non-ripening tomatoes

[peanuts]

Two of my 'cherry plum' tomato plants, (from saved seed, unknown variety), are absolutely laden but are simply not ripening.  Whereas  three others from the same saved seed are ripening normally.  Perhaps that is the risk of saving seed, and that the offspring aren't all the same, if from a hybrid.  They were a small plum tomato that I liked.  last year much the same thing happened, and I   decided I wouldn't use that seed again.  But I was tempted this  year to try again, as they produce such a good crop.

[peanuts]

[Digeroo]

Suggest you hang a banana in the plant.   

[bionear2]

Try a few in a paper bag with a ripe banana

[peanuts]

Yes I could pick some and bring them indoors, plus banana help.  But I prefer to leave them to ripen on the plant if poss.  As least the next two weeks are supposed to be hot and sunny, so they might wake up.  I just find it bizarre that they are next to three others   from the same seed source, that ripen on the bush.  Having said that, the actual ripe tomatoes don't soften in any way, they stay hard.  I use them mainly for making soup and sauces as they are so prolific.

[galina]

I use them mainly for making soup and sauces as they are so prolific.

They are certainly prolific!  have just seen the photo - the plants are dripping with green tomatoes!

Hope they turn red in the next two weeks.    

[GREGME]

Hi they look  great I wouldnt panick but personally make sure they growing tip is stopped now and stop watering if you havent already.
Banana in a shoe box works well as others have said but i wouldnt do that for at least another 2 weeks, unless you are getting hungry 

[Digeroo]

Maybe they are a green tomato and will never colour.

[peanuts]

I stopped the top about  three weeks ago!  The others from the same original tomato ripen, although not to a soft tomato stage, but they are excellent for soup.  I'll wait a couple of weeks as we have more days of 30º (sorry!) and then try with a banana.  Might have to buy one though, and usually we don't as we live off our own produced fruit!

[squeezyjohn]

Just picked up 10 over-ripe bananas for 10p from Tesco's reduced section!  The bananas are destined for cake and milkshakes while the skins will be put to work hanging around my tomato plants outside!

[ACE]

I was reading about the transportation of tomatoes on the vine. Evidently there are 3 stages of ripening. They pick the vine ones green, but if picked too early they will not ripen, even with the gas they use. They have to be in the second stage before colour starts showing.

We used to strip all the green ones from the plant at the end of the season when I was a nipper, they went in on the window sill and some ripened some didn't. The green ones went to chutney and the reds got eaten. I suppose some were still in stage one.

I was waiting for some ripe fruit the other week, so I bunged an over ripe banana in the greenhouse. An almost instant crop appeared, but still a load of darker green tomatoes waiting in the wings. Another banana is due now for the late starters. I did notice that my outdoor toms that have ripened naturally have more taste than the forced ones. By the way the experts reckon the vine tomatoes are no different, they just look better. A bit like a brown egg really.

[Tee Gee]

I am putting it down to the crazy mixed up weather we have had since April.

As it happens I am quite happy with the speed they are ripening at, it means I am not having a glut of tomatoes,and if you consider that it is still only August I am hoping for an extended cropping season in the coming months.

If at the end of the season I end up with lots of green fruit then I will just put them in a dark cupboard as I always do.

It is not uncommon for me to be eating my own tomatoes at Christmas using this method.

Then when I consider how tomatoes rocket it price at the festive season I find myself in a win win situation.

But then again .......I have lots of patience so I do not mind the delay.

[ACE]

Ah yes, the dark. I had forgotton about that. They got wrapped in newspaper and put in a drawer, then used in the winter. Cannot remember the taste but they used to slice them with an old cut throat razor, They must have had tough skins.  Fried up and served on fried bread, no oil, but in beef dripping.  Mmmn, think I'll leave mine alone for a while.

[chriscross1966]

Sounds liek you've saved seeds from an F1 variety... your results are likely to vary a lot from plant to plant I'm afraid....

[Digeroo]

 Ripe apples or plums will do instead of a banana or even some ripe tomatoes.

They give out a chemical Ethylene which ripens the fruit. 

[galina]

Are they making any progress colouring up by now?   

[peanuts]

No, the two non-ripening plants have remained firmly green, laden, and now starting to look suspiciously as if they are getting blight.  So they are coming out this afternoon. Three others from the same seed have ripened except they are always very hard tomatoes.  But are good for making large quantities of tomato puree to freeze.  I won't grow any more from this seed.
Same with my saved Alicante seed this year, the tomatoes don't seem to fully ripen, and stay hard as well.  But the Sungold F1, and my own saved seed Délice de Burpée have been the best for years.

[Digeroo]

Picked a handful of Sungold today,  This is the first I have got for about four or five years,  I would have given up, but a 50p packet of seeds was too much of a temptation.  Looks like I will get my 50p s worth of tomatoes.   No blight this year and at the moment the nights are far too cold for it.       

Now I need my gardeners delight to colour up, they are dripping in fruit but it is all green,  maybe one is starting a slight tinge or maybe its wishful thinking.

[Silverleaf]

I'm surprised at my two Snowdrop plants. They are covered in lovely-looking biggish fruits but they are taking forever to ripen. I'm seeing a bit of an orange tinge to some, but they are weeks and weeks behind some of the others and I was expecting them to be really early.

[galina]

I'm surprised at my two Snowdrop plants. They are covered in lovely-looking biggish fruits but they are taking forever to ripen. I'm seeing a bit of an orange tinge to some, but they are weeks and weeks behind some of the others and I was expecting them to be really early.

There is an explanation for this.  There is a difference between tomatoes that are ripening really quickly in continental type of climate, but take ages if the climate is not quite right.  A Russian tomato may be very early because where it originates, a continental climate summer (even if it is relatively short in duration) will provide a couple of months worth of 30C plus days with wall to wall sunshine, accentuated by the occasional thunderstorm.  Compare this to a much longer British growing season with a significant amount of overcast skies for most of the time and much lower average temperatures during the critical growing months and frequently spells of drought too, which the countries with sun and thunderstorms just don't get to the same degree.  Snowdrop may be very early indeed elsewhere, but needs its sunshine hours and warmth.  If we largely get partial sun and lower temperatures, it will take a lot longer.  There are even large differences within the UK.  You only have to compare Johnnyco's growing reports to those in the Midlands and the North.  The trick is to find tomatoes that will make the grade with our type of overcast and cool, even if (on paper) these tomatoes take longer to mature - they will still be earlier for areas like yours.

I hope this makes sense and explains what is happening.  I have learned this (some of it 'the hard way') from many seed exchanges with the USA where we have compared closely what we are seeing on the ground and compared to weather and to climate.  If the country of origin has an average July temperature of 18 or 20C and we have 15 or 16C, you get this sort of effect.   Growing degree days is one of the buzz words explaining differing maturing.  But in my experience it is not just temperature but also actual full sunshine hours available.   

This possibly also explains your problem with ripening, Peanuts.  For example if a disease resistance gene was bred into the hybrid variety you started out with, and that gene came from a tomato which has very long ripening needs.  In the generation you are growing at the moment, something of this nature may have segregated out.  Growing on from hybrids does carry this risk.  Green tomato chutney galore ;)   

[Silverleaf]

Thanks Galina, that makes perfect sense.

I might try Snowdrop in the greenhouse next year, because it's produced a good amount of fruits. They just aren't ripening very fast!

They did make fruits relatively early, but the full-sized fruits have just sat there being green for weeks and weeks. Taunting me. ;)