Ripening Fruits and Vegetables
Controlling or influencing the plant and fruit maturation process can make
significant impacts upon your harvest.
There are times when you want to slow down the ripening process.....
Perhaps your tomatoes are beginning to turn red, yet they are not nearly
as big as last year. Or, maybe you are trying to grow a giant watermelon.
There are times when you want to speed up the ripening process. For example,
your pumpkins are still green, yet frost will soon arrive, and Halloween
is getting closer.
Well, to some degree, you can speed 'em up, or slow 'em down. Read on........
How to Slow Down the Ripening of Fruits and Vegetables:
Nature sends signals to plants to begin the ripening of fruits and vegetables.
These signals may vary with different types of plants. The major causes
of ripening, or plant maturity, include: genetic characteristics, plant stresses,
dry soil, hot weather, especially hot direct sunlight, and the length of
day. Many onions, for example, begin the bulbing process after the days
are 12 hours long. Other plants are signalled to mature as days grow shorter.
Most often, a combination of factors, prompts a plant to ripen its fruit.
For most plants, the best way to slow down the ripening process, is to provide
ideal growing conditions. Most importantly, keep your soil moist, at all
times. Providing shade cover over fruits like pumpkins and tomatoes is very
effective. This will keep the fruit green and its skin more pliable, slowing
down the maturation process significantly.
To prolong the harvest period for many vegetable plants, it is important
to harvest frequently and often. Don't allow fruits and vegetables to mature
completely on the vine. This will encourage the plant to produce more flowers
and ultimately more and bigger vegetables.
For leafy vegetables and many herbs, pinch back the plant or prune it frequently.
How to Speed Up Ripening Fruits and Vegetables:
There's nothing worse than spending an entire season growing a pumpkin or
a watermelon, only to find it still green as frost approaches. Very often,
a fruit can be ripened quicker, even after it is off the vine.
First, if it is still on the vine, cut back any leaves that block the sun
from shining directly on the fruit. You can also stop providing water. Note,
this can have an adverse effect in producing drier, less juicy fruit.
If the fruit is off the vine, for whatever reason, place it in a warm, sunny
location. Given enough time and heat, and a little luck, it will ripen. A
sunny deck is a great place to ripen fruit. This is akin to ripening green
tomatoes in late winter. A green tomato is taken out of it's cool, dark storage
location, and placed in a sunny window. After a couple weeks, it ripens.
Also see:
How
to Ripen Green Pumpkins
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