tomato ripening

[SMS6]

Don't know the answer to that one but wouldn't the skins attract fruit flies?

Good point - I think I'll let mother nature do her thing naturally and just be patient

[bramble]

I have been picking a few Sungold for the past week now but have to say they are slow to ripen.
Have harvested 3 large Legand but would'nt bother growing them again as they don't put out a good crop and are not as early as advertised.

[Florence Fennel]

I always wait for the tomatoes to ripen naturally, but at the end of the season when it is fairly obvious that they are "staying" green, I take them off the vine and put them in brown paper bags with a banana, pop them in a drawer or cupboard and in a few days hey presto, they're ripe. I also use the green ones (again at the end of the season), for chutney or slice and fry with bacon. Be patient!

[zazen999]

would hurrying them along with banana skin alter the natural flavour?

Don't know the answer to that one but wouldn't the skins attract fruit flies?

Good point - I think I'll let mother nature do her thing naturally and just be patient

Nom Nom Nom....can't hear you as I'm eating loud crunchy salad with my first red tomato brought to you with the wonders of nana skins.

Each to their own, but I have always used nana skins; if you chuck them away before they start to go mouldy [ie after a few days] and replace with a new nana skin, they don't attract any flies. Nor do they seem to muck up any flavours....not that I've noticed - tonight's was extremely delicious and tomatoey.

[teakdesk]

Well I believe you Zazen !!!!

Fruit exposed to ethylene gas start to age quicker (ie ripen quicker)

All fruit produces ethylene gas as it ripens; you will find that this gas given off by the first couple of ripening tomatoes causes the rest of the fruit to start ripening. Many of us have noticed that it takes ages for the first tomato to ripen and then lots ripen together - this is in part to due to the ethylene produced.

Any fruit can be added to the greenhouse to supply ethylene gas but banana skins are particularly good at producing it.

Commercially, tomatoes can be picked green and stored in an inert gas (such as nitrogen). When the supermarkets are ready to put them on the shelves they are put into strong ethylene gas to ripen them quickly. Some say it is this quick ripening that means they lack flavour.

The weak ethylene gas from a banana will not ripen as quickly as commercial tomatoes so flavour is probably unaffected.

If you want to produce a full truss of ripe tomatoes, like those sold "on the vine" in supermarkets, then picking the truss green and using banana skins to ripen is a great way to do it.

[divvy]

I have had 2 ripe cherry toms . One each for me and my OH . I had forgoten about nana skins so thank you for reminding me. I will put one in tonight . All the other toms are green . I have trimmed a lot of leaves off all the way up so that what sun we do get can see the toms .

[PeshB7]

If I put nana skins under each tomato plant will it help ripen the whole truss?

I want to chop off a whole truss of toms like they have in the supermarket which are all fully ripe. At the moment, they are ripening from the top down and slowly.

I picked a ripe one 3 days ago from the top of the truss, the next one down took 3 days to ripen.

Will the nana ripen the whole truss while still on the plant. Or is it best to remove the whole truss and then ripen indoors with a paper bag and nana?