OT tomatoes not rippening.

I live in a small town in the southern tier of Western New York state named Wellsville. Everyone I work with that puts in a garden said that tomatoes seem very stubborn about ripening this year. I planted 4 on the south side of my garage and not one is ripened. They been in since memorial day. Any one else have tomatoes not turning red?
 
I think it is pretty common for late season or end of year tomatoes to not ripen up. Maybe why fried green tomatoes came about way back in the day. A means to use them up. Think tomatoe ripening has been a little on the slow side this year anyway. Never heard of anyone having early tomatoes this year. Normally someone always does.
 
As a lead in to tomatoes as a temperature gauge see the first paragraph here

http://chiefio.wordpress.com/gistemp/

Chiefio has posted more on this but I don't have direct links
 
The ground temperature where the plants roots are didn't get warm enough. Rutgers has done tons of reserch on tomatoes. Dig around on the net for some of there papers on tomatoes.
 
Here on the northern shores of Lake Huron we have the same thing, lots of large green tomatoes and very few changing colour, I believe here it is because we have had damp cool weather with very little sun this summer
 
I think that's more the norm, at least around here, than ripening tomatoes. We "lost" August to cold and wet, and Sep. hasn't been too great either.

The wife starts her plants too early every year. Then she ends up transplanting "bushes" !!!!!! She had tomatoes early enough this year that they got enough heat to ripen.
 
Tomatoes a very light sensitive. We just have not had enough sun shine. I am north of you here in south central Ontario , and we have been having ripe tomatoes for the last two weeks. My brother lives 25 miles south of me , and all of his plants died off from blight brought on by wet damp conditions with little sun. So depends on how much sun hit your farm compared to how much cloud/rain. Bruce
 
We had lots of tomatoes from plants I grew from seed. My also canned 16 quarts. My vines are dying, but we're still getting tomatoes. Ours started to ripen late due to cool Spring weather. It was 49°F this morning in ne MD. I have green beans planted in July, but they're not producing. I'll mow off the vines and plow them under. Hal
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Mine did ripen but I got a virus named Septoria this year for the first time ever. It caused the leaves to get spots then die off. It has really limited my production. I have not canned anywhere near as many this year as last year. Now I'm not supposed to have tomatos for the next 3 years to allow this virus to die off.
 
We're north of Syracuse NY and have more green than red. Only put a couple plants to see if get anything after last year got nothing off 6 plants.
 
We have had plenty of sun and heat here in central Tx and mine won't ripen. Have them in raised beds this year and they are loaded. Big beautiful plants and get a couple ripe ones a week. Cherry tomatoes however have ripened for a long time.
Need to run soil test this year as neighbors have had tomatoes for a couple months.
 
Its kind of odd seeing most say it is to cold or to little light this summer when the opposite is usually the case.
I know nothing about how your weather was or what condition your plants are in.
BUT

To high a temperature or to much sun will shut down tomatoes. We go threw this every year in the south. We have to get our plants in early because we have a short tomato season. Once summer sets in our tomato season is over unless you plant some of the heat loving hybrids.

Here is two write ups by two well know university extension departments on the subject.

http://cvp.cce.cornell.edu/submission.php?id=91

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/tomatoesnotripening.html
 
You can try cutting the leaves off the plants. I have done this many times here in Vermont. It will let more sunshine in.
 
(quoted from post at 05:14:29 09/14/14) You can try cutting the leaves off the plants. I have done this many times here in Vermont. It will let more sunshine in.

I'm a little North of the original poster, same problem here.

I did this too this year. when I see a clump of green ones, I butcher the plant all around them to let light in. Tomato plants are pretty tough, they can take it.
When they get orange, I take them inside, and let them ripen on the window sill.
(if I wait til they are perfect, dang critters bite them)
 
(quoted from post at 08:37:32 09/14/14)
(quoted from post at 05:14:29 09/14/14) You can try cutting the leaves off the plants. I have done this many times here in Vermont. It will let more sunshine in.

I'm a little North of the original poster, same problem here.

I did this too this year. when I see a clump of green ones, I butcher the plant all around them to let light in. Tomato plants are pretty tough, they can take it.
When they get orange, I take them inside, and let them ripen on the window sill.
(if I wait til they are perfect, dang critters bite them)

My in laws would always bring the bushel baskets of tomatoes in the garage and cover them with towels to ripen.
 
It warms late and cools early down in your part of the state. When I went to Alfred back in the 1980's they would talk about planting corn for silage about Memorial Day with the notion frost would get it just a little after Labor Day. Nice country down there in. There used to be an AC dealer down where you are that had New Holland also. Hurricane Agnes really put a hurt on down there back in 1972.
 
had the same problem here to, (east central NY). Finally rippened and we picked them the end of last week.
I too was a grad of Alfred Tech. class of 68.
Loren, the Acg.
 
We are getting very few flowers, plants are growing tall. I think it is too hot here in the CA foothills. It has been 90-100 all summer. When they do make flowers, we get a few tomatoes. When it cools off I think we will see more flowers but by then it is too late for them to ripen.
 
Jack, Back in the day they used to put the green tomatoes with the apples. Tomatoes can be ripened artificially with ethylene gas and apples give off the gas in the ripening process. Commercial operations have done it in lockers, ripening green tomatoes by injecting the gas. Gave store bought tomatoes a bad name that they will likely never live down even though there have been improvements. IMHO there is no tomato like a vine ripened, hot weather tomato. The late season ones all taste flat to me.
 
Same problem here. Not onlt that, but the blight got into mine. Sort of a horse race between ripening enough to use and rotting off the vines. About everything has matured slower that usual here this year.
 
They have to be within a temperature range to turn red, might have to pick them and bring them inside.
 
(quoted from post at 00:46:12 09/14/14) I live in a small town in the southern tier of Western New York state named Wellsville. Everyone I work with that puts in a garden said that tomatoes seem very stubborn about ripening this year. I planted 4 on the south side of my garage and not one is ripened. They been in since memorial day. Any one else have tomatoes not turning red?

Might not be as easy for you, but out here we quit irrigating them when the plants get loaded up...stressing the plants will hurry them along. Some claim grabbing the plant close to the root and giving it a good tug helps too.
 
You can also make jelly from green tomatos. It's very good actually and quite similar in taste and texture to real fruit jelly.
 
Mine were slow ripening here, we didn't get a lot of sunny days this year,,probably part of the cause..
 

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