In today’s Garden tip, I’m going to discuss. Why Tomatoes take so long to ripen and address a tragic mistake Many gardeners make in their quest for ripe fruit. Contrary to what most people think, tomatoes don’t get ripe when the sun touches them. Instead, they get ripe when they make and release ethylene gas.
The fruit’s natural bitter tannins will start to break down once the ethylene gas is released, which will help the fruit change colour and produce sugars. Exactly because of this, you can keep on maturing, The majority of fruits are on your counters. They will self-ripen and release their own ethylene gas.
In actuality, grouping fruits close together will increase the concentration of ethylene gas there. As a result, fruit in clusters will ripen more quickly than fruit in isolation. The ripening process is actually slowed down by leaving fruits in the sun, so you should leave them on the counter in complete shade.
This time of year, so many gardeners Make a tragic mistake and They start removing the leaves from their plants thinking that this will speed up the process by putting the Tomato fruits in Sun. This is the worst thing that you could do. And it needs to stop.
The leaves of plants serve as solar panels. They take in the solar energy and transform it into sugars, which plants use as fuel. Therefore, by removing a plant’s leaves, you’re actually removing the solar panels from the plants, which reduces the amount of energy they produce. Consequently, it causes them to move more slowly.
Removing leaves Is very stressful on the plants which further send them into shock and slows down their progress.
fruits that ripen under direct sunlight are more likely to have tough skins fruits that ripen in the shade protected by the leaves are more likely to have thinner more tender Skin. So shade ripened tomatoes are superior in taste and texture.
So what exactly can you do to make your fruits ripen more quickly?
Well, there are three things that kind of work.
The first thing you can do is a process called topping your tomato plants, which basically means to behead them to snip them up here to stop the vegetative growth.
Because the idea is, if the plants stop growing up, they will be able to use more of their energy to Simply ripen, the fruit instead of putting roughly half the energy into growing new Vines and leaves.
The second thing you can do is pick any tomato that is just beginning to turn colour and bring it inside. Place it on your countertop in the shade, close to some bananas and apples, as they will release a lot of ethylene gas when they are all in close proximity and help hasten the ripening process.
They are ready for picking when they are 20 to 25 percent ripe. simply bring them inside after that. Let them ripen to maturity on your countertop in the shade. They will still taste great, and since they will be sweeter and more alluring to insects, you run a much lower risk of them being harmed by pests.
However, being patient and letting your tomatoes ripen naturally is really the best thing you can do. The tomato plants will benefit from it the most and experience the least stress, giving you the biggest harvest over the long term for upcoming years.
Plant some determinate tomatoes and cherry tomatoes because they will ripen much more quickly if you want tomatoes earlier. Additionally, you can get your tomato fix earlier in the growing season while you wait for the larger beefsteak in determinants to fully ripen.
