Don't vine-ripen your tomatoes...

Try harvesting when they're about 50% ripe.

Pro tip: When you store your tomatoes, flip them upside down - they'll last even longer this way!

[lenamorris]

My neighbor sells the best tomatoes ever! He's an older man and he told me he does the same thing but he also sets a fan next to them. Something about the air moving around the tomatoes just makes them perfect

[juststoppingby]

My grandad picked them almost at that stage wrapped them individually in newspaper and stored in the dark they lasted ages and were beautiful red and sweet when ripe

[JoyfulAstrology]

I’ve never commented, but have followed u for years. Just want to say thank you for being so appealingly USEFUL!!❤ I have learned, and continue to learn so much!! Thank you 🙏

[brendaburgner-williams]

My mother used to make fried green tomatoes when we were kids.
We had a huge garden. It had tomatoes, green onions, leaf lettuce, bell peppers, corn, green beans, carrots, radishes and red beets. She did a lot of canning.
A neighbor had grape vines and strawberries, her and mom would swap. Mom would help her make preserves, jams and jellies.
Mom would trade with her and vice versa.

[ThatsaTechnicalFoul]

So helpful! I moved to an apartment so I only grow herbs now but when I had my garden, I tended to let my tomatoes (& cucumbers) ripen too much on the vine. Found they had a much too short shelf life and were often enjoyed by all the critters. Never even got to really taste my strawberries either because I quickly found out they were a hit with the blackbirds in my area!

[alext]

Your dedication to sustainable agriculture is commendable. Keep spreading the good word about organic farming!

[j]

I tried this. I harvested my tomatoes when they were green, and it took 1 week for them to turn red. Even after 1 month without refrigeration, nothing happened to the tomatoes; they had the same flavor as before.

[troydowney]

Tomatoes also ripen from the bottom up, so by placing them upside down you are distributing the weight onto the least ripe end and youll protect it from getting soft spots.

Shout out to the Organic Gardening and Vegetable Production classes at Auburn University, which is where i learned this.

[kprairiesun]

I really love the totally vine ripened tomato flavor. About half the tomatoes I try to finish ripening inside get rotten spots.

[zenithkaijaou]

If you want it to finish ripening fully then put it in a paper bag with a banana. It sounds weird but it works. Bananas release a chemical that makes fruits ripen even when it has already been picked.

[HappyGothGal]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I've been growing tomatoes for 5 years and keep getting inconsistent results. This year I picked some green ones and left them on the counter for a few weeks and they turned red! I was so confused. Now I know!

[Ikwigsjoyful]

Ha, reminds me of when I first started my garden: we live in an area with woodchucks, and they would climb the garden fence and taste test my tomatoes. Every tomato with even a hint of red would have a bite taken out of it (they never finished any of them - I just wish they hadn’t felt like they had to keep trying them in case they liked one of them 😅). I ended up completely caging my tomatoes, so now I can leave them on until they’re ripe if I want! But I agree picking them a bit early is great if something (other than woodchucks) is eating them.

[goldfish]

I’ve had to table ripen a lot of green tomatoes after a storm came and broke the plant. Nearly every one turned red and was good like normal. Don’t give up it just might take a few extra days

[DonaldComp-ue]

As a young guy who whats to start homesteading i love your channel

[pedroalvarez]

Thank you so much there was so much bugs on every tomato I planted and when I tried this every thing changed there were no bugs on my tomatoes thank you 😊

[julyol]

Huh! Thanks, dude! I'm new to growing tomatoes (or anything, really, second year now) and really appreciate that advice

[Yupppi]

These half-ripened tomatoes look like what our supermarkets have.

[BrendaRockwell-uw]

Also picking a bit early tricks the tomatoe plants into reving up production. Remember, the plants aim is producing seeds not food. Plus more plant energy goes to the rest of unripe fruit.

[MDShamshad-kvgs]

man i watched many of your videos, you really are awesome

[chantelmcskimming]

Eric, I mean KEVIN, you are amazing 😊 Thank you!!