October 12, 2015

avalanche column

September 24, 2015

Oh yes it is that time of year again and my favorite run on sentence. “My tomato plants are loaded and they are not ripening, what can I do and will they ripen before winter.”

There is a very good chance that most of them will. Normally our first killing freeze is in November but we do get a few “tail nipper” frosts before then. What to do to ripen those lovely little orbs.

I suggest watering them normally for the rest of September, but around the first week in October start holding back water. If they begin to wilt, water them but not heavily. The idea is to stress them. You can also thin the foliage so more sun hits the fruit. Careful not to remove too much, it is the leaves that sustain the toms and make them tasty.

Stressing causes the plant to start doing defensive things. All plants are wired to reproduce (even though they have been reproducing all summer). Stressing causes them to go into survival mode and to put most of their energy into the fruit.

In October keep a watchful eye on weather forecasts. Temperatures in the thirties you need to cover the plants with a sheet or quilt. The covering needs to extend to the ground. This has two effects: one is to keep the frost off the plants and to also hold soil heat in.

I find keeping them covered throughout the fall with 2 layers of agribon 19 helps them warm up in the day and to also keep them warmer during the night. These two things are magical and hasten the ripening of your toms.

Ah you are done with the cover game.

There are two completion ripening plans and one I prefer over the other (because I know myself I can be very lazy).  Both start with the complete harvest of the toms. Plan “A” is for very limited space. Wrap the toms in paper and stack into a box. They will need to be occasionally taken out to remove the ripe toms or the nasty ones. This to me is wayyyyyyyy to much work. I like to lay newspaper out on the floor and then spread the toms out on the paper. A daily check and “gooduns” can be collected and rotten ones can be composted or fed to your favorite biped friends (chickens). Something else for limited space is to use stackable boxes like the local hot house toms come in. Put a single layer of toms in one of the boxes and stack the boxes. It is easy to spy in on these boxes or to lift and check for ripe/rotten toms.

Oh and two last things with the paper wrapped toms, the rotten one is always the last one you unwrap and the room for tom storage should be cool and dark so they slowly ripen.

Here’s to the last little taste of summer. Enjoy!!!

Questions? I can be contacted at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com. Or more garden notes at redwagonfarm.blogsot.com