Rapid ripening of tomatoes - what to do. How to speed up the ripening of tomatoes

Alexandra asks us: “What methods can be used to speed up the ripening of greenhouse tomatoes?”

  • Select the largest vegetables, pierce them with a toothpick in the area of ​​the stalk several times.
  • The puncture should be shallow - half the size of a toothpick.
  • Process all tomatoes in the same way.


You will see that ripening will go faster. Redness of the tomato will occur earlier by about 7 days. The holes from the toothpicks will weather and become less noticeable. taste characteristics tomatoes will be no worse.

Surgical method

There is another way to speed up ripening. Take a knife and make a through slit near the root collar of the tomatoes. Its length should reach 8 centimeters. A wooden pin is placed into the resulting split in the tomatoes. Its thickness should reach 4 mm. It is made from pine chips or matches.

As a result, the ripening of tomatoes goes better, since the plant directs its forces to grow the fruits. Tomatoes turn red after surgery a whole week faster. This is good, especially when autumn comes early.


Plant ringing

To make the fruits turn red faster, you can ring the plants. A thin wire made of copper is taken, and with it, at a height of 3 centimeters from the ground, a ring is made around the tomatoes in the greenhouse. The ring is tightened, but you need to act carefully so as not to cut off the trunk of the tomato. It is possible to accelerate ripening due to the fact that the supply of photosynthesis products located in the leaves goes to the fruits, and is not carried to the roots. At the same time, the quality of tomatoes in the greenhouse also increases - they accumulate more carbohydrates. Tomatoes in in this case have a higher dry matter content and become sweet.


You can speed up the filling of tomatoes using various fertilizers. So, feeding with iodine helps to speed up the filling of tomatoes. For 10 liters of water you will need 40 drops of the substance. The resulting mixture is sprayed onto the leaves of the plant. To grow good harvest tomato, spend foliar feeding Recommended after 4 pm or on a cloudy day. This way you can avoid burning the leaves. Nitrogen fertilizing vegetables are fed in sunny days. Fertilizing should be done in the form aqueous solution. Compliance with the presented rule will help to grow fruits without nitrates.

How to speed up the ripening of tomatoes (video)

Grow a crop of vegetables in short time not easy, but possible. You can apply fertilizing, carry out banding, and perform surgical procedures.

Every gardener wants to receive as much as possible in gratitude for his work. high yield. Among other things, it is desirable that the fruits ripen quickly and have an excellent taste.

Reasons for poor tomato harvest in a greenhouse

Thickening of plantings is one of the reasons for delayed ripening of tomato fruits.

Unfortunately, even growing in greenhouse conditions does not always involve receiving quick results due to many reasons:

  • Shifted landing dates are quite capable of extending the ripening period, since the development of the plant depends on many factors available at the time of planting.
  • But also possible reason can perform . Both waterlogging and drought can delay the date of tomato ripeness.
  • Deficiency or excess of fertilizers also acts as a “braking” factor.
  • An important condition for the development and degree of ripeness of fruits is proper design of a greenhouse for plants .
  • Violation of technology not only inhibits development, but can also cause the death of plantings.

How to speed up the maturation process

Fruits located closer to the trunk grow and ripen faster than others.

To ensure results, the first step is to eliminate the causes that can hinder the process.

Help methods:

  • ensuring correct fit;
  • compliance with plant nutrition rules;
  • eliminating defects inside the greenhouse;
  • providing ventilation;
  • ensuring access to light;
  • removal of brown fruits;
  • removing the tops;
  • piercing;
  • copper wire method;
  • the use of superphosphate or copper sulfate;
  • use of saline solution.

Before deciding which product to use, you must choose - organic, agrotechnical or chemical method use.

Organic

Organic matter is added only when planting tomatoes.

Of course, if the planting was carried out with violations, then it is quite difficult to correct the situation, since replanting the bush will not have a positive effect. Rather, on the contrary, it will weaken the culture even more, will slow down its development . In this case, using certain manipulations you can slightly speed up the process, but the result will not be what was expected.

Among other things, you also need to feed the plant correctly - carefully calculate the dosage, concentration, and time of fertilizing.

To accelerate fruit ripening, superphosphate fertilizer is used.

