Still so many unripe tomatoes and eggplant, but cold temperatures are coming. Should I pull the plug on the tomatoes? I've never had so many green tomatoes this late in the year.
Will the eggplant survive lower temperatures than the tomatoes?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
by NerdizardGo
17 Comments
I do know that tomatoes will not survive below freezing. The water in the plant cells will freeze and burst, causing everything to go mushy. Harvest what you can and cover the plant and hope for the best. If you have incandescent Christmas lights, string those around the plant underneath the cover. They can put out just enough heat to keep it from freezing.
Harvest!!!!
Harvest what you can, but I would cover with old sheets and extend the season. A very light frost if you cover with sheets it will be fine. Once it starts getting very cold it won’t be enough. You might even consider digging up any pepper plants and over wintering. Take cuttings on the tomato plants and put in water to root and get a head start for spring
if can cover with plastic and the Christmas lights would be great just enough heat and a roof to keep out the freezing Temps. good luck.
Harvest what’s ripe or getting close, take some bed sheets and drape them over the plants, put some christmas lights or really any small non LED lights around the base to give just a little warmth to keep temps just a little bit above freezing. Those temps are just at the threshold of what those plants can handle, so raising temps just a few degrees will be fine. If you don’t have christmas lights, you can take a couple chemical hand warmers like you’d put in your gloves, or a few of the heat patches for your back and put them under the sheets right when it’s supposed to get the coldest and they will keep your plants warm enough.
Hand warmers? Christmas lights? Plastic sheets? Everyone is aware it’s mid October, right? You know, fall? Harvest everything red and blushing, let whatever happens happen and be happy you got to have as much success as you did this year. Start wrapping things up outdoors and plan for spring.
I pull tomatoes as soon as they blush. Even the most remote orange color and I pull them off and let them ripen inside. No flavor difference from what I’ve seen
You can pickle unripe tomatoes as well!
Pickkkkkkkkk it all
I pulled all my tomatoes recently and also had an unholy number of green ones, but found that almost all ripened after a week on the counter. So better to harvest them! What doesn’t ripen can be pickled or otherwise used.
Pick everything. What ripens inside you can eat, and then just start thinking about next year.
You can pick 90% of those tomatoes. If they are blushed with color they will ripen just fine. Immature eggplant is good. Id really just oick any5hing i could. And if you have you leave something ypu really want to save throw a sheet over it. I save my blueberry flower buds from late frosts with a sheet.
Harvest what you can, possibly pot a few, and use an LED light to grow over the winter. This is what I had to do for my tomato plants last year and they thrived!
https://www.amazon.com/ANTLUX-Spectrum-Integrated-Greenhouse-Hydroponic/dp/B07PBNCX5G/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_pp?crid=1NOJGE0W4MYMF&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.R_m2K2_-znMe_WPxC8NsIYJYkSICeYQRXG0eLPH01J83_u3pEGZIJ9kK-tDNBqJVkFX9UKyz_0CBcu-PQD_tCJtTcOMc_TZIXb4CC3LKUAZgybHHVjbF4RSsdrsRbwPgWOqRAii4IpZsEROP20B8sTGKBB-rFR3dBFd_9PNOJxHsKx12fZFnRksbxRN3rvee7JedVGoMWMkyhx4G4EbwwQ.Q6sUeYBk7WFcEY4J1tMKgbK6HGGWThxNn1uj4gj0foo&dib_tag=se&keywords=antlux+4ft+led+grow+light&qid=1728963864&sprefix=antlux+4ft+led+grow%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-1
This is the LED light I used. It’s massive! Was able to keep alive six tomato plants through the winter. I heard you’re not supposed to water them as much when you move them indoors because they’re more likely to get root rot from sitting in water.
Got some jars?
https://carlaazevedocooking.wordpress.com/2016/11/25/italys-secret-condiment-pickled-green-tomatoes/
Pick the ripe ones and pick the green ones too only place them in a brown paper bag closed up along with an apple. They will ripen just fine in the bag and for some reason that I can’t remember the apple will speed the process. You could also cover them with a sheet but that may be more work.
They’ll be fine down to 28 degrees, but if the days aren’t warming up they won’t be ripening much more. I leave them to the last moment and then take as much stem as possible and they almost all get ripe if they were mature/close to mature. I think the little extra they get from the stem helps out a lot.
Cover up with sheets or plastic