There are several ways, although the best is to let the tomatoes ripen on the bushes. But as the season ends, the outside temperature drops and you may be left with a pile of unripe tomatoes on the plant. Instead of picking them and throwing them away, you can try one of the techniques that can help you have tomatoes that are ripe and ready to eat.
The most important factor is temperature, not light
Truffles certainly don’t belong on a windowsill, there are plenty of better options. If you’re growing tomatoes in containers, simply move them indoors. They don’t need a lot of light to ripen, but the right temperature. The warmer the fruit is, the faster it will ripen and the faster you can enjoy it.
Ethylene gas is mainly used in professional settings when tomatoes are gassed. Ethylene is commonly released as apples and bananas ripen. So if you store green tomatoes next to apples or bananas, you can be sure that they will ripen faster. But here you need to check that the fruit or vegetables are not rotting and moulding.
You can also put the tomatoes in a cardboard box. But put newspaper on the bottom, and flatten the tomatoes so that they don’t touch each other. Put more newspaper on top of the first layer of tomatoes, then put the box in a warm place and check the tomatoes regularly. If you have space in your basement or garage, you can store a whole tomato bush there and hang it upside down. This method will give the tomatoes the best flavour.
Time to ripen depends on temperature, beware of spoiled pieces as well
.
These methods are mainly suitable for the last stage of ripening, but you can also preserve completely green tomatoes. Here, however, you must take into account that it will take longer and the tomatoes will not be as tasty.
At a temperature of 10-15 degrees, it takes about 3-4 weeks to ripen. At higher temperatures, which range between 18-21 degrees Celsius, the time can be reduced to two weeks. It depends on the conditions in which the vegetables will ripen. Protect the tomatoes from bruising or crushing. The vegetables should have enough space around them to prevent mould from getting on them. Check daily and if you see a bad piece, put it aside so that other pieces do not become infected.