How to store green tomatoes so they turn red

Autumn has come, and with it phytophthora and frost. It is dangerous to leave green tomatoes on the vine in such a situation, since illness and low temperatures can damage not only the stems of the plant, but also unripe fruits. Premature harvesting will help save the tomatoes. Green vegetables can be used to prepare winter pickles or stored in artificial conditions until ripe. There are several ways to influence the ripening process of tomatoes. We will try to discuss the simplest and most accessible of them in more detail.

Why tomatoes do not have time to ripen on the vine

Harvesting green tomatoes is a forced measure that allows you to save such a coveted crop. But why do you have to face such a situation every autumn? And there can be several reasons for long and untimely ripening:

1. Wrong choice of variety. For outdoor cultivation, early-ripening varieties of undersized or medium-sized tomatoes should be preferred. In this case, the plant will not spend a lot of time building up green mass and will form ovaries in a timely manner. Tall varieties of tomatoes can be grown in greenhouses, where the optimum temperature is artificially maintained until mid-autumn.
2. Violation of the rules for caring for plants. In order for tomatoes to ripen quickly on the vine, you need to properly form the plants by removing stepsons and pinching the top. At the end of the fruiting season, it is recommended to feed the tomatoes with potash fertilizers, reducing the amount of nitrogen to a minimum.
3. Late planting dates.
4. Lack of sunlight. The reason may be caused by bad summer weather and in this case it is almost impossible to correct the situation. Another thing is when tomatoes grow near tall shrubs and trees. In this case, you can contribute to the penetration of sunlight to the tomatoes, which will accelerate their ripening.
5. Early arrival of autumn cold.

Unfortunately, the farmer can only influence some of the above reasons, but if there is such an opportunity, then next year you should definitely try to eliminate past mistakes and take a closer look at the choice of variety, place of cultivation, and the timing of sowing seeds for seedlings. Perhaps in this case it will be possible to harvest a mature crop in full from the garden.

Accelerate the ripening process of tomatoes

If the weather is cool and rainy in autumn, then you should not wait for the “Indian summer”, you need to remove green and brown tomatoes for ripening in artificial conditions. Otherwise, the development of diseases may begin, and then it will be impossible to save the remaining crop.

The ripening of tomatoes after removal from the bush is due to ethylene gas, which is released from vegetables. Gas can be formed within 40 days from the moment of harvesting from the bush. At this time, tomatoes should be stored under certain conditions with a temperature of + 15- + 22⁰C. Low temperatures slow down the ripening process of vegetables. Contrary to popular belief, the sun’s rays, like dampness, negatively affect the process of ripening vegetables at home.

Among all the methods, ripening tomatoes is most often carried out in a wooden container or on a newspaper. Green tomatoes, laid out in a container or on paper, are covered with a dark cloth and placed under the bed or in a dark pantry. For 15-20 days of such storage, vegetables ripen. You can speed up the ripening process if you put a few ripe tomatoes in a container with green tomatoes.

In addition to the proposed method, there are other, less common ways to keep green tomatoes until red:

1. Keep tomatoes in paper bags or boxes. Put a banana or an apple among the tomatoes. The fruit will release ethylene and help the vegetables ripen.
2. Wrap each vegetable in a separate piece of paper and put in a dark place.. You can replace paper with sawdust, polystyrene foam, polyurethane foam balls.
3. Alcohol helps prevent the development of bacterial or putrefactive diseases.. Alcohol can process green tomatoes and put them in a box for storage. Another option for using alcohol is to soak a napkin in alcohol and wrap tomatoes in it to ripen. When using alcohol, already ripe tomatoes can be stored until spring.
4. It is convenient to ripen green tomatoes in the cellar. They need to be laid out on a shelf so that the fruits do not touch each other. At a temperature of +10⁰Since the ripening process will be very slow, but as soon as the tomatoes enter the room, they will turn red very quickly.
5. You can ripen green tomatoes in felt boots. These methods were used by our grandfathers. Maybe today this method will be in demand for someone.
6. Put the tomatoes in red cloth or paper and hide in the dark. How tissue coloring affects tomatoes is unknown, but repeated experiments have shown that the method is highly effective.
7. Large vegetable farms use special gas, which contributes to the ripening of tomatoes and long-term storage of already ripened fruits.

Do not store tomatoes in plastic or sealed bags. Good air circulation is a prerequisite that prevents the development of rot. Even when using wooden boxes or paper bags, care must be taken to ensure that each vegetable remains intact and that the top layers of the food do not injure the lower layers. It is necessary to regularly monitor the ripening process of vegetables, lifting the reddened tomatoes up and lowering the greenest tomatoes down.

For more information on how to store green tomatoes so that they turn red, see the video:

Perhaps the opinion of a competent specialist will help you choose the best storage method for each specific situation.

How to save red tomatoes

Even ripe tomatoes can be well stored all winter without processing. There are special storage methods for this:

• Put clean and dry vegetables loosely in sterilized 3-liter jars, sprinkling each layer of vegetables with mustard powder.
• Put clean dry tomatoes in a sterilized 3-liter jar and pour 2-3 tbsp. l. alcohol. Ignite the liquid and preserve the jar. A vacuum is formed inside such a container, which prevents the development of bacteria.
• If you have a large freezer, ripe tomatoes can be stored in it. Frozen tomatoes can be added to pizza, fresh salads, or used in cooking.

More often, housewives preserve the harvest of already ripe tomatoes. Various pickles are a good addition to potatoes, meat, poultry or fish in winter. However, fresh products without heat treatment and salting are always more desirable. Their cost in the winter in the store is too high, and the taste leaves much to be desired. That is why rolled fresh tomatoes are sure to come in handy for serving on the festive table or preparing fresh salads in everyday life. The method of such storage can be chosen from the above options.

It is difficult to grow a tomato crop, but it is even more difficult to maintain it. Unfavorable weather, diseases and insects now and then damage plants and fruits in the bud. In this case, the only correct solution is to remove green tomatoes from the bush and ripen the fruits at home. All important conditions and several effective ways of ripening tomatoes in artificial conditions are proposed above. The matter remains small: you need to try several methods and take note of the best one.