To make the tomatoes ripen faster. Should tomatoes be picked green? How to speed up the ripening process of tomatoes

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 the ripening of fruits, 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 the ripening of the greenest 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.

• A saline solution is often used to speed up ripening.. 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 transfer of nutrients to the 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 solution 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 reviewing 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 hot water immediately, and stir the solution often when infusing.

• 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

Before deciding how to speed up the ripening of tomatoes in a greenhouse, you need to make sure that there are a lot of green fruits on the bushes. Indeed, in different areas, the ripening time may vary, taking into account the air temperature and conditions. Tomato varieties also play a role.

How to speed up the ripening of tomatoes in a greenhouse?

Very an important condition, which influences the acceleration of the ripening of tomatoes in a greenhouse, is. If plants do not have enough sun, this immediately affects their ripening. Therefore, the bunches should be exposed to the rays as much as possible; for this they are tied to poles. And the leaves that are located below are cut off, 2-3 per day.

Other methods:

1. Remove pink or brown fruits so that they reach the house.
2. Do not add fertilizer.
3. Clean leaves from rot saline solution: 1 glass of salt per 10 ml of water.
4. Introduce 0.5 ml of ethyl alcohol into the fruits through punctures; this does not change their taste or composition of vitamins, but returns the red color.
5. Prick the fruit halfway through with a toothpick.
6. Place a red one among the green tomatoes; it is placed in a bag, which is put on a bunch of unripe ones.

Choosing how to speed up the ripening of green tomatoes in a greenhouse requires taking into account several factors. Tomatoes ripen with at different speeds, it depends on , climate and daylight hours. After all, the fruit turns red thanks to this chemical, like lycopene. And it is produced at suitable temperature. It will not be produced if the summer is hot and the greenhouses are poorly ventilated. And when the nights become cooler, the production of the substance is activated. The ripening period for large-fruited tomatoes is 34 days after flowering.

Caring for tomatoes during fruit ripening

To ripen a tomato in a greenhouse, it is necessary to remove the fruits from the bushes irregular shape, and those that grow low should be directed towards the sun, picking off withered leaves. Pinching and pinching have a very good effect on the growth of tomatoes. Plants often branch, intertwine, and many shoots arise, where the bush’s strength goes.

Caring for tomatoes also includes the following methods to help ripen:

1. Ventilation of the greenhouse.
2. Cover the body with lime or lay down a white cloth.
3. Make clamps on the stems, first cutting them 10 cm from the ground.
4. Place plastic bags cut at the bottom on immature brushes; the temperature in the cap will be higher.
5. Once a week, smoke the greenhouses with a tobacco smoke bomb. They help fight pests and also emit after burning carbon dioxide, which promotes photosynthesis.

Feeding tomatoes in a greenhouse during ripening

Greenhouse tomatoes are acutely lacking nutrients; they often need good feeding. And not only during the formation of the ovary, but during fruiting. Fertilizer for ripening tomatoes can be used at your discretion: iodine, ash, nitrophoska or superphosphate with sodium humate.

Preparation of solutions:

1. On the ashes. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of ash in 5 liters of boiling water, cool, dilute to 10 liters. Pour in a bottle of iodine and 10 g of boric acid, leave for a day. Dilute again 1 to 10, water at a rate of one liter per bush.
2. By leaps and bounds. Dilute 100 g of yeast, 5 tbsp in 10 liters of water. spoons of sugar, 1 glass wood ash, 0.5 liters of fermented chicken manure. Leave in a warm place for a day. Dilute again 1 to 10, water 1 liter per bush. Carry out the procedure no more than once a month.

Watering tomatoes during fruit ripening is also very important. At the same time, you need to monitor the humidity in the greenhouse; if there is too much of it, the plant gets sick, and the yield drops significantly. After each watering, the room must be ventilated. And water only with settled water and strictly at the root. Important role The tomato variety also plays a role.

In order for tomatoes to ripen quickly, watering must be correct:

1. Low growing varieties. When they ripen, they are given watering less often, and a month before harvesting they stop.
2. Tall varieties. When ripe, they need to be watered once every 4 days; each bush requires up to 10 liters of water.