Not recommended abuse nitrogen-containing fertilizers , since nitrogen affects the development of the green part of the crop - larch, stems, central trunk - the development of tomatoes will slow down.

Diseases

It is worth considering that the reason for delayed ripeness can be a latent period of disease, so it is necessary to create the maximum comfortable conditions for growing tomatoes.

The first step is to disinfect the greenhouse - treat it with fungicides, fumigate it with wool, or spray ash with tobacco dust.

The greenhouse should be well ventilated, maximum access to light and sun rays, and for this the density must be eliminated.

Inspection of fruits

Green fruits will ripen faster if you pick red tomatoes in time.

On one bush, as a rule, several fruit units of varying degrees of development develop simultaneously. To speed up ripening the most green tomatoes, yellowed and brown vegetables should be removed from the branches. In conditions room temperature After some time, the removed units will gain the necessary condition, and the fruits remaining on the branches will ripen faster, since all the energy will be spent on their growth.

Topping

Many gardeners use another method - pinch the top. The recommended time is August, but later manipulations will also give results.

After pinching, 7–8 brushes will remain on the bush, which will give a full harvest.

The point of pinching is that the flowering top of the bush is removed , at the same time, the ripening of fruits is accelerated, since the plant does not expend energy on peduncles. Not only the large inflorescence is torn off - small developing ovaries are also pinched off. The lower part of the bush is freed from leaves to the nearest immature brush. The conditioned reflex method is used. A similar method is designed for the fact that the plant accumulates all the forces for survival and preservation of the “cubs”.

To do this, at an altitude of about 15 cm The trunk is pierced with a knife, while holding the blade vertically. The shingles are inserted into the resulting hole. The effect is achieved by slowing down the inflow useful substances and moisture, as a result of which only the “offspring” are fed, and the plant itself receives a minimum of nutrition.

Limiting nutrition in the root system

A similar effect is also achieved by limiting nutrition in the root system.

  1. You should pull the bush up a little, thereby slightly undermining the roots or slightly cut it with a knife or shovel.
  2. The cuts are made on both sides, the gap should be at least 15 cm .

Application of copper wire

You can shorten the ripening time by about a decade if you use copper wire. At a distance of three centimeters from the ground level, a tight ring of copper wire is put on the trunk. Need to tighten tightly but carefully- so as not to cut off the stem.

Suitable for dragging the barrel copper wire about 1 mm thick.

The purpose of this method is to reduce the downward current.

The supply of photosynthetic products that has accumulated inside the larch reaches the fruits almost in full due to the fact that access to the root system is limited.

Another advantage of this method– improving the taste and commercial qualities of tomatoes due to the fact that the level of excess moisture, and the amount of carbohydrates increases. Vegetables increase sugar and dry matter levels.

Old-fashioned methods

Many gardeners use the old, proven old-fashioned methods, which also lead to a positive result.

  • Often used to speed up ripening saline solution . You need to take two hundred grams of salt, dilute it in ten liters of water. The prepared solution is sprayed tomato tops. The essence of the procedure is to accelerate the drying of larch due to the outflow of nutrition from the stem part and the transition nutrients to fruit. Among other things, a protective salt cocoon is formed on the surface of the tomatoes and leaves, which... If the crop is grown in open ground, the imperfection of this method is revealed - during rain the protection is washed off, which is not important for greenhouse cultivation, since, as a rule, in a greenhouse drip irrigation root zone.

    Spraying tomatoes with a solution of table salt.

  • Another old-fashioned method is considered no less effective - using organic infusion . Prepare an infusion: a container or barrel with a capacity of two hundred liters is filled with water. IN equal shares crush dandelions and nettles, fill a third of the container with herbs, add ten kilograms of rabbit or cow dung, insist for ten days. After the mixture is ready, the floating liquid is removed and Humate is added. Add ten parts of water to one part of the mixture and water the bed. For one square meter there must be at least four liters of mixture.

    The nettle infusion should “ferment”. To make the process go faster, it is better to place the container in a sunny place.

  • Business executives often carry out the so-called piercing method . Use a toothpick or other pointed thin stick to pierce the largest vegetables. The piercing area is the apex near the fruit stem. You need to try not to pierce the vegetable too deeply - the hole should be about half the size of a toothpick. The purpose of this method– accelerate ripening by a week, while taste qualities and the size will not deteriorate.

