When will my tomatoes ripen???

[HunnyPots]

I have three tomato plants in pots on my patio. They are full and healthy looking with about 4 or 5 green tomatoes on each plant and many more blooms. I just keep thinking they should be ripening by now. We have had cooler temps and more rain than usual this year. Could that be holding them back? What should I do to get the fruit to ripen? Any tips are appreciated!

 

[bobbiwoz]

It's sort of like a watched pot, waiting to boil. It takes a long time. Since the plant is still producing flowers and growing, I think it's just taking it's time, and don't know what can be done.

Does it seem different than last year? That could be because maybe these are a different variety.

I'm sorry I can't really give you any tips, but I know that once they do start to ripen, we get more tomatoes than we can use in bunches!

Bobbi

 

[MazdaUK]

You get the best flavour by lettting them ripen on the vine the danger is if you get a lot of rain and they swell after the skin has hardened, as then they split. Its early here to have home-ripened tomatoes (ours are usually end July onwards depending on variety). If you're desperate for a home-grown tomato pick off the one(s) you want and put them in a brown bag with a ripe banana - it gives off gas which promotes ripening.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

I have had some success root-pruning the tomato plant to hasten ripening. When the plant is stressed, it wants to finish off the fruit quickly, so will put energy into the fruit and not the vine.
The downside of this is, it sets the plant back some, and slows the next fruit from forming. Besides, I've always felt that stressing the plant makes it more vulnerable to disease.
I advocate patience...it will be rewarded by nice, juicy, sweet tomatoes in their own time.

 

[HunnyPots]

I actually have one that is almost ready to pick! Woo Hoo!
We had a period of about three or four days with no rain and warmer temps and one started to turn red right away so I'm thinking the unusual weather is holding them back. I moved them under a covered area so they aren't getting rained on every day now. We'll see...