At the end
of the season, unripe fruits remain on the tomato plants. These fruits need to
be harvested because they will not ripen during late fall. If the rainy and
cold weather prevails, these fruits can destroy the Phitophthora. In order to
preserve the fruit, it is necessary to harvest the unripe fruits and allow them
to ripen or process them in the winter. Small, green fruits can be processed
into salads, pickles, green ajvar, marinades and marmalade.
Choose the
best green fruits
Not all
unripe fruits are suitable for the ripening process. Too small fruits, fruits
that have not reached the size characteristic of the variety are processed into
winter. Such fruits cannot ripen in the ripening process. Choose the best green
fruits for ripening.
Green
tomatoes must be harvested before nighttime air temperatures drop below 5ºC.
Harvesting time will be affected by weather and variety. Harvesting should be
carried out successively every three to five days. Harvested fruits should be
cleared of impurities, leaves, damaged fruits and fruits with symptoms of the
disease should be removed. The fruits are harvested by dry weather, preferably
in the morning. The harvest must be handled carefully to avoid damage to the
fruit. The slightest damage can be the entry way for the causes of rot and
decay of the fetus.
Temperature
is the most important factor
There are
different methods of ripening green tomatoes. It does not take much light to
ripen the fruit. Temperature is the most important factor affecting the
ripening of fruits. Fruits exposed to the right temperature ripen faster.
It is common
for green tomatoes to be left on the window sills to ripen, but this is the
worst ripening process. Most often, the fruits left to ripen in this way begin
to ripen from the sun-facing side while the counter side remains green.
The fruits
of the tomatoes found on the plant during this period are of varying degrees of
maturity and range from fully green to fully ripe.
The fruits we
put on ripening must not touch each other. They should be placed in a place
with good ventilation, adequate humidity, to prevent the fruit from drying out
and at a temperature of 20 to 25ºC. Tomatoes are placed on shelves, baskets,
slats, boxes. If the fruits are placed in layers, a layer of paper should be
placed between the layers and the layer should not be more than 20 cm thick.
Check the condition every three to five days, discard the fruits that have
started to rot and pick up the ripened ones.
Leaving a
ripe apple next to the fruit will accelerate ripening. Namely, ripe apples will
release ethylene which accelerates the ripening of the fruits. In addition to
the apple, in addition to unripe tomato fruits, you can also leave ripe
tomatoes or bananas.
Observe the
temperature and humidity of the air
Maturation
can also be prolonged if kept at a lower temperature. The fruits can be allowed
to ripen at a lower temperature of 12 to 15 ° C and then ripen for up to a
month. By adjusting the temperature, you can extend or shorten the ripening
period. The ripening temperature should not be allowed to fall below 10ºC as
this will adversely affect the taste of the tomato.
Humidity
should not fall below 80%.
The fruits
can ripen on the plant. One can dig the whole plant with its roots and transfer
it to a dry, well-ventilated place. Plants do not need to be touched. In this
way the nutrients from the roots and the plant will pass into the fruit and it
will grow, mature and taste even more so than ripen apart from the plant.
Tomato
plants can be cut at ground level and put in boxes. Tomatoes can ripen in
straw, and the process is the same as when ripened in layers of paper.
The green
fruits of the tomatoes we harvest in the garden on the surface have
slow-burning Phitophtores. In order to avoid the occurrence of the burner on
the fruits left for ripening, the tomatoes may be immersed in one to two
minutes blanched in warm water, which is heated to 60ºC. After extraction, wipe
the fruits. In this way, we will inactivate slow burners and prevent the
infestation of fruits.
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