To make tomatoes turn red faster: several ways to speed up their ripening

Why don't tomatoes turn red?

Tomatoes usually ripen within 40 to 55 days after flowering begins. But this is an approximate figure. The exact ripening time depends on the variety of tomatoes.

There are several reasons that can slow down the reddening of fruits:

1. Lack of light. If tomatoes do not have enough lighting, they turn red very slowly and unevenly. When growing vegetables in open ground, prolonged cloudy weather can delay ripening.
2. Errors when applying fertilizers. Excess nitrogen most often causes slow ripening. It leads to the appearance of huge leaves and small fruits that do not turn red for a long time.
3. Unsuitable temperature. Tomatoes do not tolerate both excessive heat and cold. Under unfavorable temperature conditions, the production of the lycopene pigment in fruits stops. It is what gives tomatoes their red color.

Recommendations from gardeners

Experienced gardeners advise not to remain indifferent when tomatoes do not turn red for a long time. They suggest using one of the simple and accessible methods of influence. Below are the most popular ways to speed up the ripening of tomatoes:

As a rule, tomatoes ripen quite well, especially in a greenhouse. However, sometimes the ripening of tomatoes lasts for a very long time. When faced with such a problem, do not rush to pick unripe fruits.

Apply one of the methods to speed up the ripening of tomatoes. With some effort, you will get the tomatoes to turn red. And such a harvest will make you happy.

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Why accelerate maturation?

Accelerating the ripening of tomatoes helps preserve the harvest. At the end of summer, significant temperature changes begin. It is often hot during the day and cold at night. If the tomatoes do not have time to ripen by this time, they will remain green or brown until frost. This threatens crop loss.

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In addition, at the end of August, due to temperature fluctuations, moisture begins to accumulate on tomato leaves. This promotes the development of fungi and bacteria. The plant can get a dangerous fungal infection - late blight. This disease can destroy not only unripe fruits, but also the entire bush.

To prevent such losses, it is necessary to speed up the ripening of tomatoes. This will allow you to harvest before frost sets in.

Removing plant parts to speed up tomato ripeness

Removing leaves

Opinions differ on this issue. Some gardeners are opponents of this method. For example, I am not a supporter of complete exposure of the tomato stem, because I consider the participation of the vegetative mass in the process of photosynthesis to be very important.

However, in order to speed up the ripening of tomatoes, I think such manipulations can be carried out. Carefully trim all the lower leaves to the first cluster.

Another thing is cutting off leaves at the end of the growing season, when all efforts need to be directed toward accelerating ripening. In this case, the leaves should be removed completely, causing severe stress to the plants. The release of ethylene will proceed rapidly, provoking the same intense ripening.

Often at the end of the season you can see a picture with completely bare stems, hung with ripening fruits. You can collect them green and ripen them at home. However, gardeners prefer to wait for ripening naturally to obtain sugary, juicy tomatoes.

Removing part of the harvest or the first ripe fruit

From time to time, you can pick some tomatoes in brown ripeness, giving the rest the opportunity to ripen. And some gardeners recommend picking the first ripe fruit.

I don’t know if it really helps or if it’s just a folk superstition, but such advice often comes across. However, ethylene gas accumulates in ripe fruits and begins to affect nearby unripe fruits, accelerating their ripening. Hence the conclusion: this advice is unlikely to be useful in this form. The recommendation can be used only if this ripe fruit is placed under a fruit-bearing bush to release the stress hormone - ethylene.

Photo pixabay/AKuptsova: You can pick ripe fruits to give others the opportunity to ripen.

Stepsoning

To accelerate the ripening of tomatoes, regular pinching is used, with the exception of non-pinching varieties. Otherwise, many shoots with fruit clusters will form. There is a strong thickening of plantings, plants lack light and sun, ventilation of plants is deteriorating, which contributes to the development of various diseases. The fruits ripen slowly, some of them fall off.

Pruning should begin as early as possible, at a very young age after planting the seedlings. The process of forming stepchildren cannot be left to chance. They are formed constantly, so you need to constantly monitor their growth.

In August, after topping, increased growth of stepsons begins, on which the plant spends a lot of energy. When they reach 5–7 cm, removal is required.

Stepping is not an easy process and requires certain knowledge. Each variety forms differently depending on the type of plant.

How to speed up the reddening of fruits on bushes

There are several ways to speed up ripening. If you want the tomatoes on the bushes to turn red faster, then use the following methods:

1. Removal of the first ripe fruit. As soon as you see the first reddened tomato on the bush, try to pick it as soon as possible. This stimulates the ripening of all other fruits.
2. Trimming. The leaves should be cut back to the first cluster of inflorescences. This will provide oxygen access to the ovaries and speed up fruit filling.
3. Stepsonning. This procedure must be carried out in a timely manner. It helps the plant not to waste energy on stem growth, but to direct all its energy to ripening the fruits.
4. Stop watering. About a month before harvesting, you should stop irrigating tomatoes. This is especially necessary in dry weather. When there is a lack of moisture, the bushes stop growing and spend all their energy on bearing fruit.

