How to speed up the ripening of tomatoes in the open field and in the greenhouse

Tomatoes love warmth and bright sun. Sometimes in the second half of summer cloudy or cool weather sets in, and in such conditions the fruits on the bushes remain green for a long time both in the open field and in the greenhouse. In this case, you can help the vegetables ripen by applying some tricks.

You can use only one method, several or even all at once. Most importantly, do not forget to delete everything first stepchildren - new sprouts in the axils of the stems. They take away excess nutrition from tomatoes and interfere with the timely ripening of fruits.

1. Pinch off the tops of the plants

From flowering to ripening of a tomato, an average of 45–50 days passes. Try to analyze when cool autumn weather sets in in your area, and the night air temperature begins to drop below 10 degrees. Under such conditions, tomatoes stop developing, stop setting new fruits and inhibit the ripening of old ones. No later than 45-50 days before this time, you need to cut the tops of the tomatoes. In the open field, this procedure is carried out around mid-August, and in the greenhouse - during September.

Leave two leaves above the topmost ovary raceme and gently pinch off the twig with your fingers.

After that, the tomato bush will stop growing and put all its strength into filling and ripening existing fruits.

2. Remove the bottom leaves

Tomatoes ripen from the bottom up. When the fruits on the lower raceme are at least 80% full of the size corresponding to the variety or hybrid, remove the 2-3 lowest leaves with a sharp knife or pruner, leaving stumps 0.5-1 cm long. At the same time, it’s not worth cutting everything at once, leave two leaves under the fruit ovary so that it receives nutrition.

When the fruits on the lower brush begin to turn red, you can cut off all the leaves under it. After you harvest from it, remove all the greens to the next brush. Thus, gradually cut the tops higher and higher.

3. Don't rush to harvest

If there are one or more ripe fruits on the brush, do not remove them from the bush. Such tomatoes actively emit ethylene. Under the influence of this gas, green vegetables will begin ripen faster.

4. Treat tomatoes with iodine solution

Dilute 4 drops of iodine in 1 liter of water. Sprinkle the resulting mixture generously on the leaves of the plants. Carry out the procedure in the evening after sunset, so that drops of the product under the influence of sunlight do not burn the plants.

This treatment can be repeated every week until all the tomatoes on the bush are ripe.

By the way, iodine will not only speed up the ripening of tomatoes, but also help protect them from phytophthora.