A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum The Tomato Forum Freezing weather on the way,should I pick my tomatoes?

2 weeks ago, we were using the a/c. Now, the heat is on. Low temps the next few nights are 35 degrees F. Next Wednesday, they're saying 29 and possible snow. :(

I still have tons of tomatoes growing, plants are still flowering too. If I pick the green ones before it freezes, will they ripen indoors, or will they rot first? And if they do ripen, will they taste the same? Or will they be more like store bought?

If they're going to taste store bought, I won't even bother with them.

In my area it depends on just how green they are. Some green ones I've brought in turn and sometimes they don't. I put them in a paper bag with a banana.

I've done that with some that have started to turn already, but never green ones. I did some digging around on google yesterday and found you can dig up the plant, bring it in a cool/darkish room, hang them upside down and they will continue to ripen on the plant. We'll see....

Or you could try digging the plant up (leave as much dirt on the roots as possible) & potting it (watering it in well)& then bringing it in & placing it by a window. basically you would have nothing to lose in trying that route.---a Note: it may look all wilted for a day or to, but should come out of it.

My plants were 6 feet tall, so replanting wasn't an option. I did dig them up and hung them upside down inside, which was not easy. I wouldn't recommend doing that unless your plants are very short...it left me a little sore today.

You can store green ones inside. Don't let them touch each other.
Or wrap each one in newspaper.

Still taste better than store bought .

Anything has to taste better than store bought.

True story: My dog LOVES my tomatoes. He will not however, touch a store bought one. Been that way for years. He's obviously got good taste. (except when it comes to cat poo) But apparently cat poo is better than store bought tomatoes. :)

eek........tomatoes fine.. Other ..eek

Who knew that Store-bought tomatoes tasted "THAT" bad ???

LOL! Store bought tomatoes are pretty nasty. Still pretty sure I don't want to compare them with the cat poo though.

yep, well said.....

But one has to admit--store bought are not as good as homegrown, but hey, if you have no hoiome grown, well then.....