There are plenty of questions asked about how to grow tomatoes, one of the most popular plants grown in American garden. I received a question this week about a particularly interesting problem, tomato plants that grow and produce plenty of fruit, but then the fruit doesn't ripen. After a little research, I discovered that there are two very simple reasons that this might happen.
Why won't your tomatoes ripen?
- The temperature is too low.
Tomatoes need heat to ripen. If the temperature is too low, they will just stay green. To help them along you can try mulching with black plastic or landscaping fabric. The dark material will hold the suns heat into the evening, hopefully prompting riper fruit. Or you can just pick the fruit to ripen inside, keeping it in a warm dark place until it the color deepens to your liking. - You are watering too much.
Most people know that too much moisture will cause the fruit to grow too fast and split, but it may also prevent proper ripening. The fruit will be bland and watery. Cutting back on the watering before harvest will make the fruit sweeter, and it will ripen more quickly.
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