A product for accelerating the ripening of tomatoes in a greenhouse

More developed different drugs to accelerate the ripening of tomatoes. Best to do special mixtures. The principle of operation is the same: they burn the foliage, and the roots devote their energy to feeding the fruits, not the leaves. You need to spray the bushes generously until the liquid begins to drain from the leaves. After 3 days, the leaves will fall off, and within a week the tomatoes will turn red.

The most popular solutions:

1. Dilute 2 tbsp. spoons of superphosphate or nitrophoska with 1 teaspoon of sodium humate in 10 ml of water. The calculation is 5 liters per square.
2. Dissolve 2 in 5 liters of water matchbox urea.
3. Dilute 35 drops of iodine in 10 liters of water.
4. Pour 2 tbsp into a bucket of warm water. spoons of superphosphate, leave for 2 days.

Tomato is a southern plant that requires a lot of heat and light. Therefore, where the summer is short, its fruits often simply do not have time to ripen, and harvest losses can amount to more than 50%. To avoid this, you can use a number of simple techniques that allow you to harvest earlier than usual.

For fast maturing In order to obtain fruit, first of all, the tomato bushes must be formed correctly. The more stepsons and branches there are on a bush, the more energy is spent on their growth and development. If you need to get ripe tomatoes in more short term, you need to grow the bushes into one trunk, mercilessly removing all the stepsons that appear.

Helps speed up the ripening of tomatoes and pinching of the tops when the growing point is removed. This is usually recommended to be done on the central stem and not earlier than above the third flower cluster. When performing this technique, you must ensure that at least 2-3 leaves remain above the last cluster, which will ensure the growth and filling of the set fruits.

Helps speed up the ripening and removal of unripe, but already browned and beginning to ripen fruits. They can be successfully ripened somewhere in a dry and warm place. The green tomatoes remaining on the branches will fill faster and will sooner reach the stage of so-called “technical” ripeness.

To speed up ripening, stop all feeding and watering starting in the second half of July. Tomatoes that find themselves on a meager ration ripen faster than those growing on fertile soil.

You can also speed up the ripening of tomatoes by tearing the roots. In this way, the nutrition of the bush is also limited. But when using this method, we must remember that it can sharply reduce yields.

Spraying with saline solution is used at the first signs of late blight disease. It allows you to save fruits by accelerating their ripening. Take approximately 100 g of ordinary table salt per liter of water and treat the diseased specimens with the resulting solution. As a result of this procedure, all the leaves on them will turn yellow, the growth of the bushes will stop, and all the power of the plants will be directed to the ripening of already formed fruits. A thin film of salt deposited on the fruits will protect them from damage.

For the same purpose, spraying with superphosphate is used, after pre-infusion in warm water– One tablespoon is enough per glass. After holding for a couple of days, the infusion is poured into a bucket of water and the tomato leaves are treated. After which they darken, and ripening accelerates.

There are more exotic ways accelerating the ripening of tomatoes. One of them is putting on green tomatoes plastic bag. It is based on the fact that tomatoes turn red much faster if you place a ripe fruit next to them, which produces ethylene gas. A small but already ripe tomato is placed in a bag, which is placed directly on a bunch of tomatoes growing on a branch and tied. They do not keep it in this form for long - about three days. Then the package is removed. In 80% of cases, green tomatoes turn brown after two or three days.

You can simply put multi-layer polyethylene “covers” with a slit at the bottom on green tomato brushes so that accumulated moisture can drain. In such “clothes” the fruits can continue to grow and ripen even after the first frost.

It has long been noted that a significant difference in the rate of ripening is observed in fruits that have certain mechanical damage. If you specifically pierce the fruit in several places with a clean wooden stick, it will ripen much faster than its healthy neighbors.

Accelerates the ripening of tomatoes and the longitudinal splitting of the stem near the root collar. The stem is cut with a knife and a special spacer is inserted into the resulting through gap - wooden stick about 4 - 5 millimeters thick.

Some experts suggest doing green tomatoes injections of ethanol, or simply vodka. This does not affect the taste or vitamin content, but such fruits ripen much faster. This method of accelerating ripening was tested at the St. Petersburg University of Food Technologies. Tomatoes that had reached normal sizes for their variety were injected with 0.5 ml of regular forty-proof vodka. After twelve days, most of the treated tomatoes were already orange or brown in color. And after another week, almost all the fruits were ripe. It was noted that the industrial application of this method is unlikely to be advisable, but in private farms it may well be used.

