‘Mater question: I have all heirlooms, they are loaded with green fruit, but the fruit had yet to ripen! Any suggestions? I’ve always grown heirlooms and have staked and not staked. I didn’t stake them this year.
I will stake the tomatoes if necessary to keep the fruit off the ground, or if the stems seem to flimsy to support them.
I will also pick them as soon as they start to turn a little. The squirrels will usually leave the green ones alone till they get to be orange all over. So I bring them in and wash them in warm water, let them dry, and then wrap them in newspaper or paper towels and let them ripen.
Patience. I go thru this every year...last year, we had hundreds and hundreds of green tomatoes that seemed to have no interest in turning color. I told my wife that with our luck; they were ALL going to turn at once. A couple of weeks later; I called her at work and asked if she remembered that comment. When she said 'yes', I replied 'today's the day'. Mine are ALL heirlooms/open pollinated, they are trellised on cattle panels, and they seem to take forever every year.