#1 Reason Your Tomatoes Are Not Ripening - How to Speed It Up 

My favorite way to speed them up is to try not to look at them so much. Totally a "watched pot doesn't boil effect."

Hey Luke, I totally agree to trimming some of the lower leaves from a tomato plant to prevent disease. However your tip on trimming tomato leaves to expose the fruit to more sunlight so they will ripen is not going to help and I will tell you why. Tomatoes ripen the fastest in temperature of 70 to 75 degrees. When temps rise into the mid 80's to 90's the ripening process slows down and can stop. Sunlight has no effect on tomato ripening, IN fact it can heat the tomatoes up to a level that stops color pigment synthesis, per Cornell University. I am copying an excerpt from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cornell University. Here it is, but there are more online if you want to look it up yourself. With all of the hot weather we have experienced this summer, growers were expecting their tomatoes to ripen very quickly. Unfortunately, just the opposite is happening. Ripening seems very slow, almost like what we see in the autumn when temperatures are much cooler. So what's happening? It takes six to eight weeks from the time of pollination until tomato fruit reach full maturity. The length of time depends on the variety grown and of course, the weather conditions. The optimum temperature for ripening tomatoes is 70 to 75F. When temperatures exceed 85 to 90 F, the ripening process slows significantly or even stops. At these temperatures, lycopene and carotene, pigments responsible for giving the fruit their typical orange to red appearance cannot be produced. As a result, the fruit can stay in a mature green phase for quite some time. Light conditions have very little to do with ripening. Tomatoes do not require light to ripen and in fact, fruit exposed to direct sunlight will heat to levels that inhibit pigment synthesis. Direct sun can also lead to sunscald of fruit. Do not remove leaves in an effort to ripen fruit. Also, soil fertility doesn't play much of a role. We do know that high levels of magnesium and low levels of potassium can lead to conditions like blotchy or uneven ripening or yellow shoulder disorder. But the slowness to ripen is not likely due to soil conditions and adding additional fertilizer will do nothing to quicken ripening. If you absolutely cannot wait, some growers will remove fruit that are showing the first color changes. These fruit, in the a mature green or later phase, could be stored at room temperature (70-75F) in the dark. A more enclosed environment would be best as ethylene gas, released from fruit as they ripen, will stimulate other fruit to ripen. If temperatures remain high outdoors, these picked fruit will ripen more quickly, perhaps by as much as five days. As far as flavor, the greener fruit should develop flavor and color similar to what you would get if field ripened. The key is picking them when they are showing the first signs of ripening (no earlier) and keeping them at room temperature. Do not refrigerate, as this will absolutely destroy their flavor. The above pasted information is used from Cornell Cooperative Extension a part of Cornell University New York all rights reserved. Check it out Luke. Love your videos, Take Care,Stay Safe and God Bless You and Yours. Mr. Tom

I have effective all organic approach to SCARING the tomatoes into ripening. I set a full bottle of KETCHUP next to the plant....

I just want to remind everyone to not go over the top when defoliating since tomatoes that are exposed to too much direct sunlight can get sun-scalded. As said in the video, defoliating no more than 30% is a good rule to follow. Thanks for the great info, Luke!

I live in zone 3 of northern Minnesota so I have a short season. I prune suckers from early on, trim bottom branches that may touch the ground and thin foliage for better airflow to help prevent disease. As tomatoes set I start pruning new growth and limit new blooms so the plants energy can go to the existing tomatoes and they can ripen, otherwise I have huge plants and a ton of small green tomatoes in the fall 😏

As a first time gardener your videos have been a HUGE help. Keep up the great work!

I think I'm beginning to be a real backyard gardener. I just did this before I saw the video. Starting to grasp the processes. Yes being proud right now. Thanks for the confidence. You and your family have an awesome day

I work at a garden center in Northern Ohio and I want to commend you on a wonderful, entertaining and informative video! Great job!

