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Tomatoes ripening off the stem.

OldcompostOldcompost Posts: 191
in Fruit & veg
These were taken from dead stems, the white lines are troughs of salt as a slug barrier.  Will my gro-lux lights at night help or just let nature take its course?
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  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    A traditional way of ripening green tomatoes is to wrap them individually in newspaper and keep them in a drawer, so I don't think lights will make any difference.  I bring mine into the house and put them on the windowsills.  As I don't keep slugs in the house, I don't need to guard them with salt.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,156
    I just put mine on large trays indoors on the windowsill and sideboard. It’s the warmth they need and if doesn’t takd long for them to ripen once they get it. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • OldcompostOldcompost Posts: 191
    So it's heat not light they require?
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,156
    Not ‘hot’  heat ... just steady warmth 15 - 20+C the sort of temperatures in a house, rather than the dips to cooler nighttime temperatures that we get outside at this time of year. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • HelixHelix Posts: 631
    Yes, I agree with others that it’s heat not light you need.  Shame when you’ve gone to all that trouble!   My FIL used to wrap his green toms in paper, but didn’t seem to make a huge difference as ones without paper ripened just as well.  I think the only advantage of paper was to stop them touching each other.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,156
    I would store apples wrapped in paper like that @Helix, cos they’ll be stored for a period of time rather than like tomatoes which are ripened and used. 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 54,012
    Heat - yes. Light is largely irrelevant once they start the process.
    I think mine will need to come into the house too, they're unlikely to finish ripening now, and they're in a  greenhouse  :/
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • GrumpymumGrumpymum Posts: 77
    My dad would do that too @Helix, and keep them in a drawer in his shed, where they would ripen very slowly.  Some years he would still be bringing in tomatoes at Christmas. 

    Might be worth a go this year if there are going to be shortages in a couple of months 😉
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,112
    Last night on the BBC they were talking to a commercial tom grower and he was talking about light levels and stressing plants being very important. 
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,281
    Putting a banana in the middle of them helps too.
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