Feeding tomatoes for early ripening

Methods for accelerating the ripening of tomatoes are used only if the timing is appropriate and the number of ripe fruits is insufficient . In many regions of our country, this is relevant for the last summer months: from the end of July to the end of August.

Proper feeding plays an important role. For rapid ripening, it is necessary that tomatoes receive the required amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium.

Experienced gardeners recommend combining organic and mineral fertilizers. With this approach, tomatoes not only grow faster, but also bear fruit more abundantly.

Feeding with iodine

Iodine is a traditional fertilizer that gardeners use to feed tomatoes . It solves two problems at once: prevention of fungal infections and feeding. Thanks to iodine, nitrogen metabolism in the soil improves and resistance to various infections increases, the plant begins to bear fruit better.

Lack of iodine leads to reduced yields and incomplete ripening of fruits.

Reference. Tomatoes are watered with iodine solution in a ratio of 1 drop of the substance per 3 liters of warm water.

Feeding with ash

Ash is an effective tool for strengthening the root system and protecting against pests . It is rich in nutrients necessary for the growth and development of the plant. Ash contains phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen, sodium, calcium and magnesium.

The infusion is prepared as follows: a glass of ash is dissolved in 5 liters of water. The solution is infused for a week. After this, the tomatoes can be watered.

Watering with potassium humate

Humate is a mixture of salts of various microelements and acids . Fertilizer is formed due to organic deposits. Humate improves air penetration into the soil, kills microbes, and neutralizes toxins.

Potassium humate is an excellent organic fertilizer for tomatoes: it increases productivity and makes the roots stronger. For feeding, use a solution with a concentration of 0.05%. 2 liters of the substance are distributed per 1 m² of soil.

Alcohol bush injections

Gardeners accelerate the ripening of unripe tomatoes and activate flowering with alcohol injections.

Reference. Alcohol injections do not change the taste of the fruit: the tomato contains no foreign odors and no bitterness is felt.

Alcohol injections can be administered at any stage of vegetable development. But when using this method, follow the safety rules:

Injection with alcohol is carried out only once.

What to do with picked tomatoes

There are cases when picked tomatoes remain green for a long time and do not turn red. Such vegetables should be placed on a south-facing windowsill so that they receive enough light. If the weather is cloudy outside, additional lighting should be provided with fluorescent lamps.

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If the tomatoes are still green, then place them in a box and add one red ripe tomato to them. It will release acetylene gas, which will help other fruits ripen faster. Cover the vegetables with a blanket and leave them to ripen. Instead of tomato, you can use ripe banana or apple.

When you pick unripe tomatoes, try to pull them out of the soil along with the stem. Once collected, hang them high from the ceiling in a warm, dry area. This will speed up their redness and ripening.

What not to do while tomatoes are ripening

Water generously . Tomatoes do not like sudden changes in humidity. Do not let the soil dry out and then water it generously. This causes the fruits to crack . It is better to mulch the soil under the tomatoes with hay. Under mulch, moisture is retained much longer, the earth does not crack from the heat and does not become crusty.

There are also special bacteria in hay that prevent the late blight pathogen from multiplying. During fruiting, it is better not to water tomatoes.

Feed with nitrogen . From the second half of summer, tomatoes cannot be fertilized with nitrogen in any form. Mullein, chicken droppings, infusion of green mass, and mineral nitrogen fertilizers are not used.

Tomatoes will intensively grow green mass, not fruits. And such fertilizing also worsens the taste of the fruit. Even if your climate allows you to grow tomatoes until late autumn, still apply only potassium-phosphorus fertilizers.

How to feed tomatoes

You can use fertilizers that accelerate ripening. Potassium-based formulations should be used first. This substance is necessary for tomatoes to reach full maturity. You can use the following fertilizers:

1. Wood ash. Add a glass of this product to a bucket of water. Infuse the mixture for 3 - 4 hours. Pour it under the tomato bushes. Each plant will need about 1 liter of fertilizer.
2. Potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate). Dissolve a few crystals of the drug in a 10-liter bucket of water so that you get a pink liquid. Pour fertilizer under the tomato plants.

You can also use baking soda as a top dressing. This product contains sodium, which promotes fruiting and improves the taste of tomatoes. Dissolve a teaspoon of baking soda in 1 liter of heated water. Water the bushes with the resulting solution every week.

During fruiting, tomatoes also need iodine. You can prepare fertilizer from a pharmaceutical preparation. Add 30 drops of iodine to a 10-liter bucket of water. Stir the liquid well and use it to spray bushes with unripe tomatoes. This treatment will not only speed up ripening, but also prevent the development of late blight.

