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Autumn has arrived, and with it late blight and frost. It is dangerous to leave green tomatoes standing in such a situation, since illness and low temperatures can damage not only the stems of the plant, but also the unripe fruits. Harvesting early will help save tomatoes. Green vegetables can be used for preparing winter pickles or storing them until ripening in artificial conditions. There are several ways to influence the ripening process of tomatoes. We will try to discuss the simplest and most accessible of them in more detail.
Why tomatoes don’t have time to ripen on the vine
Harvesting green tomatoes is a necessary measure that allows you to save the much-desired harvest. But why do we have to face such a situation every autumn? There may be several reasons for prolonged and untimely ripening:
- Wrong choice of variety. For growing outdoors, you should prefer early-ripening varieties of low- or medium-sized tomatoes. In this case, the plant will not spend a lot of time growing green mass and will form ovaries in a timely manner. Tall varieties of tomatoes can be grown in greenhouses, where optimal temperatures are artificially maintained until mid-autumn.
- Violation of plant care rules. In order for tomatoes to ripen quickly on the root, you need to properly shape the plants by removing the stepsons and pinching the tops. At the end of the fruiting season, it is recommended to feed tomatoes with potassium fertilizers, reducing the amount of nitrogen to a minimum.
- Late timing of planting seedlings.
- Lack of sunlight. The reason may be caused by bad summer weather and in this case it is almost impossible to correct the situation. It’s another matter when tomatoes grow near tall bushes and trees. In this case, you can facilitate the penetration of sunlight to the tomatoes, which will speed up their ripening.
- Early arrival of autumn cold.
Unfortunately, the farmer can influence only some of the above reasons, but if there is such an opportunity, then next year you should definitely try to eliminate past mistakes and be more careful in choosing a variety, growing location, and timing of sowing seeds for seedlings. Perhaps in this case it will be possible to collect a mature harvest in full from the garden.
We speed up the ripening process of tomatoes
If the weather is cool and rainy in the fall, then you should not wait for the “Indian summer”; you need to pick green and brown tomatoes for ripening in artificial conditions. Otherwise, diseases may begin to develop, and then it will be impossible to save the remaining crop.
Ripening tomatoes after removal from the bush, it occurs due to ethylene gas, which is released from vegetables. Gas can be formed within 40 days from the moment the crop is harvested from the bush. At this time, tomatoes should be stored in certain conditions with a temperature of +15-+220WITH.Low temperatures slow down the ripening process of vegetables. Contrary to popular belief, the sun's rays, as well as dampness, negatively affect the process of ripening vegetables at home.
Among all the methods, ripening tomatoes is most often carried out in a wooden container or on newspaper. Green tomatoes, laid out in a container or on paper, are covered with a dark cloth and placed under the bed or in a dark closet. In 15-20 days of such storage, vegetables ripen. You can speed up the ripening process if you put several ripe tomatoes in a container with green tomatoes.
In addition to the proposed method, there are other, less common ways to preserve green tomatoes until they turn red:
- Keep tomatoes in paper bags or boxes. Place a banana or apple among the tomatoes. The fruit will release ethylene and contribute to the ripening of vegetables.
- Wrap each vegetable in a separate piece of paper and place in a dark place. You can replace paper with sawdust, polystyrene foam, and polyurethane foam balls.
- Alcohol helps prevent the development of bacterial or putrefactive diseases. You can treat green tomatoes with alcohol and put them in a box for storage. Another option for using alcohol is to moisten a napkin with alcohol and wrap the tomatoes in it to ripen. When using alcohol, already ripe tomatoes can be stored until spring.
- Ripe green tomatoes conveniently in the cellar. They need to be laid out on a shelf so that the fruits do not touch each other. At temperature +100The ripening process will be very slow, but as soon as the tomatoes get into the room, they will turn red very quickly.
- You can ripen green tomatoes in felt boots. Our grandfathers used these methods. Maybe today this method will be in demand for someone.
- Place the tomatoes in a red cloth or paper and hide them in the dark. How fabric dyeing affects tomatoes is unknown, but repeated experiments have shown that the method is highly effective.
- Large vegetable farms use special gas, which promotes the ripening of tomatoes and long-term storage of already ripened fruits.
Tomatoes should not be stored in plastic or sealed bags. Good air circulation is a must to prevent the development of rot. Even using wooden boxes or paper bags, you need to make sure that each vegetable maintains its integrity and that the upper layers of food do not damage the lower layers. It is necessary to regularly monitor the ripening process of vegetables, lifting the reddened tomatoes up and lowering the greenest tomatoes down.
For more information on how to store green tomatoes until they turn red, watch the video:
Perhaps the opinion of a competent specialist will help you choose the best storage method for each specific situation.
How to Preserve Red Tomatoes
Even ripe tomatoes can be stored well all winter without processing. There are special storage methods for this:
- Place clean and dry vegetables loosely in sterilized 3-liter jars, sprinkling each layer of vegetables with mustard powder.
- Place clean, dry tomatoes in a sterilized 3-liter jar and pour 2-3 tbsp into the container. l. alcohol Set fire to the liquid and preserve the jar.A vacuum is formed inside such a container, which prevents the development of bacteria.
- If you have a large freezer, ripe tomatoes can be stored in it. Frozen tomatoes can be added to pizza, fresh salads or used in cooking.
More often, housewives can the harvest of already ripe tomatoes. Various pickles complement potatoes, meat, poultry or fish well in winter. However, fresh products without heat treatment and salting are always more desirable. Their cost in the store in winter is too high, and the taste leaves much to be desired. That is why rolled fresh tomatoes will definitely come in handy for serving on a holiday table or preparing fresh salads in everyday life. The method of such storage can be selected from the options proposed above.
Growing a tomato crop is difficult, but preserving it can be even more difficult. Unfavorable weather, diseases and insects constantly damage plants and standing fruits. In this case, the only correct solution is to remove the green tomatoes from the bush and ripen the fruits at home. All important conditions and several effective ways to ripen tomatoes under artificial conditions are suggested above. There's only one thing left to do: you need to try several methods and take note of the best one.