Talk about perfect timing! My tomato plants have lots of tomatoes, they just seem to be slow at ripening I will be trying this, thank you

Oh my gosh, I actually started doing this by accident on one plant! Because, again, the bottom leaves looked rough.. but nah, I trust you with my gardens life. Your my favorite source of information. So I'm definitely going to go give it a wing, i am grateful I didn't mess up my plant. But I thought, hey, its all about experimenting and learning right?

Amazing thank you. Loved how you don't start the video by asking for likes and subscribers but instead you finish an amazing video and then do it👌

It's great when people get straight to the point! Thanks!

wow. I was JUST googling this for the past 2 hours and now you make this video?! Awesome timing, awesome youtuber!

I've had some pretty big tomatoes on the vine for almost three weeks that haven't ripened. I'm getting my pruning shears out right now! Thanks Luke

This is the video is the one I've been looking for! I've seen a lot of videos on tomato plant pruning but none of them addressed the ripening part. I've seen your tomato plants and I knew you've pruned them like that but was waiting for you/someone to say "yes, do this".

Thanks for putting this out there again Luke! I keep seeingnfolks posting in gardening groups about why their tomatoes aren't ripening and I explain these same things about making sure to prune back the excess foliage to expose the fruit to sunlight. Many of them take too much pride in how lush and full their tomato plants look and refuse to prune at all then wonder why they have loads of growth little to no fruit and/or delayed ripening. Lack of light and airflow. Hopefully more people will see your video and won't be afraid to start snipping.

I did this for the first time this year and it worked pretty well. Bigger yield, good ripening. Thanks

I trim early as possible but in a limited fashion. Agreed, sunlight and airflow are crucial, however as a lifelong gardener I only trim as needed because over trimming takes away from the beauty of the plant. Which ( along with the fruit) is why I grow in the first place.

I’ve kept my plants pruned since the plant picked up early blight. All of my 10 plants finally got flowers about a week ago and ever since I pruned the bottom 6” on my plants that are a foot and a half tall they’ve exploded! I took your advice from an older video about this and it’s done wonders! Plus, my high intensity lettuce container I did based off your video the whole pot exploded with seedlings this morning after just three days! Thanks for everything and can’t wait to have an amazing garden like yours some day!

I went out and pruned my tomatoes even before I finished this video! I have over 30 green tomatoes on 3 plants that are big . The old leaves were so curled and damaged looking, I think I did it a great favor! Thanks!

Thanks for the help! My garden in Marine city is thriving but I can't wait to have my ripe tomatoes, theres so many of them but they're all still green, great video! 😊 love seeing a fellow Michigan Gardener here on RU-vid, very cool!

Your so right. I prune my tomato plants often. They are doing fantastic. I've been harvesting, vine ripened for a while now. Sooo good. I'm with you, I'm not butching my plants. Just, thinning them out a bit.

I just did this over the weekend on my Early Girl. It’s something I’ve always done & it really works. I make sure all my fruit can catch some rays & that air is free flowing throughout the bush. Every time I prune like this, I get a flush of new fruits too! You are spot on as usual. Thanks for always sharing tried & true tips!

Thank You...Perfect Timing...Yes This Is What I Am Dealing With! Heading To My Garden Now To Do YOUR Tips!!!

I always clip off the lower stems. This year I made cages with welded wire. I noticed the tomato plants are more confined with these cages. I was meaning to thin the plants but you know how the gardening season can be. Well, I started watching this video and told myself I'd better do it now. Didn't finish watching the video, went outside and got seven of my plants done. Tomorrow I'll finish. Thanks for the nudge!

First video of his I saw was on pruning zucchini and my zucchini plants are loving the result. Can't wait to get out and clean up my Amish Paste tomatoes. Keep it up. I need all the gardening advice I can get.

Those plants look great! My Cherokee Purples started out beautiful, but now could really benefit from this. Under-leaves are browning, so its time to break out the clippers!

