I read in a book that one way to ripen them on the vine is to take your
shovel and cut straight down into the ground about 1 foot away from the main
stock. Then go 1/4 of the way around the plant and do it again. This is
supposed to fool the plant into thinking it is dying and it puts all it's
effort into ripening the fruit and its seeds, which is what the plants main
purpose is anyway.

Dwayne

"compo" wrote in message
...
Hi gang,

We have had a dreadful summer in the far north of Scotland, a bad
depression in the Norwegian sea causing cool northerly winds and low
cloud throughout July and some of August. As a result the tomatoes in
my polytunnel are reluctant to ripen.

How can I encourage the hard green fruits to ripen on the vine at this
late stage of summer?

--
Cheers,
Compo - Nothing ventured, nothing failed. (Ian Dury)