There are also special chemicals, spraying with which you can significantly accelerate the ripening of tomato fruits. But no one has studied seriously enough how these substances, when they get into vegetables, will affect humans. Amateur vegetable growers who used such spraying noted that ripening actually occurs faster, but the taste of the tomatoes becomes similar to lettuce.

In any case, each gardener must choose a method for accelerating the ripening of tomatoes independently, depending on local conditions and the result he wants to get.

Not the entire tomato crop has time to ripen within summer season. When the first cold dew appears, many green fruits can be observed in the plots and in the greenhouse. There are a number of techniques that allow you to speed up the ripening of tomatoes and have time to harvest before the arrival of autumn.

Basic ways to speed up the ripening of tomatoes

To stimulate growth, it is not at all necessary to stuff crops with drugs with an extensive chemical composition.

Horticultural and agricultural practice has helped to develop a number of methods that accelerate the reddening of fruits, both in greenhouses and in open ground.

1. Removing the first reddened tomato . Practice has shown that this action stimulates the ripening of other fruits, especially if the “reddened fellow” is left next to the tomato bush. This focus on “personal example” is explained quite simply. A picked red tomato releases ethylene, which is a catalyst for the ripening of other fruits.

   We remove the first ripened tomato.

2. Circumcision of stepchildren and lower leaves . The stem of the bush is exposed to the first fruit. This is necessary to ensure ventilation of the plant, as well as to protect it from diseases such as late blight. As a rule, infection begins precisely from the lower leaf plates that touch the ground.

   These tomatoes won't ripen anytime soon. Excess leaves need to be removed!

3. Removing young flower stalks or pinching the crown . After the start of fruiting, it is recommended to pinch the crown so that all the nutrients and energy are used to ripen the already set fruits. Even if new tomatoes can grow during this period, they will not have time to ripen.

   Pinching the crown has two goals - improving the quality of the crop and reducing the ripening time of the fruit.

4. . It is difficult to downplay the importance of the irrigation regime for the growth and ripening of tomato crops, however, during the fruiting period, moisture consumption should be minimized. If possible, it is worth stopping it, but here you need to focus on weather conditions. The minimum amount of water received by the tomato crop during fruit ripening increases the sugar content in tomatoes, reduces acidity and excessive wateriness. The structure of the pulp improves and appearance. Excess water can cause the fruit to crack. Spraying soda once a week will also help improve the taste of tomatoes. To prepare the solution, mix 1 teaspoon of baking soda with 1 liter of warm water.

   In addition to improving taste, soda solution has an antibacterial effect.

5. Turn to the sun . When breeding low-growing varieties You can turn the bushes towards the sunlight. For this purpose, all necessary leaves, and the bush is fixed on a trellis under the right angle. If necessary, additional branches are also tied to separate stakes.

   Open for sunlight the fruits will ripen faster.

6. Cleaning browned tomatoes . Tomatoes that are beginning to turn brown can be safely removed and sent indoors for ripening, especially at the end of summer, in August. The tomatoes will turn red even outside the greenhouse, and the bush will direct all its freed forces to the still green fruits.

   We remove ripe tomatoes in time.

Iodine

As additional methods to accelerate the ripening of tomatoes, experts recommend spraying with ash or iodine.

Iodine stimulates reddening of fruits and reduces the risk of late blight.

The benefits of iodine for tomato crops have been known for a long time. It improves nitrogen metabolism, is a safe alternative to nitrate, which worsens the soil composition. Iodine increases productivity and fights. An open bottle of iodine in a greenhouse disinfects the room well.

Iodine treatment stimulates well redness of tomatoes is s. To obtain a solution for spraying, 30 drops of the substance are diluted in 10 liters of water, after which the bush is treated, making sure that not only the leaves, but also the stem at the bottom of the plant are thoroughly moistened. Another advantage of iodine is that it is safe for humans and does not require the use of personal protective equipment during processing.

Ash

Spraying with ash is one of the most safe methods stimulating the ripening of tomatoes.

The beneficial properties of ash are based on the high content of calcium and potassium salts in it.

The ash solution is prepared at the rate of 1 glass of wood ash per 10 liters of water. No insistence required. The resulting mixture is poured under the root. To feed 1 bush, no more than 1 liter of solution is required. It is worth remembering that, otherwise root system the plants will get an ash burn.

