"TQ" wrote in message
...

"Craig Watts" wrote in message
...
|
| Out here in the wilds of Washington State in zone 6, I have tons of
| tomatoes. About 98% of them are as green as an Irish Shamrock. Last
year
I
| had lots of ripe tomatoes by mid - July. Course, it has been ungodly
hot
out
| here this Summer. Currently at 100 degrees right now. Does that affect
the
| ripening process? Is anyone else experiencing the same problem?
|
| Thanks,
| Bill
|
| I heard a folklore story years ago about a gardener putting a shovel
| into one side of the roots of half his plants to get them rippened.
| Does that apply here? I don't know.
|
| Good luck.

"I find the biggest mistake that home gardeners make is to over water and
over feed tomatoes, which results in lush foliage growth, cool and moist
soil, and just a few, slow ripening tomatoes."

Source...
http://www.humeseeds.com/sumtom.htm

(Vegetable expert Jon Traunfeld of the University of Maryland Cooperative
Extension Service) -- "...a cool, rainy spring and now hot, dry periods --
might be slowing things a bit.

"If they are slow, it could be attributed to a crazy spring," he says.
"When
you put tomatoes in cool soil, roots don't get established quickly and the
little microorganisms are too cold to work in the organic matter and feed
the plant."

[...]

When fruits were forming late spring, the temperature dropped to 50
degrees
or less many nights."

Source...
http://www.bayweekly.com/year98/dock6_29.html


Any help?

--

TQ

Thanks for your help and the links. Looks like I've been doing a couple of
things wrong, and will do some corrections. At least I do have a ton of
tomatoes...fried green tomatoes, anyone?!

Thanks again,
Bill