End of Summer: What to do with tomato plants?

[opabinia51]

Oh my goodness! All these green tomatoes and they are not ripe, nearing the end of the season to!

First: Ungasp.

Second: defoliate your tomatoe plants. Yes, this means prune off all the leaves. Also remove any yellow flowers.

The plant will now invest all it's energy into ripening the fruit.

OH! If only it were that simple!

If the plants are indoors:

Clean the plants, but leave the yellow flowers. You may still get fruit from these.

(Zebra tomatoes are really slow to ripen (in my experience) so, try this defoliation technique and it will hurry their ripening process along.)

[Franco]

If I live in north Jersey, should I start doing this opa?

[opabinia51]

Do you have green tomatoes on your plants?

[Franco]

I sure do

[Franco]

so should I defoliate them?

[opabinia51]

You betcha!

Yes, and for your pepper plants, if you have unripened peppers, just leave the plants be as the plants themselves do not grow as vigorously as tomatoe vines do.

[Anonymous]

As soon as a frost threatens your tomatos you should harvest all the fruit immediately and ripen them on a window sill. With upright varieties, it is possible to gently flatten the plants onto the soil and cover with horticultural fleece to protect them from the frost. Hope this is helpful. Happy Harvesting!