If you don’t want to carry out additional watering or the weather conditions mean precipitation, the tomatoes can be sprayed. In this case, not only the fruits, but also the leaves must be processed. However, the dosage of the spraying solution should be changed to 0.5 cups of ash to 10 liters of water. Spraying should be carried out in the evening or on a cloudy, partly sunny day.

Potassium humate

Another type of additional nutrition for tomatoes is potassium humate.

Potassium humate is produced from peat, manure, sludge and other plant materials, therefore it is considered a completely natural fertilizer.

It contains a number of useful trace elements and potassium, necessary for ripening. This drug is completely natural and is used for root watering. Potassium humate is produced in powder, diluted in the ratio 10 g/200 l water.

1. First, the packet of powder is thoroughly dissolved in 2 l hot water and leave to infuse for 2 hours.
2. After this, it is poured into a barrel with the remaining 180 l and is used for irrigation.
3. You can fertilize 3 times a month, the main thing is to ensure that the solution does not get on the leaves and provoke late blight.

In addition to stimulating ripening, potassium humate improves the tasting qualities of fruits, increases their size. Another undeniable advantage of the product is its low cost.

Boric acid

Many experienced gardeners are familiar with first-hand.

Boron – necessary element, involved in the formation of connective tissue in plants.

Boric acid crystals are poorly soluble in water, so to prepare a working solution you must first dissolve the powder in small quantity hot water and then add cold water up to normal.

It not only promotes growth, but also improves the taste of the future harvest. Boron protects the plant from premature fall of the ovaries, stimulates the production of nitrogenous substances and chlorophyll.

Treatment boric acid can improve yields by an average of 25–30%. But the plant’s immunity and resistance to temperature changes are also strengthened. The sugar content in fruits increases, the aroma increases, and the shelf life is extended.

Boric acid can be replaced with Borofosk fertilizer.

During the fruiting period it is carried out foliar feeding boric acid. For this 10 g substances are diluted in 10 l water and treat the bushes on a cloudy day with temperature conditions from +18 °С to +20 °С . Spraying should be fine in the form of mist or drizzle. Drops rolling off the leaves are unacceptable, so when processing you need to use a high-quality sprayer.

Total held per season 3 treatments boron solution. The last third is carried out at the beginning of fruiting in order to accelerate the ripening of tomatoes.

Bananas and apples

Another proven way to make tomatoes turn red is with bananas and apples.

Everything is simple here: the fruits are laid out under bushes or in a box with ripening fruits and left for several days. Bananas and ripe apples emit ethylene gas, which is a natural catalyst for ripening tomatoes. The same principle of action applies to the leaves of the walnut tree.

Banana as a stimulator of tomato ripening.

This is what is most often used in the southern regions of our country.

Non-standard methods

If we talk about non-standard methods, the most original of them is alcohol stimulation.

To the nest tomato bush injected with a thin syringe 0.5 ml strong alcohol (vodka), as a result of which the ripening time is significantly reduced. Wherein chemical composition and the appearance of reddened tomatoes does not change.

If the end of August or the beginning of September is already marked low temperatures, tomatoes from open ground can be “transferred” indoors: garage, shed or veranda . There they are carefully hung and ripen “on the vine”.

What you can and cannot do during the ripening period of tomatoes

All feeding of tomatoes is done before the fruits begin to ripen.

At the moment of ripening of the future tomato harvest, it is strictly forbidden to:

• water the crop generously;
• carry out nitrogen fertilizing.

In the first case, the tomatoes will crack. If the tomatoes absolutely do not have enough moisture, then it is better to mulch the soil with wet hay or sawdust.

In the second - all feeding mullein, green fertilizers or chicken droppings should be stopped after mid-summer. This type of fertilizer causes rapid growth green mass plants, but not fruits. Moreover, the taste of tomatoes may deteriorate.

But it is quite possible to prevent late blight during the fruiting period. To do this, you can use an infusion of garlic or organize shelter for the bushes at night.

conclusions

Even if the weather changes unexpectedly, you shouldn’t give up. There are many ways to speed up the ripening of tomatoes and get excellent harvest, which was honestly earned through well-deserved labor in the spring-summer period.

Video about cutting leaves to speed up fruit ripening