My tomatoes have lots of green fruits, but they don’t want to ripen.

Tomato plants that are heavily laden with fruit may take a long time to ripen, because the energy that the plant must put into ripening fruit is going to many tomatoes at once. When ripening tomatoes, patience is a virtue!

If daytime temperatures are consistently hot (above 85 degrees), this may also slow ripening. Carl Wilson of Colorado State University Extension Service says that “Cooler temperatures help [tomatoes] to ripen because the red tomato pigments, lycopene and carotene, are not produced above 85 degrees, nor lycopene below 50 degrees.” Optimal temperature for fruit ripening is around 70 degrees (LSU Ag Center).

Another thing that can slow ripening is a buildup of minerals in the water. Depending on how many dissolved minerals are already present in the water you are using in your AeroGarden, more or less of the nutrient tablets may dissolve. It is possible for the water in your Garden to build up an excess of minerals, which encourages the plant to grow lots of greenery but not produce flowers or ripen fruit. In these cases, we recommend what we call a Rinse-and-Refill.

A Rinse-and-Refill consists of unplugging the AeroGarden, emptying all the water out of the Bowl, refilling it with fresh water, putting in two fresh nutrient tablets, and then plugging it back in. This will restore nutrient and pH levels to normal. For complete instructions on how to do a Rinse-and Refill, please click here.