Peroxide for Post-Picking Problems

[GoDawgs]

We’ve always had problems getting enough tomatoes to ripen at once to have enough for canning. Some get picked and by the time there are two more pickings, the first ones are going bad. Now the squirrel issue is forcing us to pick even earlier. The tomatoes usually sit in cardboard beer flats to ripen but this year I’ve changed up the process and it seems to be working for the most part. At least a lot better than in the past.

Here’s what we got today. A few almost ripes on top but more half ripes or just blushes under them.



First they get rinsed off well as usual. Then I’ve added the new step of spraying each one all over with a peroxide solution and then setting them on the wire racks of my light stand for more air flow. These are about ready for canning, hopefully tomorrow and the ones in the basket will replace them on the shelf.



It seems to be working a lot better as they’re definitely not going bad as fast. Oh, there are always a few bad spots coming on to cut out but by golly, this year we’re canning tomatoes! The peroxide solution is 12 TBS per gallon of water, which reduces down to 2 TBS + ¾ tsp per 24 oz water for my spray bottle. The spray concentration is one I read about here:

https://www.therustedgarden.com/blog...routine-theory

If the peroxide spray would only work as well on the tomato plants but I haven’t been regular enough in usage to make a determination. Too many afternoon showers.

[zipcode]

Are we talking about uncracked tomatoes here, or cracked, etc? I find tomatoes last quite impressively long (the taste for fresh eating doesn't however) as long as they are blemish free (you really need some sort of rain protection for that to happen).

[GoDawgs]

There are rarely unblemished tomatoes here. Maybe a small bird peck here, a small crack there, or ones like that large German Johnson that looks like a double. The hope is that such tomatoes ripen quickly or if they go downhill before ripening, out they go.

We're up to 23 tomato plants to try to get enough to can. It's a drop in the bucket to some of you but we're maxed out space-wise so anything I can try to lengthen shelf life is a help!

[eyolf]

I'm in MN where late August weather, can be ridiculously hot...or overnights can be 45°F.
It goes on into September, where first frost might be Sept1...or the 30th.

I place tomatoes in plastic flats on my light stand, covered with newspapers to exclude light and trap the ethylene gas from a few ripening apples. Tiny ones from an ornamental crab, even rose hips will do. Peppers will ripen to red inside this way, too...and once red, begin to emit gas.

Don't use bananas...which also provide gas: they're costly and nobody wants to deal with a black, squishy banana.

Try to have every tomato in each container at about the same stage of ripening. They will generally be ready about the same time reducing handling and sorting.

Edit: I like growing, saving seed from, and sharing the seeds FROM heirlooms. But my wife and I filled about 60 quart and 35 pint jars with tomatoes last year, and about 3/4 of them came from 4 each Fantastic Hybrid, Wisconsin 55, and a dehybridized pink tomato out of Big Boy. We could meet our canning needs with just that.

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