How to speed up the ripening of tomatoes? How to speed up the ripening of greenhouse tomatoes

August is full is underway picking tomatoes. But weather, established during this period in our region, often force gardeners to remove from 30 to 70% of the fruits of this crop unripe in order to avoid their damage. However, these indicators can be significantly reduced if the summer resident uses some agricultural techniques aimed at accelerating the filling and ripening of tomatoes.
First of all, for planting it is necessary to use early and mid-season varieties and hybrids that are capable of producing their harvest in a shorter growing season than their late-ripening counterparts. In addition, the planting area must certainly be open and well-warmed by sunlight throughout the day.
To redirect nutrients to fruit filling and ripening, it is necessary to periodically (once every 7-10 days) trim 2-3 lower leaves on each bush in August. They often have a pale green or yellow color, as they are shaded by the upper, younger leaves and practically do not bring any benefit to the plant, but only draw juices from it. In addition, such pruning improves air exchange inside the bush, and the fruits, better illuminated by the sun, begin to ripen much faster.
For the same purpose in the first ten days of August it is necessary to pinch the growing point of each plant, and also remove all the inflorescences and small newly appeared ovaries, which definitely will not have time to fill and ripen in the prescribed time.
Also during this period, to speed up the ripening of tomatoes, you can spray the bushes on the leaves with an iodine solution. To prepare it, you need to take 30-40 drops of iodine per 10 liters of water and use this amount of solution for irrigation 1.5 linear meters beds.
In order to reduce the risk of plant infection with late blight in August, which is caused by cold dew that falls due to differences in day and night temperatures, It makes sense to install arcs over the garden bed and cover them with film at night. Under such cover the bushes will remain dry, which will have a beneficial effect on the quality of the fruit.
At the beginning of August, stop watering and fertilizing the plants. This will allow you to get meatier tomatoes, which with this approach will be able to accumulate a sufficient amount of sugars and will turn out sweeter and more tasty.
If possible, it is advisable to turn all the brushes towards the sun, securing them with spacers, and place slingshots under them to avoid them breaking off under the weight of the filling fruit.
Some gardeners use one to speed up the ripening of tomatoes. simple trick– put a plastic bag on each hand, at the bottom of which a small hole is made to drain condensate. Inside the package the temperature is set higher than on outdoors, the concentration of ethylene released by the fruits increases, and this contributes to their faster ripening. In addition, the experience of gardeners indicates that plastic bags protect fruits from late blight.
To speed up the ripening of tomatoes experienced gardeners at a height of 8-10 cm from the soil surface, make a small through hole in the stem of each plant lengthwise cut. Then a wooden chip is inserted into it so as to push the walls of the stem apart by 1-1.5 cm. In this case, the size of the fruit remains the same, but they are short time acquire a color characteristic of this variety.
For the same purpose, you can carefully tear the roots of the plant, slightly pulling it up. IN in this case Due to deformation of the root system, the supply of moisture and nutrition is reduced, which contributes to faster and more efficient ripening of the crop.
Limit access nutrients and accordingly, thin copper wire or synthetic twine, several turns of which at a height of 4-5 cm from the ground, pull the plant stem, helps to speed up the ripening of fruits.
It makes no sense to bring tomatoes in the garden to full ripeness, Thus, their overall productivity decreases. To enable the remaining fruits to ripen as quickly as possible, you need to pick brown unripe tomatoes from the bushes 1-2 times a week. Moreover, it is advisable to collect them in the early morning hours so that they do not have time to heat up in the sun. They are laid out for ripening in a dry, ventilated area. It is worth noting that in the light, tomatoes ripen in a shorter time, and in dark room– slower, but more evenly.
To speed up, they can be folded into carton boxes, placing several red copies next to them. The boxes must be covered and placed in a room with an air temperature of 20-25°C. In a closed, warm space, the concentration of ethylene gas released by tomatoes increases significantly, which significantly reduces the ripening period of this vegetable. In addition, it is worth keeping in mind that under all equal conditions large fruits ripen faster than smaller ones.
Kudrina Irina

Kira Stoletova

Many people wonder why tomatoes in the greenhouse do not turn red and do not ripen well. There may be several reasons why tomatoes do not ripen in a greenhouse. Let's look at the main reasons in the article.

Tomato ripening process

In the first 30 days after ovary, tomatoes grow rapidly, and over the next 20-25 days they become plump and red. A tomato that has matured and acquired a red color while still in the garden, before harvest, is considered to be of high quality. This is a sign that the tomato contains the entire range of useful substances and has excellent taste.

There are types of tomatoes that are yellow or green in color. Check out the characteristics of the variety - perhaps it should not turn red.

