Gardening Tips and Highlights

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Hot temperatures can be the culprit if your tomatoes stopped ripening this summer.  When intense heat comes early, which usually comes in August, that’s when you have a lull in the tomato harvest.

According to a fact sheet from Cornell University’s Cooperative Extension, tomatoes ripen best between the temperatures of 70 – 75 degrees.  Temperatures above 85 degrees will slow the ripening process, if not halt ripening altogether.

Apparently, the pigments responsible for giving tomatoes their color, lycopene and carotene, are not produced above temperatures of 85 – 90 degrees.  As a result, the fruit can stay in a mature green phase for quite some time.

You cannot control the weather.  So, how can you help your tomatoes out of this green-skinned limbo?  Here are two thoughts:

Harvest some tomatoes in their unripe green state and bring them to a cool environment such as into your home.  Line them up along your windowsill, it will be a pretty sight.

Are your tomatoes in containers?  If so, here’s a fact for you, Tomatoes do not require sunlight to ripen.  So, if they are not ripening because it’s too hot, move your containers into a cooler shade.

Otherwise, have patience. Leave it to Mother Nature to find the best solutions.

 

Topic obtained from “Planters Place”.