"Hotumn", or "Hotober" has finally come to an end, with temperatures plunging from last week's Hi 20 (Celsius) / Lo 10 to this week of Hi 12 / Lo 5. It would appear the rains have arrived as well, the low temperatures and rain expected to continue. Even with the extended warm spell, most tomatoes on the vine are green, with some starting to turn and some getting fully red. I have clear tarped over the plants, but don't think it will really protect them much and expect anything on the vine to split if we have heavy rains. What should be my next steps to get the most viable yield? I have read suggestions to: pull the entire plant and hang in a cooler area inside the house (I don't have a cellar), or alternatively, the inside the outdoor shed cut the entire stem (tomato on the vine style) and place in a dark area to ripen. just pick individual fruits with colour and place in a dark area to ripen; the green ones are not likely to ripen anyway What about preserving seeds for next year? Take seeds from the ripe ones, late ripening or even from the green ones? Looking forward to some advice (my last question got crickets). Thanks, Ian
Under the cover shown in the second photo, the tomatoes will continue to ripen until a killing frost. Even without a cover, ripening will continue, but the plants and fruit will be damaged by Late Blight and other diseases. I just picked all of my tomatoes that showed any sign of colour and brought them into the house to ripen at room temperature. They don't need to be in a dark place; you just need to check them regularly to remove any that show signs of rot. Saving seeds for next year only works for open-pollinated varieties and ripe fruit; check the Web for details of preparing the seeds for storage.
