Why are my tomatoes not ripening?
Paul M. Cook wrote:
"Every Man" wrote in message
...
Very strange.
I'm in eastern Virginia -- Northumberland County, along the Potomac
River.
Last year as we were building our house we planted a dozen or so
tomato plants along the back of the lot and harvested tomatoes all
summer and into the fall.
This year, I have 26 plants, all heirloom varieties. They are in
raised beds that are filled with half-and-half compost and topsoil.
I prune my plants so there are 3-4 main stems. I have lots of
foilage, healthy plants, no pests, and lots of green tomatoes. However
-- only two of my plants are ripening. I have been picking an
occasional ripe tomato from these two plants for 3 weeks; the rest of
the plants show no sign of ripening although they are loaded with
tomatoes.
On a similar note:
After typing that message I got busy pruning dead leaves and dying shoots.
I noticed that many of my yellow pears would drop off the vine if I just
touched them. So I removed about 30 tomatoes, all green, that were ready to
drop. I have no idea if they will ripen indoors. One did, so I have hope.
So is this a sign that the plant was going to drop its unripe fruit? Does
this sound like a sign of stress?
I had several I thought were about to get blossom end rot, they were
completely green. 10 days later in a bag with a banana (ethylene gas)
and they were red enough to eat.
On the ones still on the vine, the largest is just now getting redish.
Jeff
Paul
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