Why are all my tomatoes still green?

Question

I have 3 tomato plants I started in the springs, they are now so big and overgrown they are falling over and knowing over the cages. They each have about 10 tomatoes on them but none of them have turned red. They have been growing for about a month and a half and still no ripe tomatoes. Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

Most likely the hot temperature plus the large crop has slowed down the ripening process. Pick some of the largest ones to help the other tomatoes left on the vine to ripen faster. I've discovered there are several reasons why tomatoes ripen slowly:

Plants that are actively growing while developing fruit may ripen slowly. Too much fertilizer could have caused excessive vegatative growth at the expense of developing ripe fruit. (1)

Getting Them to Turn Red
"The red color of tomatoes won't form when temperatures are above 86oF. So, if you live where the summers get quite hot, leaving tomatoes on the vine may give them a yellowish orange look. It's probably better to pick them in the pink stage and let them ripen indoors in cooler temperature." (2)

" When the fruit set is heavy, it can work against gardeners. Ripening numerous fruit takes a lot of energy from the leaves and tends to delay the whole crop turning red. If there are only a few weeks before frost and fruit is not ripening, try removing some of the mature green fruit to ripen what’s left on the vine.

Cooler September temperatures help fruit to ripen because the red tomato pigments, lycopene and carotene, are not produced above 85 degrees F nor lycopene below 50 degrees F." (3)

Source(s):
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/sumner/news_col... (1)http://content.garden.org/tomatogardenin... (2)
http://www.colostate.edu/depts/coopext/4... (3

Answer 2

I am from canada... and i have taken about 60 ripe ones off in the last week, but there remain about 60 left that are still green... be patient, and as long as they are looking good i am sure they will turn eventually, maybe they are just late bloomers..... have you had a cooler summer possibly?

Once they begin to turn it is safe to take them off and store them in the dark.. they will ripen quicker that way, but they must be starting to turn before removing

BEST OF LUCK =)

Answer 3

green tomato pie....mmmm

depends on the type of tomato you planted,,,, some need longer warmer days than others to fully ripen..... within a shorter period that is.

when they do turn red,,,,, they will do it very quickly, im sure,,,,.as in almost overnite.

probably wait a few more days for results.

Answer 4

Maybe you have green variety tomatoes. If they've grown that big and they're falling off- that's a sign that they're ready. They can get riper in the fridge you know.

Fried green tomatoes are delicious.

Answer 5

Mine are the same way. I think the info card said it would take a couple of months to grow, so hopefully you will have some pretty soon.

Answer 6

They should turn red soon, mine was late turning, but are red now.