I have a lot of tomatoes on my plants but they are not ripening at
all,
The plants are about 5 to 6' tall now and get full sun all day long.
The days have been hot and dry all summer and I have watered on a very
even schedule. The nights have been warmer then normal all summer as
well, between 63 and 73.

They were all planted about Memorial Day.

I have never had this happen before, it seems that some would be
starting to turn red by now.

Maybe I am just being impatient.
The cherry tomatoes are ripening fine though, these are the big boy
type that aren't ripening.

Should I just be more patient or is there something else I should be
doing.

Craig
Denver, CO.

Craig said:

I have a lot of tomatoes on my plants but they are not ripening at
all,
The plants are about 5 to 6' tall now and get full sun all day long.
The days have been hot and dry all summer and I have watered on a very
even schedule. The nights have been warmer then normal all summer as
well, between 63 and 73.

They were all planted about Memorial Day.

I have never had this happen before, it seems that some would be
starting to turn red by now.

This is an old tip that I've never had the occasion to test directly (but I
will comment more after):

Drive a small spade down in one or two spots around one of your
plants and cut a few roots. This might shock the plant into ripening
the tomatoes.

OK, this year one of the new varieties I was trying was not ripening any
tomatoes, not even a hint of color, even after all the others were doing
so. It was so full of green tomatoes that the stake was leaning over
threatening to crash into the fence. (I have electric wires at the top so
this would have been a Bad Thing.) I drove in a couple of small stakes
to tie off the larger one and stop the leaning. And shortly after that, a
whole bunch of tomatoes on that plant started turning red.

Now, I would think this was entirely coincidental, except for having
remembered that old advice. So I may have unintentionally confirmed it
works. Or, maybe not. I doubt it would hurt to try.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

On 16 Aug 2006 19:28:24 -0700, "Craig" wrote:

I have a lot of tomatoes on my plants but they are not ripening at
all,
The plants are about 5 to 6' tall now and get full sun all day long.
The days have been hot and dry all summer and I have watered on a very
even schedule. The nights have been warmer then normal all summer as
well, between 63 and 73.

They were all planted about Memorial Day.

I have never had this happen before, it seems that some would be
starting to turn red by now.

Maybe I am just being impatient.
The cherry tomatoes are ripening fine though, these are the big boy
type that aren't ripening.

Should I just be more patient or is there something else I should be
doing.
I have had the same experience here in Southern NH. They are finally
coming but it sure took a long time.

John

John Bachman wrote:
I have had the same experience here in Southern NH. They are finally
coming but it sure took a long time.


It has been COLD in Southern NH this summer! (I'm only a few miles from
the NH border myself).

Still no blue morning glories and primroses in bloom here, fer cryin'
out loud!


--Jenny

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes Diabetes Info

http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/newlydiagnosed.htm Get Your Blood
Sugar Under Control

On Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:06:59 -0400, Jenny
wrote:

John Bachman wrote:
I have had the same experience here in Southern NH. They are finally
coming but it sure took a long time.


It has been COLD in Southern NH this summer! (I'm only a few miles from
the NH border myself).

Still no blue morning glories and primroses in bloom here, fer cryin'
out loud!


--Jenny
Hmmm, I recall sweating profusely for most of the summer. The spring
was cold and wet but the summer has been pretty normal.

You are just a few miles from the NH border? That is New Hampshire
right? Not New Holland?

John

Pat Kiewicz wrote:

This is an old tip that I've never had the occasion to test directly (but I
will comment more after):

Drive a small spade down in one or two spots around one of your
plants and cut a few roots. This might shock the plant into ripening
the tomatoes.


Of 5 Brandywine I have this year, one has fruited, with first fruits in
late July. The other four have not. The one that fruited had been
severely attacked by hornworms (this is the first time I have them, so
I was late recognizing the problem). I have two Yellow Pear, one has
fruited, the other has just started, about ten days later. The one that
fruited has been damaged by hornworms, the other has not. Probably
there are lots of ways to shock a plant. Underground rodent activity
might do the trick as well.

I wonder if the OP is not getting tomatoes because the plants were
exposed to sub-50 temperatures early, delaying development. Now it is
august, and a watched green tomato, as the say goes, never ripens.

Of 5 Brandywine I have this year, one has fruited, with first fruits in
late July. The other four have not. The one that fruited had been
severely attacked by hornworms (this is the first time I have them, so
I was late recognizing the problem). I have two Yellow Pear, one has
fruited, the other has just started, about ten days later. The one that
fruited has been damaged by hornworms, the other has not. Probably
there are lots of ways to shock a plant. Underground rodent activity
might do the trick as well.

I wonder if the OP is not getting tomatoes because the plants were
exposed to sub-50 temperatures early, delaying development. Now it is
august, and a watched green tomato, as the say goes, never ripens.

There are a lot of big green tomatoes on the plants, all of them. I
have 5 of them.
And some are leaning as well and I've tied the cages to the fence. I
had that problem last year as well but they were all ripening by this
time.
I haven't any evidence at all of bugs or disease or rodents.
June was very hot, abnormal in fact and extremely dry but I did water
deeply.

All summer has been very hot and dry, driest summer ever actually
here, and one of the hottest except a cold weekend around July 4.

I would be sort of nervous to dig and cut some roots, at this time
anyway.

I have read that maybe pruning the new growth would help the tomatoes
ripen. I dont think the plant really needs any new growth or blooms.

Craig

"Craig" wrote in message
ups.com...


Of 5 Brandywine I have this year, one has fruited, with first fruits in
late July. The other four have not. The one that fruited had been
severely attacked by hornworms (this is the first time I have them, so
I was late recognizing the problem). I have two Yellow Pear, one has
fruited, the other has just started, about ten days later. The one that
fruited has been damaged by hornworms, the other has not. Probably
there are lots of ways to shock a plant. Underground rodent activity
might do the trick as well.

I wonder if the OP is not getting tomatoes because the plants were
exposed to sub-50 temperatures early, delaying development. Now it is
august, and a watched green tomato, as the say goes, never ripens.

There are a lot of big green tomatoes on the plants, all of them. I
have 5 of them.
And some are leaning as well and I've tied the cages to the fence. I
had that problem last year as well but they were all ripening by this
time.
I haven't any evidence at all of bugs or disease or rodents.
June was very hot, abnormal in fact and extremely dry but I did water
deeply.

All summer has been very hot and dry, driest summer ever actually
here, and one of the hottest except a cold weekend around July 4.

I would be sort of nervous to dig and cut some roots, at this time
anyway.

I have read that maybe pruning the new growth would help the tomatoes
ripen. I dont think the plant really needs any new growth or blooms.

Craig


I use cages, but I've read that caged tomatoes are a trade off. You get
cleaner fruit, but ripening takes longer. I've never seen an explanation,
but I wonder if it's because the fruit themselves are shaded by so much
foliage when grown in cages.

As far as pruning, the deer are whacking all the foliage that sticks out of
my cages. That's probably 25% of the total plant material. It doesn't seem
to matter.