But if a variety should ripen in the garden, but it does not ripen on time, then there are certain reasons that arise when growing both in open ground, and in greenhouse conditions.

Causes of unripe tomatoes

If your tomatoes still don’t turn red in a well-equipped greenhouse, you can conclude that they are missing something. What factors can interfere normal development vegetable crop and the fact that it does not ripen well?

1. Air temperature. The optimal range is from 22 to 29 °C. When hypothermia or excessive heating occurs, the lycopene metabolism in the vegetable is disrupted. The tomatoes take on a bright yellow color and will no longer turn red.
2. Excessive solar lighting has a detrimental effect on the development of the plant: the fruits can simply burn out. However, tomatoes should not be kept in the dark either.
3. Microclimate. Avoid higher level humidity in the greenhouse and sudden temperature fluctuations.
4. Planting density. The distance between the bushes should be at least 30 cm. Planted closely together, the fruits ripen unevenly.
5. Fertilizer. Excess nitrogen leads to delayed ripening and leaves turning a gray-golden color. In turn, an insufficient amount of potassium in the soil leads to woodiness of the stems, which results in a retardation in the formation of tomatoes with the correct weight gained.
6. Variety For each climate zone there are most suitable varieties tomato. In places with predominantly cold weather, preference is given to early ripening varieties.

Stimulation of maturation

1. Helps replenish iodine deficiency foliar feeding from a solution of iodine (35 drops) per 10 liters of boiled water.
2. In autumn, plants cannot receive enough sunlight. To provide your tomatoes with the warmth of the rays as much as possible, trim off all excess leaves from the bush and turn it towards sunny side. Remove all obstacles that prevent the rays from reaching. Budding during cold weather is rather unpromising, so blooming buds It is recommended to remove it carefully. New fruits are unlikely to have time to ripen before the onset of frost. When they come, move the plants to the most warm corner greenhouse or cover with a cloth to prevent them from freezing.
3. Pinching and trussing will also help when the vegetable does not ripen evenly. Trim leaves and shoots to those areas where the fruits are already ripe and have had time to fill, and new ones will not form. This way you save large quantity nutrition for needy fruits, and they will develop faster.
4. To protect plants from infection, which can also cause underripening, treat the leaves with protective solutions: vitriol or traditional methods, garlic water, diluted with alcohol - 2-3 times over a week and a half.
5. If tomatoes in a greenhouse do not turn red well, ethyl alcohol helps speed up the process. You need to sprinkle a few drops of it close to the root of the tomato. In the near future, fruits that are lagging behind in development will catch up with already ripe specimens and will develop faster in the future.
6. A popular procedure among vegetable growers is cutting down the metabolic process of the upper and lower sides of the bushes. To do this, the tomato stem is cut and a metal wire is inserted into it.
7. If you place an unripe fruit next to a ripe tomato, then after some time it will begin to ripen faster thanks to ethylene. The statement is not scientific, but you can still try to speed up ripening and redness in this way.

Features of care

If all the tomatoes in the greenhouse do not turn red, the fault is due to improper care. In rare cases, the problem lies in the shortcomings of the variety itself.

Growing in a greenhouse has its own nuances. High humidity does not have a very good effect on the formation of fruits, although they like the soil to be abundantly moist. Therefore, make sure that the level does not exceed the norm.

None artificial lighting cannot replace a plant’s natural light source. Still, try to ensure the maximum that special lamps for greenhouses can provide.

• In the first ten days of August, when cold dew begins to fall, place arches on the tomato plantation and cover the plantings with film overnight. Moisture will settle on it, but the fruits will remain dry. This will reduce the possibility of late blight.
• To speed up the ripening of tomatoes, you can spray the plants iodine solution(30-40 drops per 10 liters of water per 1.5 linear meters of bed). It’s time to stop watering and fertilizing.
• Carefully turn the branches of low-growing plants towards the sun, securing them with spacers, and place slingshots under the hands.
• Collect all the brown and large green tomatoes and place them to ripen.
• Pinch off the tops of the plants. Leave two or three leaves above the inflorescences with already established tomatoes - they will ensure the growth of fruits.
• Lower leaves should be removed down to those brushes on which the tomatoes are already ripening.
• On low-growing and medium-growing bushes, you can leave a maximum of four or five tassels, so all excess flower tassels will have to be broken out. After these operations, the bushes will spend energy not on growth, but on filling the ovary.
• At the end of the month, when the fruits have time to fill, perform any of the operations that limit the supply of moisture and nutrients from the roots:

1. in the stems at a height of 8-12 cm from the ground, use a sharp knife to make longitudinal through cuts 7-10 cm long, insert wooden chips into them so that the cracks do not close;
2. or, holding the lower part of the stem, slightly pull the plant up several times, while twisting in the direction of the arrow;
3. or tighten several rings of thin copper wire on the stem at a height of 3-4 cm from the soil surface.

