Hel please. Temps falling below 50 two to three nights a week

b54red · October 15, 2022

I have noticed that tomato flavor and ripening evenly is affected by cooler nights that get down around 40 and below. The tomatoes have a more shallow sour taste and they have more and more green streaks in them mixed with the reds.

This was one of the most frustrating and disappointing summers as far as my tomato growing was concerned. I was hit repeatedly by waves of Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus necessitating me having to replace most of my plants. I finally got a decent number of grafted plants to live but it was mostly ones set out in the mid July heat. They struggled mightily to survive and set limited fruit during the high heat of August and early September and produced much smaller than normal fruit. Finally in late September and early October in drought conditions they began to thrive and set a lot of fruit. Now I have plants with lots of green tomatoes and little likelihood that the bulk of them will have time to ripen with 30's forecast this next week. If freezing weather is delayed this year I will get a fair harvest of late tomatoes but I fear most will be plagued by uneven ripening. I am picking any blushing fruit and allowing them to ripen indoors now.

Bill

October 15, 2022	#4
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	I have noticed that tomato flavor and ripening evenly is affected by cooler nights that get down around 40 and below. The tomatoes have a more shallow sour taste and they have more and more green streaks in them mixed with the reds. This was one of the most frustrating and disappointing summers as far as my tomato growing was concerned. I was hit repeatedly by waves of Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus necessitating me having to replace most of my plants. I finally got a decent number of grafted plants to live but it was mostly ones set out in the mid July heat. They struggled mightily to survive and set limited fruit during the high heat of August and early September and produced much smaller than normal fruit. Finally in late September and early October in drought conditions they began to thrive and set a lot of fruit. Now I have plants with lots of green tomatoes and little likelihood that the bulk of them will have time to ripen with 30's forecast this next week. If freezing weather is delayed this year I will get a fair harvest of late tomatoes but I fear most will be plagued by uneven ripening. I am picking any blushing fruit and allowing them to ripen indoors now. Bill