Why Your Tomatoes Aren't Turning Red 

Hopefully you'll get some cooler weather soon...and some ripe tomatoes! Mine took forever this year.

UPDATE: I checked the tomatoes in the Sterilite container and found a white fungus on some of the most ripe tomatoes. I took them all out and washed them in a five-gallon container but haven't canned them yet. I'm just canning pickled green tomatoes and canning what ripe tomatoes I have so far. This has been a tough year for getting tomatoes to ripen on the vine before the first frost, which arrives here in Spokane, WA around October 4th.

I do that towards the end of the season (although I didn't put mine in brown paper bags). But that is a great way to save unripened tomatoes before frost gets them!

Hope you get some rain soon! Its the opposite here in Maryland, almost too much, which can cause another set of issues. Seems like it always feast or famine!

@Jennifer Diane the two combined can certainly cause issues. If its just too much rain, and long periods of overcast sky, that could delay the ripening period. If its just tons of rain, where the plant gets waterlogged, this can cause root rot in extreme cases, or even reduce the tomato plants ability to transfer nutrients properly through the plant which then causes things like blossom end rot, etc. Tomato plants generally can put up with a lot and are pretty resilient, but they do get a bit finicky about too much water, or super high heats, especially over an extended period of time.

@Jennifer Diane hope you get some relief from the heat soon!

For us here, we've a very good cucumber year, which was strange with all our extreme hot weather. But I've never had to wait this long for tomatoes!

Mine finally just started here in the last week or so. I have finally been able to pick a couple baskets worth, although the next few days will be near a 100 here, so I'm sure it will slow down again. Mother nature hasn't been very cooperative this year!

Tomatoes can definitely be fickle. I just started getting ripe tomatoes in the past week or so. But here in Western Maryland, the first half of June had a lot of cool nights (in the low 50's) which I think delayed things early on.

I have not used the grow bags to grow tomatoes in myself so I can't tell you from personal experience. I am trying cloth bags for the first time this year to grow potatoes in, and so far, so good. I do know of people using the grow bags successfully with tomatoes though. As long as they get enough water and fertilizer, it should be fine. I think one thing with grow bags, is that the soil may tend to dry out quicker, and the plant will use up the nutrients in the soil, so using an organic fertilizer or adding some compost in once a month, plus checking to make sure the soil doesn't get too dry should help your plant stay happy and healthy.

Thank you. I will try that.

Most often it has to do with temp (below 60F or above 90F), however sometimes soil can affect tomatoes ripening. If it is too wet or compacted, soil can affect tomatoes maturing. With the soil, low potassium can inhibit maturity/ripening. Additionally, too much potassium can reduce the proper absorption of calcium and magnesium which will also inhibit proper fruit growth and maturing. But if you had high heats for a long period of time, the plants may still be in recovery mode. I dealt with that this year, where we had temps above 90 for late May and most of June... my tomatoes didn't start ripening until mid-late July. So it may be that they just need more time. You can also do a soil test to see what your different levels are at if you want to get that in depth into your soil health. There are various test kits you can get from Amazon, some are high tech and expensive like this one amzn.to/3YdsJDS or others are much more affordable like this one amzn.to/3W4v6rj Some counties in various states also have an AG department that will offer soil testing for fees ranging from $15 to $50. It just depends on how much you want to invest in getting to know your soil. 🙂Sometimes it just takes patience and waiting on mother nature to do her thing. I wish you the best of luck with your crop!

Yes. As long as you aren't going to get frost which would ruin the fruit. You can leave them on the vine. This video was mainly discussing why you may see delays in your tomatoes ripening and how you can speed up the process if you don't want to wait for them on the vine.

@@oneseedoneworld Thank you!

If you only have orange tomatoes, you might want to try some other varieties. 🙂

Appreciate the feedback. Guess its good you didn't watch one of my 30 minute videos. 🙂 Thanks for watching and responding! Namaste.

@@ravenwolfscorner haaaaa!!!I 🤣 So true though,I was thinking the same thing..sad times we're in,really.

I'm on 1.5 speed and still annoyed

Chill. That’s why your tomatoes are making you wait. Their messing with you.

@@oneseedoneworld Thank you for your "TIME", info and effort. 🍅