What to do with tomatoes growing in a greenhouse to speed up the ripening of the crop:

The same manipulations, but a little later, are done with greenhouse tomatoes. If the greenhouse is not heated, 6-7 tassels are left on the plants, in heated ones - 10-12. Before the onset of frost, the fruits on the middle clusters will have time to ripen completely, and those on the upper ones - partially. Remove any emerging stepsons. The number of leaves is gradually increased to 13-18.

Methods for ripening tomatoes

• Large green fruits that have begun to turn brown are collected in the morning, before they are heated by the sun, and sorted. Healthy ones are placed for ripening in a dry, ventilated area. In the light they ripen faster, in the dark - more evenly.
• If you want the tomatoes to ripen slowly, select fruits of the same degree of ripeness, lay them in two or three layers, sprinkle them with sawdust, and store them at 8-10 °C.
• For accelerated maturation the temperature is raised to 20-25°C and red fruits are added. They emit ethylene, which in plants is responsible for the “aging” of the body. It is when tomatoes “age” that they turn red.

Kira Stoletova

IN northern regions Summer residents strive to speed up the ripening of tomatoes in order to have time to harvest before the first frost. There are several ways to do this. Let's look at each of them.

Pinching and pinching

The procedures of pinching and pinning of extra lateral shoots, which take a significant part of the plant, help influence the formation of fruits and accelerate the ripening of tomatoes. useful elements. Multiple shoots inhibit the development and growth of vegetable crops and, as a result, delay the flowering and ripening of vegetables in open ground.

Stepsoning

You can carry out the pinching procedure to speed up the ripening of tomatoes using one of the following options:

• formation into 1 trunk, for which everything is cut off side shoots in the leaf axils;
• formation into 2 trunks, when at the beginning of flowering all lateral shoots are removed with the exception of the only one located under the very first flower brush from above;
• formation into 3 trunks, in which, together with the lateral shoots under the first flower cluster, one of the healthiest, most powerful stepson remains on top, located just below, all other lateral shoots are cut off.

Topping

Pinching also helps tomatoes ripen earlier. This procedure consists of removing the upper part, where the fruiting shoot and flower brushes with not yet formed ovaries are located. As a result vegetable crop directs forces to the ripening of already set fruits.

Feeding tomatoes

It will help to speed up the ripening period of tomatoes in open soil. proper nutrition. Timely deposited mineral fertilizers and spraying by special means- the key to rapid fruit ripening. Among the means and preparations that accelerate the harvest of tomatoes are the following:

• Superphosphate. An extract from it with a concentration of 0.5% is sprayed on the vegetable crop at the very beginning of the tomato flowering stage;
• Hydrel. Plantings are sprayed with this growth stimulator once at the stage of already formed vegetables, approximately 1.5 months before the planned harvest.
• Bor. Tomatoes are watered and sprayed boric acid in the case of a vegetable crop shedding inflorescences or ovaries, which subsequently affects the ripening period of tomatoes.
• Iodine. Feeding tomatoes with iodine significantly reduces the ripening of tomatoes if done foliarly, spraying the foliage. A weak solution of 30-40 drops per 10 liters of water is suitable for these purposes.

Food restriction

Some summer residents in Lately began to practice restricting the nutrition of tomato crops in order to speed up the process of fruit ripening. Gardeners who practice such techniques are confident that under conditions of limited nutrition, the vegetable crop experiences stress and accelerates development, including the ripening of fruits.

Incision

In the trunk at a height of about 10-12 cm from the soil surface using garden knife a through cut is made in which a pre-prepared wooden plate of 0.5 x 2 cm is placed. Breaking the stem does not completely block the flow of nutrition, but significantly reduces its volume.

Padding

At the same height the stem is pulled copper wire in the transverse direction. This constriction, which limits nutrition, is fixed.

Injury

The plant is slightly pulled out of the ground by the base of the trunk until a faint crunching sound of thin roots being torn is heard. The result of such manipulation is the death of part of the root system and restriction of the supply of food and water to the plant.

Ripening

Ripening helps speed up the ripening of tomatoes grown in open soil. In this case, you can carry out such an event both with a whole tomato bush and with picked green tomatoes.

Moving under the roof

When there are still a lot of green vegetables left on the bushes, and cold weather has already arrived, vegetables can ripen indoors right on the bushes. Tomato bushes They simply pull it out of the ground along with the root system and hang it in a barn, greenhouse or other enclosed space to ripen.