Last night I harvested zucchini and green beans and relished as how my beets were coming along nicely. Then I looked at my tomatoes -- STILL GREEN! It's the end of July! The plants were in the ground close to Memorial Day weekend. And I planted them using the tip method so the roots were close to the ground surface.
The photo here is of my Brandywine. As you can see, I have plenty of GREEN toms. This calls for an investigation. I read a couple articles and found some interesting things about what makes tomatoes ripen.
First and foremost it's the variety. Too late, I didn't plant my Early Girl this year. Next year, it's on the list.
Second, the tomatoes produce lycopene and carotene. These two substances are produced between 50 and 80 degrees. Cooler than 50 - nada (our cool, wet spring); hotter than 85 - halt (remember last week's heat wave); so temperature is working against me.
There's another way nature can work against you. If it's constantly windy, your tomatoes won't ripen either. Once the tomato fruits reach the proper size, the plant produces an ethelene gas. This gas helps kick start the fruit into turning red. If it's windy, no kick start. That brings to mind the debate whether to cage or prune/pole your tomatoes. I judiciously prune/pole creating wind tunnels between my plants.
Who's living in Tomatoville? Which gardeners out there have red tomatoes? If you're harvesting the red beauties, comment with the Variety and your location.
