them just before the first frost and put them in shallow cardboard boxes, keeping them in a single layer. I also add one ripe tomato to each box to help the process. I store them in a cool room and they ripen nicely; I usually enjoy fresh tomatoes until Christmas. It's not quite as good as vine-ripened, but still tasty!
I've been in a similar situation! What I do at the end of the growing season is bring in all my green tomatoes and lay them out on a counter or table. Most of them will ripen over the next month or two! It’s a simple method that works well for me.
I've heard bananas can help with the ripening too since they release ethylene gas!