Help! My Better Boy tomato plants are huge, and I have alot of green tomatoes that are not turning red!?

Question

My better boy tomatoes are around six feet tall, beautifully green, alot of rather large and some small fruit that will not turn red and they've been on the vine approx 1 mth. I live in TN and in middle TN we've only had 2 1/2 inches of rain in the last 45 days. I try to water every other day and soaking them at least once a week. I feed them weekly with miracle grow tomato plant food. I have no yellow leaves, no infestations and lots of yellow flowers that have stopped producing tomatoes......any suggestions? This is my first attempt at growing large plants..

Answer 1

When temperatures hit above 90's for a sustained period of time, tomatoes tend to go into stasis--this means they kind of just stay the same until it's best to continue development. When night temperatures fall below 70 degrees for 2-3 days, you will see tomatoes beginning to ripen again.

The best way to get more tomatoes to form is to go out with a ballpoint pen & gently tap the tops of your blossoms. This will stimulate pollen production and assist in drop.

To get your tomatoes to ripen, stop fertilizing and watering so often. After a certain point tomatoes do not need as much water as most people think they do. Cut back to every 3rd day, soaking nicely.


You can bring tomatoes inside while green and ripen them. Here's a COOL TRICK:

Place 2-3 green tomatoes in a paper bag with an apple.
Close the bag and place in a sunny location, near a window. Wait 2 days, then open the bag to check for ripeness.

Here are some things you can do with green tomatoes:

http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking/fd/inseason/package/0,14343,1074199_262197,00.html

Congratulations on the success of your first attempts! You are very observant and that goes a long way toward being a great gardener :)
gg

Answer 2

Sounds like you are raising them well. You just have to be patient and wait for the tomatos to ripen. The flowers should turn in tomatoes, just may take longer. If they don't, you may need some wind or bees around them to help pollinate them. If you can't get that, take a littlle Q-tip and use it to transfer pollen from one flower to another.

If you're really impatient and want tomatos now, you can take a spade shovel and use it to cut through the roots some around the base. The tomatos will ripen quicker, but you may also loose the plant if you aren't careful. This is the way some farmers get vine ripened tomatos faster.

Sounds like you're doing a great job. Tomatos like a lot of sunlight, water, and fertilizer, and it sounds like you aren't overdoing any of the three. Keep doing what you're doing and be patient. They'll eventually turn red and when they do, they will probably be humongous.

Answer 3

Better Boy Tomato

Answer 4

From Ed Hume:
"Evening temperatures have to be above 57 degrees for many tomato varieties to ripen. Some varieties even require warmer nighttime temperatures. So you may need to bring the fruit inside to ripen. Next year choose varieties that are more suited to your particular climate. If the soil around the plants is kept too cool and wet it will also delay ripening."

So, maybe the nighttime temperature is a problem? Anyway, there are many ways to eat green tomatoes, or to ripen them. Check links below:

I also notice from Dave's Garden that days to maturity is 69-80 (maturity is days from transplant to harvest), so you may actually not have them on the vine long enough yet? Sounds like they may be slow-pokes!

Answer 5

Judging by your explanation, they are full grown and you have given them plenty of time to ripen.

If that is correct, then I suggest that you eaither:

a) leave them there longer- it really couldn't hurt (considering you said there were no dieases or deformities of any kind). And remember that a watched tomato never ripens. lol.

b) You can always harvest them with a piece of the vine still attached, and they will still ripen and turn red. This will sacrifice a bit of flavor, though.

c) Harvest them now and make salsa.

d) Harvest them green and use ethylene to artificially ripen them, at the cost of much more flavor than vine ripening (this is how a lot of tomatoes are sold, especially to resteraunts and such).

Answer 6

What kind of Miracle Gro did you give them? They recently changed their basic stuff from 15-30-15 to 24-8-16. For tomatoes you don't want so much nitrogen, which will stimulate foliage but not rooting or fruiting.

... never mind I see you said you used the Tomato formula.

Answer 7

Tomatoes should be watered everyday with the same amount of water and at the same time everyday, people tend to let the soil dry out and then flood them with water, which in turn makes your tomatoes crack

Answer 8

You are giving them too much fetilizer ; too much causes them make foliage, and little else. Keep the watering on a regular basis ; sporatic watering will cause your tomatoes to split and crack ...

Cut back on the feeding, and you will soon have too many tomatoes to eat ...lol..

Check my gardening group here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PlayingInTheDirt/

Lots of info and good , helpful gardeners here ....
Good Luck ....

Answer 9

Growing tomatoes
http://www.askaquery.com/Answers/qn1629.html

Answer 10

Make sure they are getting plenty of sunshine... you can eat green tomatoes though, sometimes if they don't get enough sun they can be green but still be ripe and ok to eat =o)

(i know it doesn't make sense... but it's true hehe)