Chemicals

Before review chemicals, it should be noted that using chemicals can cause harm to health when eating vegetables, since some drugs are quite toxic to the human body.

  • Use phosphorus extract : seventeen grams of superphosphate are poured into a glass of water and left for three days. The finished infusion is poured into a container with ten liters of water. The effect of spraying will come quickly - the leaves will darken, acquire a “bottle” shade due to an improvement in the process of photosynthesis, and the fruits will ripen faster.

    Superphosphate granules do not dissolve well in water, so it is better to use them immediately hot water, and when infused, stir the solution more often.

  • But it is also recommended to use instead of superphosphates copper sulfate . The mixture is prepared as follows: one tablespoon is dissolved in ten liters of liquid, the bushes are sprayed. The effect is similar to the use of superphosphate.

    Preparing a solution of copper sulfate in a plastic bucket.

  • Gardeners often resort to help boric acid . Take ten grams of acid, three granules of sodium humate and potassium permanganate, twenty grams of urea, ten liters of water. The brushes of inflorescences are processed.
  • Treatment is allowed - twenty drops of iodine, one liter of whey, ten liters of water. The latter solution can also be used as an antibacterial agent.

Video on how to speed up fruit ripening by pruning shoots

Experienced summer residents already in June begin to “rack their brains” about accelerating the ripening of tomatoes in a greenhouse or open ground. After all, the Russian summer is short and people throw away bushes with unripe fruits after the first September rains (gradually turning into frosts). Many gardeners use ripening as one of the ways to speed up the ripening of tomatoes.

Any of the methods for stimulating the ripening of tomatoes is suitable for summer cottage both for greenhouse vegetables and those grown on open ground. By combining the techniques listed below, you can control the formation of fruits in tomatoes and speed up their development and ripening. Processed tomatoes ripen in one and a half weeks ahead of schedule. In addition, well-groomed tomatoes simple varieties will be protected from blossom end rot as well as some hybrid comrades.

We remove the extra shoots from the tomatoes

The larger the bush, the longer the tomatoes will ripen. Side shoots draw nutrients and interfere with the formation of the main bunches. Metabolic processes in an unkempt plant proceed more slowly, and its fruits show signs of late blight and blossom end rot (more details). The newly planted tomato develops quickly and produces a high-quality harvest.

The first clearing of side shoots is carried out when transplanting seedlings into the soil on the site. Subsequent ones - as the bush overgrows, but at least once a week. The last stepson (especially in conditions Middle zone) falls at the end of July. By this time, we cut off all the leaves and branches to the top flower cluster (or maybe yours?). It is best to use scissors or pruners. Moving from one vegetable to another, it is advisable to disinfect the blades in a 1% solution of potassium permanganate. After pruning, a stump remains at the shoot site. He will not allow the bush to start a new forcing.

Removed lashes and leaves should be collected in a bucket and disposed of, because they provoke infectious diseases plants. It is best to lay the tops in compost pit(box) in the garden. In it, plant residues will turn into a natural substrate.

Pinching when growing

Fruits of the first cluster (the earliest) are often subject to fasciation. This physiological disorder is associated with daily temperature changes. As a result of a sharp change in weather, tomato fruits are formed in a distorted shape. Such tomatoes do not ripen well and grow slowly. They are disposed of in order to speed up the growth of others.

In the third decade of July, we remove small fruits, ovaries and inflorescences from grown vegetables. They do not ripen by the end of the summer season, but they absorb a lot of energy and fertilizing. U late ripening varieties(read about) cut off the tops.

The operation to remove tumors is called pinching. It should be carried out wearing protective gloves, as the tops have sometimes caused itching and inflammation. Greenhouse tomatoes in the garden we pinch out those growing in open soil three weeks later. In heated greenhouses and greenhouses we leave 10 vines on the plant, in cold ones - 6. We collect the last harvest after the first frost.

Armed with a needle

Abundant watering is necessary for young ovaries, but is harmful for already browned tomatoes. Using a needle or toothpick, we make 3-4 longitudinal punctures on the stalk of the vegetable. Through holes will limit the flow of moisture and nutrients into the pulp. Over time, they will become overgrown, but vegetation will not resume. The tomato will stop growing and begin to ripen. The same effect can be achieved by breaking a branch with a bunch of green tomatoes. This method prevents the formation of rot and allows for the correct redistribution of water and mineral resources.

