Growing tomatoes is the ultimate act of garden long term love. The amount of time it takes to choose the variety, germinate it, nurture it through the seedling process, plant it correctly, and train it all season—it’s an investment. That makes the end of the season such a bummer. You watch your plants, full of green fruit, begging the sun to grace them enough to ripen, and the rain to hold off long enough not to split them. At some point, right around now, all gardeners have to decide what comes next: Do you take the tomatoes down, fry up some green tomatoes and turn the bed over, pray for no rain, or consider bringing the tomatoes inside?
There are all kinds of suggestions for forcing your tomatoes to ripen, or even hold them for the winter. Here are all the methods out there, and how I’ve fared with them.
Hang your tomatoes upside down
Pros: Works decently well
Cons: Requires space and is super messy on the floor
The idea is simple. Chop the entire plant at the root, bring it inside, and hang it upside down. The tomatoes will eventually ripen, and you can pick them as they do. As methods go, this is one of the messiest because as the plant dies, leaves drop, dirt drops, and occasionally a missed tomato drops. You also need the room to do this, and so, as with most preservation methods, those with unlimited space in their homes or fully functional basements have the advantage here.
Bring them inside and don’t hang them
Pros: Don’t need to try to detangle plant from the trellis
Cons: Lots of hauling, and requires serious floorspace
A friend of mine skips the hanging part and lops the plants at root level and then brings the entire plant in, trellis and all and harvests tomatoes well past the new year. I lack the door clearance and floor space, but I’ve been watching Jeanne do it successfully for years.
Wrap tomatoes in newspaper
Pros: Nonna approved
Cons: Lots of work, low yield
The idea is this: You take green tomatoes, wrap them in newspaper, and place them in a cool room out of the sun. Check them weekly or so, and they will gradually ripen. Except, that’s never happened for me. Instead, I end up with a moldly mess. Let me be clear, TikTok is rife with Nonnas who use this method, and I believe it works for them. For me, it was a lot of constantly wrapping/unwrapping for not a lot of tomato.
Force ripen outdoors
Pros: It works and incurs no mess inside
Cons: Doesn’t have the highest yield
The best option, in my opinion, is to be vigilant in pruning your outdoor plants, and even at this late stage, it’s not too late. To force the plant to focus solely on the tomatoes ripening, you’re going to strip all leaves and stem shoots off the main branch, all the way up to where the tomatoes are. I’m talking naked. You can also tent them with plastic to protect the plant from the rain, which will split your tomatoes. The moment you see the tomatoes hit the “breaker” stage, where a hint of color has breached the green, yank ‘em and let them ripen the rest of the way inside, with the aid of a banana nearby, which off-gases ethylene, and will trick the tomato into ripening.