I went right out and did it 🤙I'll try and keep u posted. I found out I had a lot more tomatoes than I thought, like twice as many 😁👍

hi Luke, i ordered a bunch of seeds with your 50% off code two days ago and im so very excited about it (im in spain) my tomatoes are doing wonderful and i have to say, not without your help! thank you so much

I was getting on here because my tomatoes are showing no interest in ripening and it’s mid July. This popped up on my feed (they can hear you 😂). Thank you so much. You’re right, I’m going right now and fix my bushy tomato plants.

I’m doing this for the first time this year. It makes sense so I’ll see. My tomatoes are just now beginning to turn red. I have also not allowed the vine to get out of control by staying on top of the suckers

One other tip for avoiding blight is to mulch under the plant so that rain doesn't splash soil up onto the lower leaves. The blight lives in the soil.

In my experience, tomatoes ripen when they're warmer - as opposed to simply being exposed to sun light. All of the first tomatoes to ripen on my plants are well inside the plants (in deep shade). I calculated that this was so because at night, the temperature inside and under the foliage of the plants is warmer than the temperature on the perimeter of the plants...

I grew 4 different tomatoes this year. Garden Monsters,Gorrilla, Early Girls, and Roma. I started seeding in Marched. Planted in April. This is only my second year gardening. Very tight water irrigation drip system with Boogie Filters. California drought. Did my trimming as they grew. Crop looking great. Big yields of all. Beautiful garden. Got real bad water from well. So it’s not as yielding as it should. Can only filter out so much. (600 part per million contaminants. We can’t even drink it. Have to buy water. Even though we have a water filtering salt system. Killed my snap peas. But I’m still a rookie at this. Lots to learn still. Thanks for the vid.

My 97-year old neighbour was once a member of the Royal Horticultural Society. Yesterday she asked to come over and show us exactly what you just did! My best plant is on our driveway, right opposite her window, so I can't get by with anything! 😀

Pruning around fruit also helps prevent accidents that drop some off. Always goid to see them and any local culprit pests.

I love this video ,an now lift the plants foliage,,,,an take the bottom leaves off ...thank u and appreciate all your informative videos .

I didnt truss this year. Soooo much foliage its crazy. Next year def practicing more control.

I'M ON MY WAY RIGHT NOW!! This is exactly the information I needed today.

Thank you fore taking time out of your busy day to teach and show us things you yourself have learn and now are willing to tell us ,so Thank you ,you have taught me alot and We appreciate it you .

I need to start doing this soon due to the high humidity and rain we've had in Michigan the last few weeks, which caused powdery mildew on my cucumbers and downy mildew on my green basil. I've taken care of those. But, thankfully, my tomatoes have been left unaffected. I've been thinning my tomatoes out all summer, here and there, as well as trimming suckers off. But, every few days, I glance back at them and they have grown back up again and this is with fruit production going. Yet, only got a handful of ones ripe enough to harvest today. The new grape ones I have this year even just shoot off more suckers where I've already trimmed suckers off though. They are crazy happy. xD

The Cornell study is spot on for me. My vines are loaded with nice sized tomatoes. However, we had cold 50’s nights until about two weeks ago, then it turned exceptionally hot. The Cornell study says that both conditions stop ripening. It is a way the tomatoes put themselves in a kind of suspended animation until with conditions change to the ripening range. The cold nights need to get up to at least 55-60, and the day temps need to reduce to 65+85. Then the tomatoes will ripen. Explains just our conditions this year in s. Oregon. Today was 105f.

I topped my plants of new growth and removed most of the blossoms on my San Marzanos to promote ripening and discourage more blossoms. We are about 4-6 weeks from our first frost date and they are growing like gang busters with a lot of green tomatoes. I do keep a healthy airflow by removing all stems below the fruit, plus any stems that grow inward and/or basically are not protecting a branch full of tomatoes. I also picked some that started to ripen so energy could go into the green ones. It's working. A lot more are ripening and the green ones are growing. I just don't feel a need to strip all the leaves. These San Marzanos appear to be a bit fragile, so I don't want to burn them in this scorching hot sun.

The last two years I have grown cherry determinate tomatoes. I don’t know if it’s was just a natural thing for me but I have taken off foliage both years. In Alaska I never grew them due to our weather. Since the weather has been warmer I can now grow them. I love it.