We take out iodine from the medicine cabinet

Leaf and root bait with iodine also accelerates the ripening of tomatoes. We carry out the first treatment on the site during the period of budding of inflorescences, the second - after a couple of weeks. In order to prepare the composition, dilute 40 drops of pharmaceutical iodine in 10 liters warm water. Fill a spray bottle with the solution and treat the leaves. Or pour up to half a liter of solution under each plant.

Injecting vodka into tomatoes

Using a syringe, inject a little ethanol (vodka) solution into the green tomato at the base of the stalk. “Alcoholized”, the crop ripens 16 days ahead of schedule. Vodka introduced into the peel splits and does not affect the taste and chemical composition product. In addition, the seeds of such tomatoes are absolutely healthy and can produce good seedlings next season.

Attaching a ripe tomato to a green bunch of tomatoes

Ethylene activates the ripening process of tomatoes. High concentration ethylene ether is found in ripe fruits. Experienced gardeners familiar with this system always place ripe tomatoes in boxes (boxes) for ripening (preferably in the dark, but in extreme cases, you can cover them with newspaper or a light cloth). As a result, the brown flesh of vegetables turns red within a couple of days. If you do not want to harvest your plot ahead of schedule, place a ripe tomato in a transparent plastic bag and put it on a bunch of brown fruits. Ripening time will be reduced by one and a half weeks. I would like to note that this method is controversial, since vegetables must “breathe,” which they do by releasing moisture, and confined space this is fraught. Which is what we read about in the next paragraph.

Stop watering and fertilizing tomatoes

When we enter a greenhouse or garden early in the morning, we will see how moisture accumulates on the leaves of plants. This process is called guttation. With it, the bushes themselves release excess moisture. And the colder the night, the more the vegetables “cry” in the morning. At the end of summer, the tomatoes gained strength and filled with juice. They no longer need nutrients from the soil, and rare rains are enough to support basic vegetative processes in the stems.

Therefore, continuing abundant watering, remember that the tomatoes will get rid of excess water. Low night temperatures will cause the bushes to wilt and the leaves to curl. In addition, in greenhouses with high humidity multiply fungal infections, destroying the crop.

We tighten the stems with wire

If we have completely stopped watering, and the end of the season turns out to be rainy and cloudy, we hasten to limit the flow of water to the stems. The simplest method is to pull the bush until the root system cracks. Damaged roots They will not be able to absorb moisture into plants and vegetables will stop “sweating” at night.

Another way is to split the stem. You will need a knife and wood chips. Measure 12 cm from the base of the trunk, stick a knife into it and make a ten-centimeter cut upward. Insert a small spacer between the pieces. This will help speed up the ripening of the tomatoes. If the main stem of the bush is thin and it is not possible to cut it, we will make a ring winding. To do this, tie the trunk with copper wire at a height of four centimeters from the soil.

In addition to the general ones, there are other systems of “working” with green fruits.

Special methods for accelerating the ripening of tomatoes (for open ground)

Let's take a closer look at them.

Landmark - in the sun

Tomatoes are heliophyte plants. We plant them in sunny areas of land at a sufficient distance (60-70 cm). This distance provides the fruits not only with access to light, but also with aeration (airflow). The latter prevents the tomato from rotting on the bush. In the second ten days of July, branches with large leaves We turn it towards the sun and install it on special spacers. Of course, this is a tedious task, but such orientation speeds up metabolic processes in the stems and helps brown vegetables ripen.

Drying the bush

Before the first frost, plants with open area cut off at the root and dry in a warm, ventilated area. To do this, the tops with green tomatoes are hung upside down and small vegetables and ovaries are peeled off. Tomatoes ripened on the bush will be tastier and more nutritious than those ripened in boxes or boxes.

We use copper-containing preparations when spraying tomatoes

In August (at different regions the dates are very different this month) the first cold dew begins to fall. Greenhouse plants it cannot do any harm, but bushes in the open ground become infected with late blight. Sorry, I lied a little, don’t forget about high humidity(like ours) July and beyond in some regions! Gray spots cover fruits and tops, which leads to the death of vegetables. But snatched from nature Extra time for ripening tomatoes. Why, from the beginning of July, it is worth starting treatment with HOM, as one of the most effective preparations containing copper, which destroys late blight at the root. Or, at least, very restraining its development.


