Tomatoes—Pollinating, Ripening And Harvesting

By Jan Cashman

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We all know growing tomatoes in our climate with its cold nights is a challenge. It can be hard to get your tomato plants to set fruit and once the little green fruits are set on the plant, they may be slow to ripen. Here are some hints for producing ripe tomatoes in our climate… 1) Early ‘determinate’ tomato plants (Determinate are smaller plants that quit growing and produce fruit all at once) do not need staking and tend to be earlier ripening. There are many good varieties of determinate tomatoes. A few of our favorites include Beaverlodge Slicer, Belii Naliv, Polar Baby, Oregon Spring, and Glacier. 2) ‘Indeterminate’ plants are vining and need staking. Some indeterminate plants bear early (Sunsugar cherry, Stupice, Parks Whopper, and Black Krim to name a few) and therefore ripen before fall frost. Indeterminate tomatoes will continue to grow, so, in July, cut back their vines to encourage fruiting. 3) Avoid high nitrogen fertilizers that encourage leaf growth, not flowers and fruit. A well-balanced fertilizer or 5-10-10 are a good analyses for tomatoes. 4) Tomato flowers are ‘perfect’ meaning they include both male and female parts on the same flower. But this doesn’t mean all the flowers will pollinate. Nighttime temperatures below 55 degrees can inhibit pollination and cause the flowers to drop as can hot temperatures over 90. Not enough insects to vibrate the flowers can also inhibit pollination. You can help ensure all flowers are getting pollinated by vibrating them with your fingers or even an old electric toothbrush. 5) Cut back on both water and fertilizer in mid to late summer so the plant puts its resources towards producing and ripening the tomatoes. 6) Also, in mid-summer remove flowers and small unripe tomatoes from your plant to put its energies into ripening the bigger tomatoes. It takes 6 to 8 weeks from flowering till the tomatoes are ripe. 7) When tomatoes show a slight red blush, pick the fruit. This allows the smaller, green tomatoes on the plant to ripen. The tomatoes will still be sweet if you bring them inside to ripen. 8)Cheryl Moore-Gough, Master’s Degree in Plant Science and local gardening author, says it is best to let your tomatoes ripen on the plant outside but if a frost is imminent she recommends ‘root pruning’ your tomato plants by slicing its roots. Keep your shovel at least 8 inches from the plant. Root pruning will encourage the tomatoes that are on the plant to ripen quicker. 8)We cover and protect our producing plants from the first few frosts in the fall. Or you can pull up your plants, roots and all, that have a lot of green tomatoes and hang them in a warm garage or basement to ripen. 10) Be aware that tomatoes lose flavor quickly when stored in the refrigerator. Gardeners use and preserve their flood of late summer tomatoes in many ways: I wash and cut out stems and bad spots and freeze them in plastic bags. Or can them, make salsa, juice, relish, or spaghetti sauce and enjoy them all winter long. My husband Jerry says “Don’t forget to plant lettuce so you can make BLT’s.” When our tomatoes are ripe at the end of August, we eat delicious BLT’s almost every night. Enjoy!

Jan Cashman has operated Cashman Nursery in Bozeman with her husband, Jerry, since 1975.