Tomatoes are green instead of red: it's often due to the temperature

Created: 05/25/2022, 08:00

By: Joana Lück

With their sweet, aromatic taste, tomatoes are a popular plant among gardeners.

But what to do if the tomatoes don't ripen?

Munich – do you see red?

As long as it's your tomatoes, no problem.

However, there are also tomato varieties that are green even when ripe.

These include "Green Zebra", "Cherokee Green" or "Aunt Ruby's German Green Cherry".

But with all other red varieties, green tomatoes stand for a sour and hard fruit.

Tomatoes are green instead of red: it's often due to the temperature

If the tomatoes are still green shortly before harvest, this is annoying.

(Icon image) © Nigel Kirby/Imago

Tomatoes turn red as soon as they ripen because the plant hormone ethylene ensures that the chlorophylls are broken down more and more.

For a typical tomato plant, the process takes between 40 and 60 days after flowering begins.

But what are the reasons why the tomatoes are still green shortly before harvest?

• It's too cold for the tomatoes: The optimum temperature for tomatoes is between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius.

  If the temperatures drop to ten degrees at night and only rise to a maximum of 15 degrees during the day, no red fruits will develop.

• It is too warm for the tomatoes: However, it must not be too warm either, because (permanent) temperatures above 25 degrees Celsius inhibit or slow down growth.

  Such tomatoes often look pale green to orange on the bush and have little aroma.

• The wrong variety: If you live in latitudes with a rather short growing season, you should resort to varieties like "Previa F1", "Cookie F1" or "Pepe F1".

• Sick plant: Not only diseases or pests can stress your plant, but also the lack of exhaustion.

  This means removing leaves and shoots so that all the energy of the plant can go into the fruit.

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Tomatoes green instead of red: you can do that

But even if the tomatoes do not want to ripen at all and are hard and inedible, they are a valuable addition to the compost.

However, if the tomatoes are a glossy green that is already turning yellow, you should not throw them away but let them continue to ripen indoors.