All the Ways to Increase Your Tomato Yield (and How They Worked for Me)
Growing tomatoes is the ultimate act of long-term garden love. The amount of time it takes to select a variety, germinate it, raise seedlings, plant it properly, and grow it throughout the season is an investment. This makes the end of the season such a bummer. You watch your plants full of green fruit, begging the sun to give them enough light to ripen and for the rain to linger long enough not to damage them. At some point, right now, all gardeners will have to decide what to do next: remove the tomatoes, roast some green tomatoes and turn the bed over, pray it doesn’t rain, or think about bringing the tomatoes inside?
There are many tips on how to get tomatoes to ripen or even leave them over the winter. Here are all the existing methods and how I dealt with them.
Hang the tomatoes upside down
Pros: Works pretty well
Cons: Requires space and is very messy on the floor.
The idea is simple. Cut the entire plant from the roots, bring it inside and hang it upside down. The tomatoes will eventually ripen and you will be able to harvest them as is. In terms of methods, this is one of the dirtiest because when the plant dies, the leaves fall off, the dirt falls off, and sometimes the missing tomato falls off. You’ll also need space for this, and so, as with most conservation methods, those with unlimited space in their homes or fully functional basements have the advantage.
Bring them inside and don’t hang them up
Pros: No need to try to untangle the plant from the trellis.
Cons: Requires a lot of transportation and requires significant space.
My friend skips the hanging part and cuts the plants at the root level, and then brings the whole plant, trellis and all, and harvests the tomatoes after the new year. I’m short on doorway and floor space, but I’ve watched Jeanne do this successfully for years.
Wrap tomatoes in newspaper
Pros: Nonna approved.
Cons: A lot of work, low profitability.
The idea is this: you take green tomatoes, wrap them in newspaper and place them in a cool room, out of the sun. Check on them about once a week and they will gradually ripen. But this has never happened to me. Instead I end up with a moldy mess. Let me be clear: TikTok is full ofNonnas who use this method, and I believe it works for them. For me it was constant wrapping/unwrapping rather than a lot of tomatoes.
Forced outdoor ripening
Pros: Works and doesn’t make a mess inside.
Cons: Not the highest yield.
In my opinion, the best option is to be vigilant whenpruning outdoor plants, and even at this late stage it is not too late. To force the plant to focus solely on ripening the tomatoes, you need to remove all the leaves and stem shoots from the main branch all the way down to where the tomatoes are. I’m talking naked . You can also cover them with plastic to protect the plant from rain that will split your tomatoes. The moment you see the tomatoes have reached the ” bursting ” stage, where a hint of color breaks the greens, yank them out and let them ripen all the way inside with the help of an ethylene-emitting banana nearby. , and will make the tomatoes ripen.