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Post by brownrexx on Oct 21, 2018 7:42:42 GMT -5
At the end of the season do you pick green tomatoes and try to ripen them indoors or do you just let the plants die and figure that tomato season is over?
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Post by octave1 on Oct 21, 2018 8:11:43 GMT -5
I no longer pick green tomatoes. To me they don't taste vine ripe once they are red, so I don't bother. This year I got all the ones that were red or ripening, and left the rest.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Oct 21, 2018 8:14:51 GMT -5
My tomato plants die long before summer is over. Now pepper are the guest that never knows when the party is over.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Oct 21, 2018 8:52:05 GMT -5
My tomatoes also seem to die earlier than my peppers, which seems weird, since peppers like heat more. I just pulled some Thai peppers that had flowers all over them, after I pulled the 3rd flush of peppers about a week ago, yet, it has been in the 40s almost every night. It seems that tomato plants used to have a lot more green tomatoes on them when frost came, so I would pick them, and make a bunch of picalili relish with them. Now, I just pick the end of the crop when pulling the plants out, and I leave them all in a bowl, and use them as they ripen. The few that don't ripen I cut into cubes, and put them into a Thai curry, in which the slightly sour flavor goes well.
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Post by paulf on Oct 21, 2018 9:23:19 GMT -5
Octave1 gave my answer.
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Post by Gianna on Oct 21, 2018 9:27:00 GMT -5
Tomato plants die?
Just kidding. Here where frost is rare, the healthier plants in the warmer, most protected places, just keep growing on. If the fall/winter is warm, it's not unusual to have red ripe tomatoes in Jan/Feb. But that is not every year, though with climate change, it is more often. And while good, they tend to be smaller and not as sweet nor flavorful as summer fruits. But much better than anything you could buy.
Most of the plants do die however from a mix of diseases and end of season neglect. I just pulled some out yesterday. I don't do anything with green tomatoes. And there are still several nice healthy vines on the other side of the property that are still cranking out nice ripe ones.
What I do plan on doing is taking some cuttings from the still healthy plants, and putting a few 'new plants' in large black plastic pots for intentional winter growing. A few weeks ago I just pulled two plants from pots that were well over a year and a half old - they had produced ripe fruits all that time. But eventually they weaken and it's time to put new blood into the rotation.
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Post by september on Oct 21, 2018 10:42:40 GMT -5
Yes, I pick all medium and larger sized green tomatoes. Even ripened in the house, they are juicier and better tasting than store tomatoes, even if they are bland compared to summer tomatoes. Chopped and mixed with other ingredients as for salsa or in scrambled eggs, or added to soups or in fresh cooked spaghetti sauce, they taste just fine to me.
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Post by brownrexx on Oct 21, 2018 10:55:59 GMT -5
I also tried bringing in green ones to ripen indoors in the past and did not care for the taste so I just pick any that are blushing before the first frost and that's it.
I did pick some green ones before pulling the plants this week and made fried green tomatoes as an end of season treat.
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Post by spacecase0 on Oct 21, 2018 15:46:54 GMT -5
I pick all the green tomatoes before the frost let them ripen inside then give them to friends that seem to like them.
my plants grow right up till it frosts. 34F nights don't seem to bother them.
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Post by paquebot on Oct 21, 2018 21:29:23 GMT -5
Used to spread cardboard on the pantry floor and cover it with green tomatoes, Then for the nest month, throw out more rotting ones than ripened. And when they did ripen, everyone was just too tired of tomatoes to appreciate them. Now I only save those which are close to changing color and if I need them for seeds.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by ahntjudy on Oct 22, 2018 9:03:43 GMT -5
Like some here, I used to pick all the tomatoes off the vine before a predicted frost and ended up, like paquebot said, with tons of tomatoes all over the place that many ended up spoiling before ever ripening...It was a pain...And inevitably, if not checked almost every day, there would be the ones that would turn and get to that vile, juicy, bad, smelly tomato situation... I don't pickle or preserve the green ones so I don't need them for that...
I've asked my neighbors if they want any but so far no takers...
This year, I'm letting nature take its course and leaving the green tomatoes on the vine, picking the ones that continue to ripen to freeze or eat fresh for BLT's and stuff...and the green ones out there, I go and pick fresh for fried green tomatoes almost daily til the killing frost gets them...
Much simpler this year...
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Post by guruofgardens on Oct 22, 2018 13:34:12 GMT -5
I usually pick everything, try to ripen what I can, and give many green tomatoes to a friend who makes green tomato pies. She is 'famous' at her church for these pies.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Oct 22, 2018 13:52:20 GMT -5
I wasn't crazy about fried green tomatoes, the few times I had them. Besides the movie making them so popular, my theory is that some people will eat anything if it's fried.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Oct 22, 2018 15:56:25 GMT -5
I don't pick them to ripen them, I pick them to make pickles out of them! Some of my favorites!
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