Thank you so much for this video. I came across it on my feed after subscribing to channel and I didn’t like I had this problem until watching videos and it makes sense why my cherry tomato plants are LOADED with green tomato’s again THANK YOU

Tomatoes are night shade veggies and will ripen in the dark.😜 Also if sun hits the tomatoes you will get sun scald so be prudent in your trimming back . Great how to video.

I planted some tomatoes back in March. I'm in zone 7. The entire month of July was above 90 degrees and not a drop of rain. Tomatoes are now sprouting and growing but they're green and splitting before they ripen and I don't know what to do. This is my first time planting heirlooms. Thankfully the plant leaves all look healthy and the stems look strong.

You are arming us with awesome much needed information, thank you so much! I really think this stuff is going to make a huge difference in my garden this year!

I’ve got to say that I love the old “Wonder Years” type intro more than this new one. I get that times change, but remember that just bc things change, it’s not always for the better. As always, love the vids! Keep it up.

Thanks for the tips. I haven't been able to find a good source for ripening tomatoes until now

Luke, you continue to do such a great job teaching. I love tomatoes so I’m keeping a notebook of helpful tips and advice to, “Grow Big or Go Home” Thank you!

I enjoy all of your information. You are very knowledgeable. Here is my situation… My tomato blooms are coming in & I am growing indoors. When is the best time to prune what I was told are “suckers” so my blooms can grow into full tomatoes?

My tomatoes have been dealing with leaf spot and maybe blight as well. It's been such weird weather for Virginia, so much rain and humidity. And the plants have suffered. I have 4 beefsteak plants, 4 early girl yellow, 4 cherry tomato and 4 grape tomato plants. The leaves have been dying faster than I can take them off. I did use some organic spray but it only partially helped. The huge amounts of rain intermittent by dry hot days has made my tomatoes split too. Having said all that, I have harvested over 90 pounds of tomatoes, and there are still tomatoes ripening on the vine. The tops of the plants are healthy and keep growing and producing more fruit. So even though I have this leaf spot, and maybe blight too, I've never had a better harvest. Go figure?¿?

Good point about pruning. Especially the bottom of the plant where water splash from soil can lead to disease. Good video.

@Luke: I really enjoyed your video demonstration. I just trimmed up my tomatoes yesterday but I might have been afraid to trim off too much. Thank you for sharing.

I did this just the other day incredible turn out!! 👍👍

I was just wondering why my tomatoes are taking forever to ripen! Thanks for the tip!

Growing tomatoes for the first time. I’m glad to have found this video.

Thanks man this gives me hope. Im watching my big green tomatoes like a hawk lol

That's excellent advice. I'm very liberal with the shears with my tomatoes. Not only because of the reasons you listed, but also because it seems to vastly increase wave after wave of new blossoms and fruits forming on indeterminate tomatoes, and seems to stimulate the plants into doing that. If someone asked me what's the best thing they can do for their tomato plants and to increase yields, I'd definitely say pruning.

I'm in VA, but we have a lot of the same issues with gardening. Thanks for your concise info

I grew Romas this year. I'm in Ohio and the weather's been crazy lol. I read Romas take a while. It's my first year growing them so I'm impatient lol.

Thanks for the great tip. Just got back in from pruning some of my tomato leaves (30%). Love your channel- great garden tips. From British Columbia, Canada.

With the season ending I cut off any flowers at the top and any leaves that had outlived their usefulness. Also cutting down on any fertilizer helps as that just helps produce more foliage when you want your plant to concentrate on the fruit. Also I water less.

You can also twist the plant about 90 degrees one way then the other at the base to disrupt its roots slightly. Apparently that's supposed to stress them and make them rush the ripening process for some reason. Sounds like it'd also make them tip over but it sounds like it should work.

You really give fruitful info. I like your channel so much. Even I'm far away in Seychelles I take a lot of your advice about planting. Thank you

Have you ever checked out the indeterminate tomato vines in the Land at Epcot? They are about 20 or so feet long! They trim the stems to the last ripening fruit and wind or lay down the stems below a rack that the tops are suspended from. It was cool to see how long they are and still growing.

