Will my tomatoes ripen?

We have lots of tomatoes but they're still green, they're a good size and in plenty of sunshine (when the sun is actually out!)

Is there still time?

 

I still have some green ones and a few with only flowers, they will ripen. Honest......
You could pop them in a bag with a Banana..........or on a sunny window.

 

Weather permitting, they will ripen well into September.

 

Mine have been ripening for weeks Siennas Blossom
I have found removing foliage helps enormously. Fruit ripens far more quickly

If you are unsure then try it on one or two plants

Remember we are less than 2 weeks from September....now is the time to help the process of ripening

 

I have picked out door toms well into October some years, but in recent years the weather has not been that good and blight tends to become more of a problem.

 

Ok thanks all, I'll try a combination of suggestions then, and see what works best.

 

My first one to show has just started to change to a yellowy orange, only another 99 to go.
My slowly showing Britains Breakfast is racing away now, no colour change but lots of quickly swelling toms, my first on the list for next year methinks.

 

A poster recommends "removing foilage", what does that entail?

At present I'm removing suckers and removing the top-most new growth to curtail the height. I'm cutting off any flowers or any V. small toms as I believe they won't mature this season and are diverting nutrients that could go to their bigger siblings. Their siblings are mostly middle-sized but there's a few that are supermarket "salad" size.

I've now threw a plastic sheet over my 'moneymaker' type bushes, the temp within ranges from 12-16c, and where practical have lined the background with foil or white plastic to reflect the light.

I'll put some banana skins inside the enclosure under the bushes, anything else I can do?

Is it worthwhile putting a tea-light candle in there of a night to keep the temp up?

Lastly I'll echo the query behind every other autumnal tomato thread... will these little beeps ripen? ;-)

 

Well I have removed all the foliage now from tomatoes Green Knees

I have been picking tomatoes on a daily basis for a few weeks now and have been systematically removing foliage during the summer. It means cutting leaves and stems from the plants starting at the bottom and working upwards as time proceeds. It exposes fruit to the sun, keeps plants clean and well ventilated.
I have plenty of tomatoes still available.....some green, they will turn colour in a matter of days, but the rest are ripening day by day. They do not need the foliage now if fruit has formed.

 

Mine are ripening daily now, I'm pleased to say. I am so pleased. I've also been able to pick some apples from the tree and already made a crumble and an apple pie. What a lovely time of year

 

Since the 20th August my ripening tomatoes are up to 6, can't believe it. Most are in some kind of suspended animation, lovely size, exposed to the sun and stripped of leaves.
Even if they do go red I can't judge the taste of my new varieties this year as it's been so up and down.
I'm frantically looking up green tomato recipes as most haven't got a cat in hell chance of ripening. Luckily some recipes look quite tasty.

 

Hi @RobB , I can't believe your season is so short living in Dorset. I'm in west Worcestershire and we don't stopping picking until November, we've even had them ar Christmas, that's another 2 months at least.

 

I agree @KFF. Our tomatoes still growing in the open (on the raised beds) will be being picked for another month yet, the tumbling cherry tomatoes in the trough against the west facing wall will be still going well into October, and the yellow pear tomatoes growing as climbers up the south wall in the patio until November, and we have picked them as late as December too.

In short - don’t give up hope!!

 

Hello @KFF
My garden is on the edge of the village on a slope so cold air comes down into it but enclosed on the downside and back. When the sun is out it's a furnace but when chilly it stays that way as the cold air can't get out and sun doesn't arrive until noon at this time of year. At the moment it's 50f out there.
I will hang on but by my experience not much hope

 

Thank you all for the above.

Funnily enough, as you find in most things in life, as soon as you ask for help, the issue resolves itself, as the next time I looked under the plastic sheet I've got a medium-sized tom on the outside edge of a clump of 4 turning. The joy that came from such a small thing... (said the actress to the bishop.)

I think this is the oldest tom (first to appear) so it may be a matter of simply waiting for the others.

Here's hoping for a mild autumn.