All of the fertilizers listed are suitable for both open ground and greenhouses.

How to water and treat tomatoes to make them turn red faster

Vodka to accelerate the ripening of tomatoes
In a greenhouse or open ground, while the weather is still permitting, you can use the simplest way to ripen tomatoes - water or spray the bushes with one of the proposed folk remedies:

1. Water the bushes with a pink solution of potassium permanganate for two days in a row.
2. Spray the plants generously with a solution of iodine: 35 drops per 10 liters of water. Carry out the treatment once every 7 days.
3. Use a syringe to inject 0.5 ml of vodka or alcohol into each tomato.

Attention! Heat and the greenhouse effect enhances fruit ripening. Close the greenhouse for the whole day in sunny, warm weather and soon the tomatoes will begin to turn red. In the evening, be sure to ventilate the greenhouse so that condensation does not escape.

After such watering and spraying, in a week the tomatoes will begin to ripen en masse.

You will be interested to know: Picking tomato seedlings: timing and 5 important rules that will help tomatoes tolerate transplantation well

Why do tomatoes picked from the bush not ripen?

Why don't tomatoes turn red when picked from the bush? There are several reasons for this :
To make tomatoes pour faster , you can add already ripe fruits to them. They will help others acquire the red color faster.

Why does a tomato turn red with green spots near the stalk?

If the temperature is higher or lower than normal values , then not only the fruits slow down in the ripening process, but also a green-yellow edging appears on the tomato stalk.

The concentration of the coloring pigment lycopene in fruits decreases, and therefore the uneven redness of tomatoes disappears.

Important! To avoid a sharp temperature change between day and night, it is necessary to ventilate the greenhouse during the day and turn on the heating at night.

Reasons for slow ripening of tomatoes

You can correctly assess what to do to make tomatoes turn red faster by understanding the reasons for what is happening to them. Tomatoes are heat-loving and very demanding on soil and sunlight.

In most regions of Russia, they can only ripen in a greenhouse with additional lighting, and not all varieties turn red in open ground. But there are reasons that are quite easy to deal with.

Thickening of plantings

Tomatoes love sunlight; this is one of the most important factors in their ripening.

If several plants are too close to each other, they will definitely block the light source for their neighbors. When planting, it is difficult to calculate the correct distance, so this parameter is usually indicated on seed packages. On average, tomatoes are planted at a distance of 20-30 cm from each other.

For reference! Tomatoes are an important source of potassium, manganese and vitamin PP.

The problem of thickening plantings can be solved in two ways - organize additional light sources and direct them so that all plants receive a sufficient number of rays.

Another option is to eliminate excess leaves or entire bushes. It is almost impossible to transplant mature plants, so some of them will have to be sacrificed. If they were immediately planted incorrectly, you cannot count on juicy red tomatoes.

Microclimate

Tomatoes are very demanding not only in terms of lighting, but also in temperature, soil and air humidity.

Many varieties in the climate of some regions of Russia can only grow in greenhouses, but in open ground they remain green until cold weather.

The optimal average daily temperature for tomatoes is 15-17 °C, and humidity depends on the variety and period of life of the plant.

Attention! If tomatoes ripen slowly, you need to measure these indicators and bring them into line with the needs of the variety.

Fertilizer

A simple and safe way is to regularly feed the plantings with fertilizers. It is best to buy special ones designed for tomatoes and appropriate for the climate.

It is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the soil on the site, the sufficient or insufficient content of certain microelements - vegetables need them just like people.

To make tomatoes turn red faster, it is important to choose a variety that is suitable for the area. A huge number of them have been bred, including those resistant to relatively low temperatures and insufficient humidity.

If the variety does not suit the area, then it will not be able to grow without a greenhouse. Hybrid varieties have good endurance and resistance. Some varieties are distinguished by late ripening, and this feature cannot be changed, only to abandon their cultivation in favor of earlier tomatoes.

Important! In areas with hot and sunny, but short, summers, a common way to grow tomatoes without a greenhouse is to collect them brown or green and leave them to ripen on a south-facing window.

Ways to accelerate the ripening of tomatoes in open ground

Tomatoes are planted in open ground at the end of May - June, when the likelihood of night frosts is minimal. The period when plants can grow outside is short - until mid-August. In order for the plants to meet the deadline, several conditions must be met.

Pick the first reddened fruit

The ripening of each fruit requires resources from the plant. Sometimes, when the first fruit turns red, the development of others stops.

A ripening tomato “takes” water and minerals from other parts of the plant, so if it is picked, the process will go faster. This procedure must be done regularly as it matures for it to be effective.