My tomatoes get late blight all the time. They are in pots so I can spread them out further but they seem to always get late blight. One year I planted it in the ground and I believe they caught early blight. Not sure how many leaves I can actually prune off but I will try the more severe approach. My san marzano tomatoes contracted the blight first then spread it to my more disease prone plants. I'm also having issues of my tomatoes not ripening fast enough. I figured it was not enough sun. Will need to move them in the middle of the yard where we get the most sun. Thanks for the video!!

Did this, and made sure to remove all flowers too, and wow they ripened up pretty quick!!

Thanks for the good info. Need all the help I can get.

If my tomato plants grew anything like yours I would give it a try, lol. Every year there a new challenge, no rain, to much rain, burning sun Etc. Started using chicken coop clean out in the fall has helped but not enough. Maybe next year. Always hopeful and I just keep trying. Farm on!

Thanks MI Gardener! My question has been answered! 👍 I’m a newbie gardener!🌺

My tomatoes are finally ripening. Against the logic of this topic, I recently found ripe blueberries cherry tomatoes underneath a lot of leaves when the other younger ones in full sun for weeks are still blue/green. Were they just waiting for their days to maturity of 65 to 80 days from transplant? BTW my Cherokee purple and pink Brandywine from your store are doing great. CP dropped 2 fruit due to a heavy load weighing in at half a pound and almost a full pound ... 4 more large fruit hanging on. The PB has 9 fruit with most looking at a pound or more. Can't wait to taste because of all the great comments I've read about these 2. Cheers from MB Canada.

Thank you for this video!!! I was thinking that maybe I should prune my plants but was confident in it. Guess what I'll be doing today!

Good Video,Good Info.I'm also careful about how many leaves that I prune,anything that looks old,diseased goes first.

Strange that many of my ripe tomatoes were the ones buried beneath the heavy foliage...so is it more that the HEAT is responsible for the reaction that occurs to ripen the tomatoes or perhaps a combination of heat, energy from the Sun, proper hydration, and air flow that would get them to ripen quicker?

Hoi Luke! You were right! I had a few that werent ripening. 2 weeks later and the plants are even showing new flowers and have ripening fruit. mmm. Thanks

Great tip, I'll try it soon (as soon as the rain ends!)

I am glad to hear this cause was under the impression that the fruit would burn

Thanks for sharing this video, I pruned mine earlier and wasn't sure I done it right. By the way you showed, I should be ok! Thanks again and God bless!

Thank god for your passion and content talent.

We get early blight every year so I prune the leaves up really early. Yields have been really great and I always open the plants up. Have more than we can keep up with so am even freezing this year. Thanks for the sound advice. I like your new intro. More classy and sophisticated 😉 does this work for peppers too??

Appreciate the tips. My tomato plants were bushes. I cut off suckers n plants shot up n tomatoes began to form. Now I need to do this because the tomatoes are covered with leaves.

Thank you! This video arrives just in time! VERY helpful and important to me! I live in zone 5, and most of the tomatos are still small or green. I'm just worry about the weather getting shorter and cooler. Now I can bravely cut some leaves off. Thank you so much! Love your videos.

Thank you that explains why I see some people on RU-vid I see have their tomatoes trimmed like Arms Family Homestead. Thank you from NC

I just asked you about this on another video, then saw this one lol! I’ve been thinning, but I’m going to try again. I love my tomatoes and the bushes are loaded with flowers and little green tomatoes, but I haven’t gotten much fruit this season. I hope it’s not too late.

Tomatoesss love is the best kind of love.

Thanks for the tip! Very helpful! I’m going to do this today! I single stemmed mine like in your other video too.

