When working in the garden on a typical warm sunny morning and trimming dead leaves off your tomato plant nothing is more frustrating than accidentally knocking off a big beautiful green tomato before its ready to be picked.
Fortunately, there is no need for despair as your tomato will continue to ripen once you take it indoors. Through my own experience and research, I will explain the process of how to ripen green tomatoes that fell off the vine.
How to Ripen Green Tomatoes?
Green tomatoes ripen best in a warm place where the temperature is between 70°F to 75°F. The tomato should be placed in a cardboard box next to a fruit that produces ethylene gas. The process should take between 7 and 14 days depending on the variety of tomato.
4 Best Ways to Ripen Tomatoes Indoors
- By placing tomatoes near another fruit that produces ethylene gas you can speed up the ripening process.
- You can ripen tomatoes with a banana by putting them together in a brown paper bag which will speed up the ripening process. Make sure and check on them periodically for signs of mold or rot. It should take 7-14 days for the tomato to ripen.
- You can also use a small cardboard box such as a shoebox and pair a few green tomatoes with a ripening banana covering them with a single layer of paper.
- You can put 2 or 3 green tomatoes in a large glass jar with a lid or a plastic bag but make sure you poke holes in the lid/bag and open it every couple of days to avoid any potential mold or rot problems.
Some fruits that produce ethylene gas include the following: Ripening bananas, apples, apricots, avocados, cantaloupe, figs, honeydew, Kiwi, mangoes, nectarines, papayas, passion fruit, peaches, pears, persimmons, plantains, plums, and prunes.
What Makes Tomatoes Ripen?
Temperature is one of the most important factors in a tomato’s color change. For a tomato to turn red the temperature must between 50°F and 85°F or 10°C to 29°C If the temperature falls below 50 degrees Fahrenheit the tomato will stay green.
The optimal temperature for the ripening process is 70°F to 75°F or 21-23.88°C range.
Two pigments lycopene and carotene aid in the process of turning a tomato red. Another factor in the ripening process is ethylene which tomatoes and other fruits produce.
What is the tomato ripening process?
The tomato ripening process begins when a tomato reaches the mature green stage it then starts producing ethylene which triggers the ripening process.
There are six stages in the tomato ripening process including the mature green stage, breakers stage, turning stage, pink stage, light red, and red stage.
Do tomatoes need the sun to ripen?
Tomatoes do not need the sun to ripen though they do need to be at a certain temperature.
This is one reason you hear about the myth of putting tomatoes in a sunny windowsill helps speeding up the ripening process but really it does nothing to aid a color change as large amounts of sunlight are not required for the ripening process.
Too much direct sunlight can cause the skin of the tomato to harden while cooking the flavor out of them so leave them off the windowsill and away from the sink.
How long does it take for picked tomatoes to ripen?
How fast a tomato ripens will depend on the variety and size of the tomato. Smaller tomatoes such as cherry tomatoes will ripen faster than larger ones such as beefsteak tomatoes.
It will also depend on what stage of the ripening process a tomato was picked at but generally, a tomato will ripen in 7 to 14 days once off the vine.
Remember the following:
- Green tomatoes that have not matured can’t ripen once you’ve picked them
- Leaving part of the stem on the tomato is best for the ripening process
- Ripening a tomato indoors can take around 7-14 days if you keep the temperature between 70-75°F or 21 to 23.88°C.
- Don’t refrigerate a tomato as it will ruin the flavor
- You can slow down the ripening process by keeping the tomatoes in a cool area.
- When looking for a storage area make sure and space out your picked tomatoes this will help create good airflow to avoid bruising and rot.
- For better-flavored tomatoes pick the fruit as it’s turning pink.
Is it better to let tomatoes ripen on the vine?
You can pick a tomato off the vine once it starts turning a slight pink color known as the breakers stage. Once the tomato becomes pink it stops taking in nutrients from the main plant.
At this point, a picked tomato will continue ripening with its full flavor intact.
The ideal temperature for ripening tomatoes in the breakers stage is at 60-65°F or 15.5°C to 18°C.
You should pick your tomato once it starts turning pink for several reasons
- Allows other tomatoes to continue their ripening process
- Saves the tomato from insects, sunspots, and animals such as squirrels.
- Too many tomatoes on a vine can cause the stem to break or tomatoes to fall off prematurely.
- If your tomato is an indeterminate variety leaving too many ripening tomatoes on the vine can slow down new blossom production known as fruit overload.
7 ways ripen green tomatoes on the vine
- Trim lower leaves off the plant stem, this will help the whole plant focus more energy towards fruit production it also creates airflow for the plant reducing disease.
- Cut off any diseased leaves or stems of the plant as these will slow down plant growth and tomato production.
- Reduce watering. Once tomatoes begin to mature less water is required by reducing water intake you aid in speeding up the ripening process while reducing the potential for disease.
- Keep the plant dry and water at the base of the entire plant, not the top.
- Check daily and pick the tomatoes as soon as they start turning pink which will help other tomatoes ripen faster.
- Cover your tomatoes if temperatures drop below 50 degrees as a tomato will not ripen in that low of a temperature.
- Picking off smaller fruit allows the plant to invest energy in the larger fruit if it’s close to the fall season.
Are fried green tomatoes just unripe tomatoes?
Yes, fried green tomatoes are merely unripe tomatoes that are light green and feel solid. There are heirloom tomato varieties that are green such “Marz Round Green” but these are not used in fried green tomato recipes.
Hopefully, some of these tips help you the next time you have a few green tomatoes fall to the ground in your vegetable garden.
You can also reference this information if you know a frost is coming and you need to pick the last few green tomatoes of the season.