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We are at the end of our tomato growing season here, and of course there are scads of tomatoes left on our 3 plants - some with color, others still totally green. As a child I remember my mom picking tomatoes and bringing them into the house to ripen over the fall. Often we would have garden grown tomatoes that were brought inside until the end of November. However, I also the fruit flies that seems to always plague them. I don't have a very good place to leave tomatoes on vine in my home, but I do have an old garage I've converted into a garden shed. There's on east facing window (onto a steep hill above). I leave the garage door at least partly open for about 16 hours a week (west facing).

I'm wondering what people's opinions are on if tomatoes left on about a foot of vine and hung on a will will ripen in this environment? I may try bring a few into my kitchen also just for fun.

Ben
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1 Answers1

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Green tomatoes don't need light to ripen, they need ethylene and heat since they're a climacteric fruit. So, some people uproot the entire plant and hang it upside in the garage. Or, you could pick the green tomatoes and put them into a bag with some ripening bananas to supply the ethylene.

However, although they might change color, soften etc, they won't get any sweeter since the plant is not longer able to supply any sugars.

Graham Chiu
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