I always enjoy your videos. Your knowledge is very helpful. Great job

Thank you from W.V. this is my first year gardening. I built a 4’ x 4’ 35” raised garden and I have 2 determinant tomato plants that are loaded with green tomatoes. I had never heard of defoliating tomato plants and I thank you for posting this. I am on my way out to defoliate the bottom leaves so I can get some ripe fruit. Thank you again.🍅😊👍🏻

It’s so hard not to like ALL your videos!!

Thanks MI Gardener! Going to try it now

My tomato plants are the only veggies enjoying this rainy summer we are having. Next year, I'll put my squash under a tent and water them myself. Anywho, I was noticing a lot of green tomatoes (I've been pollinating them myself cuz we only get carpenter bees and those mofos just like to chill). I just defoliated last Monday and all of a sudden, all my cherry tomatoes started ripening. Now, my stubborn Cherokee (the 1 and only thus far) is still very green. I'm gonna keep watch though.

Thank you so much, it worked! You save me every time.

8 foot tomatoes? That's crazy! Mine are so tiny. 😢 Now that I've started watching though I'm excited for next year! Plus I just purchased tons of seeds from your store too! Is it Spring yet?

I went and tried it. It doesn't look quite as beautiful as yours but I'm learning!

My cucumber vines keep growing in, around and through my tomatoes, cleared them once, need to do it again this week!

We are doing this right now because it looks like we are having a bumper crop this year! Thank you.

I'm going out to do that now on one plant to see the difference

I don't trim, our tomato plants have always started wilting and going in the lowest quarter when abrupt weather changes occur in one season. I use shaders when it's extremely hot and sunny on exposed fruit when there's not enough foliage. And when they need to ripen faster, I lay a strip of red plastic cover under the plants but not inside the cages. Then try to water at least every other day when there's not sufficient rain ...I'm allowed every third day due to using a water well where consumption often needs monitoring in hot or rainless weather...but I only had 7 of these very late plants,,all in one little grouping. I have white plant coverings to drape on the cages if it's cold or excessive leaf drop. I had planted late this year, not an uncommon occurance for me, so there were some prized giant paste tomatoes that were last on the list. End of the season, I went thru that garden dance with them, even wrapping layers of white plant protector cloth followed by black ground cover wrapped around and on top of that, all held in place with clipping clothes pins. Most days I undid the top to a short extent to let excess heat out..like a greenhouse effect. Recovered at nights. Went thru 2 nights of mid to low 30's but escaped damage. In the beginning of this last of the season dance, I did feed them with a slurry made with a little bit of organic fertilizer and mostly Alfalfa meal...which, itself, is a plant growth hirmone that hurries up growth naturally. But only did that once per week of the first 4 weeks, none after that thru 6 weeks. Daily would find 1or 2 ripe enough to pick but when it began to be consistently colder at nights, I would pick any that were pink, take inside to ripen. Then, as autumn goes here in Indiana, we had some very hot days and moderate nights of 50's, so I unwrapped that little group of 7 plants and began to pick off as they were lite green. Then the last straw, picked all of any size and any shade of green. Put them in a box with an apple or two, single layer, closed the box lightly or placed a thin towel over the top of open box. Left in the warm kitchen. Most if them are ripened nicely, ready to be used. They even tasted good as a table tomato. The rest of the ripe big ones get in the freezer, skin and all after rinsing, cutting out any spots too, cut open slightly , pry open, not cutting in half totally, to check insides by look and smell, left skins on to prevent their drying out, and freeze in baggies. Later I vacuum pack the whole thing by opening the top of the baggie about a third and inserting all in a vacuum bag. To remove skins easily after frozen, run a little cool tap water over them and the skins usually slip right off. But yes, there were some medium sized dark green ones that weren't big enough to start ripening so..we ate them as fried green. Btw, different weights of the white plant coverings are sold in greenhouse/seed catalogues. So is the red plastic...shaders are in greenhouse catalogues but..I bought the long rolls of cloth screen door stuff instead...cheaper and works very well. . Even tho I was working an outside job then, neither weren't cheap but I could buy a roll or two at a time to get a sufficient amount for tomato plants. I use plastic and wooden clipping clothes pins as fasteners, they're inexpensive and last a long time.