Tomato plants fruit from June until the first frosts, but any fruits that develop from September are unlikely ripen as quickly as those growing in summer, and may not ripen fully before the first frosts arrive.
Don’t worry, there’s a few tricks you can employ to help your green tomatoes turn red. Follow our steps to ripening the last of your home-grown fruits, below.
You Will Need
- Tomato plants
- Secateurs
Total time:
Step 1
Remove any remaining flowers from your tomato plants. These have no chance of developing into fruit so nipping them off now will help channel the plant’s energy into ripening existing fruits.
Step 2
Your tomato plants should have formed three or four trusses of fruits by early autumn, so to ensure these all ripen, remove the top of each plant. Simply cut through the main stem a couple of leaves above the uppermost truss of green fruits. Removing leaves from the plant can also ensure the maximum amount of light possible can reach the fruits, helping them to ripen.
Step 3
After temperatures have started to dip, remove all the tomatoes from your plant and keep them in a drawer or paper bag with a banana. The banana will release ethylene, a hormone associated with the ripening of fruit. Check the drawer or bag regularly and remove ripened tomatoes as and when you find them.
