Quote:
Originally Posted by Noodles
How long before tomatoes ripen? I have this two fruit (for lack of better term) that showed up maybe 3 weeks ago. The size has remained the same for two weeks now. A few more fruit showed up since. I think I have about 20 of various sizes in my two plants showed up the last couple of weeks.
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Fruit is right. Maters are fruit. You're right on the money, brother. Anything that flowers, is fertilized, then has a body that covers the seeds is a fruit. Beans, peas, punkins, melons, tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplant, cucumbers, apples, oranges, bananas, they're all fruit. It's the biological action I described that determines whether something is a fruit. (I simplified it a bit, but that's the gist of it.)
The first thing I'd say about the tomatoes you have is to just be patient. Two tomatoes on a plant is really nothing, comparatively. If there were 20 or so, that'd be something. I'm guessing the plant has to be real small, too. I don't know how long they've been in the ground, either.
That said, I'll tell you guys a trick that's super awesome...
If you've got a loaded, well-established plant and you want early tomatoes on the table, all you need to do is push a shovel through half the roots. Use some sense not to get the main leader (stalk). When you do that, it will stress the plant. It's immediate reaction will be to ripen the fruit in order to save it's species future by readying the seeds to drop, thus assuring it's survival through it's progeny seeds.
It works great, never misses so long as you make sure to get enough roots cut off.
I've never tried it with a small plant with two fruits, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work, theoretically. Being so small, with such a small root mass, I'd say it's more likely to just die before anything ripens.
On the other hand, if it survives (and it probably will with a little extra care), it'd probably catch right up to the other plants in a short time.
What I usually do with early greenhouse fruit is pick them off and chuck them. They just stall the plants cause it isn't time for fruit yet. I just picked all the little peppers off my pepper plants last night or the night before, cause they very much hold a plant back from growing. That's bad.