In August, the tomato harvest is in full swing. But weather, established during this period in our region, often force gardeners to remove from 30 to 70% of the fruits of this crop unripe in order to avoid their damage. However, these indicators can be significantly reduced if the summer resident uses some agricultural techniques aimed at accelerating the filling and ripening of tomatoes.
First of all, for planting it is necessary to use early and mid-season varieties and hybrids that are capable of producing their harvest in a shorter growing season than their late-ripening counterparts. In addition, the planting area must certainly be open and well-warmed by sunlight throughout the day.
To redirect nutrients to fruit filling and ripening, it is necessary to periodically (once every 7-10 days) prune 2-3 in August. bottom sheets on every bush. They often have a pale green or yellow color, as they are shaded by the upper, younger leaves and practically do not bring any benefit to the plant, but only draw juices from it. In addition, such pruning improves air exchange inside the bush, and the fruits, better illuminated by the sun, begin to ripen much faster.
For the same purpose in the first ten days of August it is necessary to pinch the growing point of each plant, and also remove all the inflorescences and small newly appeared ovaries, which definitely will not have time to fill and ripen in the prescribed time.
Also during this period, to speed up the ripening of tomatoes, you can spray the bushes on the leaves with an iodine solution. To prepare it, you need to take 30-40 drops of iodine per 10 liters of water and use this amount of solution for irrigation 1.5 linear meters beds.
In order to reduce the risk of plant infection with late blight in August, which is caused by cold dew that falls due to differences in day and night temperatures, It makes sense to install arcs over the garden bed and cover them with film at night. Under such cover the bushes will remain dry, which will have a beneficial effect on the quality of the fruit.
At the beginning of August, stop watering and fertilizing the plants. This will allow you to get meatier tomatoes, which with this approach will be able to accumulate a sufficient amount of sugars and will turn out sweeter and more tasty.
If possible, it is advisable to turn all the brushes towards the sun, securing them with spacers, and place slingshots under them to avoid them breaking off under the weight of the filling fruit.
Some summer residents use one simple technique to speed up the ripening of tomatoes - they put a plastic bag on each brush, at the bottom of which they make small hole for condensate drainage. Inside the package the temperature is set higher than on outdoors, the concentration of ethylene released by the fruits increases, and this contributes to their faster ripening. In addition, the experience of gardeners indicates that plastic bags protect fruits from late blight.
To speed up the ripening of tomatoes experienced gardeners at a height of 8-10 cm from the soil surface, a small through longitudinal cut is made in the stem of each plant. Then a wooden chip is inserted into it so as to push the walls of the stem apart by 1-1.5 cm. In this case, the size of the fruit remains the same, but in a short time they acquire the characteristic of this variety coloring
For the same purpose, you can carefully tear the roots of the plant, slightly pulling it up. In this case, due to deformation of the root system, the supply of moisture and nutrition is reduced, which contributes to faster and more efficient ripening of the crop.
Thin copper wire or synthetic twine, several turns of which at a height of 4-5 cm from the ground, pull the plant stem, helps to limit the access of nutrients and, accordingly, accelerate the ripening of fruits.
It makes no sense to bring tomatoes in the garden to full ripeness, Thus, their overall productivity decreases. To enable the remaining fruits to ripen as quickly as possible, you need to pick brown unripe tomatoes from the bushes 1-2 times a week. Moreover, it is advisable to collect them in the early morning hours so that they do not have time to heat up in the sun. They are laid out for ripening in a dry, ventilated area. It is worth noting that in the light, tomatoes ripen in a shorter time, and in dark room– slower, but more evenly.
To speed up, they can be folded into carton boxes, placing several red copies next to them. The boxes must be covered and placed in a room with an air temperature of 20-25°C. In a closed, warm space, the concentration of ethylene gas released by tomatoes increases significantly, which significantly reduces the ripening period of this vegetable. In addition, it is worth keeping in mind that under all equal conditions large fruits ripen faster than smaller ones.
Kudrina Irina

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