Trim leaves

This method works on the same principle as cutting off the first fruit. Leaves are needed for photosynthesis, but they also take away nutrients and sunlight from the tomatoes. They need to be pruned after fruit set.

Attention! All branches that have ovaries are completely exposed. You need to leave 2-3 leaves on the top - this is enough for photosynthesis.

Pin the top of the head

Another method designed to save nutrients. If you break off the top, the growth of the stem in length will stop, and the ripening of the fruit will accelerate. This should be done after the ovaries have formed.

The method cannot be combined with cutting leaves, but it can be combined with picking the first fruit.

Minimum watering

This method is based on another biological feature of plants - when conditions become unfavorable, and the fruits have already set, nutrients are spent on them. In this way, tomatoes try to produce offspring as quickly as possible, while there are resources for this.

It is necessary to reduce watering in open ground after the ovaries form. This cannot be done in a dry summer, when humidity is already insufficient.

Spray with iodine

Iodine is an essential nutrient for tomatoes, and soil is usually deficient in it. In addition, it helps fight pests and plant diseases.

Regular iodine from a pharmacy is suitable for processing - it is diluted in water at the rate of 1-2 drops per 1 liter of water. The solution is poured into a spray bottle and sprayed onto the soil around the roots of the plant, as well as the lower leaves. This procedure should be done once a month from the moment of sowing the seedlings.

Spray with ash

Ash is a natural fertilizer that has been used to feed tomatoes since they became a cultivated plant. It contains all the substances necessary for the growth and ovary of large fruits.

To properly feed tomato bushes, ash is added to the soil or diluted in water at the rate of 1 teaspoon per 1 liter. Spray the lower parts of the stems and the soil around the roots.

Pour potassium humate

Potassium humate is sold in gardening stores. This is the cheapest and at the same time effective fertilizer - it is potassium that is lacking in soils in most regions of Russia.

Reasons for delayed maturation

There are many reasons why tomatoes slow down their ripening. You should exclude them in order to get tomato fruits faster in the greenhouse.

Temperature

This is the main reason why the development of tomatoes may slow down.

• When the average air temperature is less than 15 degrees Celsius, the growth of tomatoes slows down significantly. Tomato fruits also stop developing.
• When the average air temperature is more than 35 degrees Celsius, the development of tomato bushes completely stops. With prolonged exposure to such temperatures, gradual drying out and falling of the foliage is possible. Tomato fruits stop ripening. Instead of the characteristic red color, the tomatoes acquire an orange tint, and a yellow area appears on the stalk.
• The optimal temperature for full development is considered to be 25 degrees Celsius. If it is impossible to create such conditions in the greenhouse, varieties that are more resistant to low or high temperatures should be selected.

Sun rays

Sunlight is critical for tomatoes to ripen quickly. When deciding what to do to make the tomatoes in the greenhouse turn red, you should make sure there is sufficient lighting for the tomato bushes.

Artificial lighting

• In the summer, when the sun is especially hot, tomatoes exposed to direct sunlight will bake without reaching ripeness.
• Lack of sun, which manifests itself in heavily dense plantings, slows down the ripening of tomato fruits.
• Sufficient light must be provided. When shading bushes, the lower foliage should be removed to ensure sufficient lighting of the fruits. In greenhouse conditions, exposure to direct sunlight is extremely rare.

Nutrients

Delayed maturation may be due to an excess or lack of necessary substances for growth.

Ripening tomatoes in greenhouse conditions

• With an excess of nitrogen in the soil, tomato bushes begin to actively develop leaf mass. Many stepchildren appear. Less substances are given to the development of fruits, and, as a result, they begin to slow down in development.
• With a lack of potassium, the foliage begins to bend and change color. With prolonged deficiency, the leaves and stems begin to dry out. Metabolism slows down, which negatively affects the rate of ripening of tomatoes.
• For the full development of tomato fruits, they need phosphorus. It is known that more than 94 percent of phosphorus is absorbed by fruits, and the rest by foliage and stems. Lack of phosphorus significantly reduces the rate of development of tomato fruits.

By providing tomatoes with comfortable conditions for ripening, you can get a fairly high ripening rate from them. But even these periods can be reduced slightly if you use the secrets and techniques of agricultural technology when growing tomatoes. You can find out below what you can do to make tomatoes turn red faster in a greenhouse.

Actions that delay the ripening process of tomatoes

In order for the harvest to please and ripen on time, you need to avoid the following things:

In a greenhouse, problems with light and humidity are solved more easily - there you can organize additional light or shading, regulate the temperature and evaporation of water. If you need to slow down the growth of seedlings (for example, they were planted too early), you need to reduce watering to a minimum - only when the leaves begin to fade slightly. The box should be placed in the brightest place in the apartment.

Among the many ways to make tomatoes turn red, you can find one that suits every situation. In any case, you must first identify the cause, and only then fix the problem.

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