Lack of ripe tomatoes

[John P]

Anyone got any ideas as to why a lot of my gardening friends and myself are suffering from a distinct lack of ripe tomatoes.most of us are following the same routine we pursued in past seasons and I am sure we have as much sun and heat in our corner of Bedfordshire as other areas of the country. Normally we have a good crop of ripe toms from mid to late July,but this year this has amounted to only about twenty per cent of the entire crop(of which there are plenty). I have sixteen plants,ten of which are in the greenhouse.JP.

[freddy]

Hi John.

It seems that a lot of folks are suffering in this respect. Myself, I've had no problem at all. Indeed, my toms look like they'll soon be over. Very strange.

[Nature's Babe]

Sadly like Freddy my toms are nearly finnished. In fact I ordered a late variety of Tomato Plant 'Shirleys' Pixie' to try and extend the season, but my cape gooseberries and tomatillos are coming into fruit well now. I know we had an early and warm spring but we have had a cooler summer than usual which might be the reason, less warmth when needed for ripening. The cucumbers and achocha are still cropping well.

[The Mouse]

I have noticed the same thing here, too. I mentioned it at work a few weeks ago, and it seems to be quite a widespread problem this year.

It's really disappointing - by now I should be filling my freezer with the surplus tomatoes, but instead am struggling to pick enough to feed us now!

I am just keeping my fingers crossed that they will eventually come good. And if they don't - oh well, there's always next year.

[Nature's Babe]

Mouse, if they still are unripe and you think frosts are due, pick them, wrap in newspaper and put in them in a drawer with a banana, keep an eye on them, andreplace banana if needed, pick out the ripe ones as they gradually ripen for use, some are quicker than others. With this method I have had a supply of tomatoes nearly till christmas. Alternatively there's always green tomato chutney.

[alan refail]

I have noticed that my tomatoes - 28 plants, 9 varieties, all in polytunnel - have behaved a little differently this year. The earliest started ripening as usual (10 July). But then, instead of them building steadily to a glut, progress was slowed down by the low temperatures and lack of sun over the past eight weeks or so. Not to worry, they are steadily ripening now and plenty to give away to friends.

This is the fifth c**p summer here, so we're used to this sort of thing. Previous bad summers have been rather warmer than this year.

We always say: thank goodness we just live here and haven't come on holiday

[JohnN]

Similar story with my plants (Alicante), many not ripening and no surplus for the freezer. So I went down to Lidl's last week and bought 4 kilo of toms-on-the-vine for 99p a kilo! They're Dutch and do have a bit of taste, but they'll be fine for cooking.
John N

[Nature's Babe]

The cooler summers possibly an effect of changes in the gulf stream having a cooling effect, perhaps harder winters will be the norm for a while too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/climate/impact/gulf_stream.shtml

[Primrose]

Me too - exactly the same problem and all my cordons are planted against a south facing fence where they get all the sun available. I have picked just three ripe GD tomatoes & the remainder are all green. Strangely though, my Tumbling Yellow tomatoes, also outdoors in patio containers, started ripening around mid July and I've had a successive stream of them. For some reason they always seem to ripen earlier than the cordons and come to my rescue so they'll be on my "grow list" against next year.

I've also noticed that my Ferlines seem to be slightly smaller than usual this year with fewer tomatoes on each truss. Don't know whether that's because they're F1 and possibly more susceptible to adverse weather conditions. Anybody else having this problem with them?

[glallotments]

Our tomatoes are slow to ripen too but lots of other crops have behaved differently from usual not just tomatoes.

We have had very cool night temperatures so temperatures in the greenhouse have fluctuated wildly from day to night etc. Maybe not as much ripening sunshine either.

Tomatoes haven't set fruit as well either.

[Monika]

Hanging a ripe banana skin amongst the foliage is said to aid ripening! Ours are very late, too. Only started picking the first ones (Gardener's Delight) about 10 days ago, but I bring them into the house half ripe and just leave them to ripen in the warmth of the house.

[oldherbaceous]

Maybe it's a sign of a glorious Indian Summer, to come.

[Nature's Babe]

I hope we do have an Indian Summer OH , we have had the coolest summer for a long time.
I read this and wondered if someone had a brain storm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... experiment

[Geoff]

Like so many of you it seems we are also short of the Tomato glut for preserving. We have had quite variable results. Most of the cherries are doing fairly well inside and outside, particularly Sungold. The beefsteaks in the greenhouse by comparison are a waste of space. The middle sized ones are very slow. One success was, new to us, Bloody Butcher; not very good looking plants cropped early and have kept cropping, one plant outside is out performing everything else. One particular disaster is Cossack, also new to us, both inside and outside they start to ripen then fall off with rot around the stalk, throwing the rest of the packet away!

[Arnie]

Hi All

I have read somewhere that is down to low light levels and another very poor summer, this year is worst for my toms I am afraid to say but they have been a complete waste of time and effort

Regards

Arnie