Hi Amaryllis,

IÂve been slowly evolving to less messy ways to do it in the last few years. The first year I brought them in I pulled them out by the rootsÂwhich is what I had heard to doÂand hung them (upside down) in the basement! What a mess!

The next year I cut them off just above the ground and hung them in the basement againÂbut still a mess because of the drying foliage.

So the next year, after moving to this house, I cut off all the leaves, cut them off just above the ground, and hung them in the garage from the rafters.

I couldnÂt tell any difference (except for lack of mess!) from keeping the roots or the leaves on them. The tomatoes (the ones that were big enough) ripened very slowly, and I had them until well into January.

But while I was cutting them down and dragging them in to hang, a bunch of tomatoes always fall off, so I just lay them in cardboard boxesÂnot touching each otherÂand they seem to ripen pretty much the same as the hung ones!

This year I think IÂm going to just cut off large pieces of stems with the tomatoes on them and spread them around in different boxesÂprobably with a bunch of newspaper in the bottom to soak up any possible extra moisture. IÂm not really expecting it to be much different from hanging the whole plantÂand I think more tomatoes will probably stay attached to the stems.

Other people also say you can just pick them and lay them in boxes, and IÂve also heard you should wrap them individually in newspaperÂbut that just seems too difficult to find the ripe ones when you have to unwrap and re-wrap them every time! Too much work for me!

I do find that the longer theyÂve been around, they start to look a little bit shriveled up, but I find that that just seems to enhance and strengthen the flavorÂkind of like partially sundried tomatoesÂlike it condenses the flavor. So they donÂt look very good anymoreÂbut they taste wonderful! Maybe itÂs just the fact that IÂm still able to eat them in December and January!

Good luck. I think pretty much anything you try will work for you. Just try to keep them from touching each other too much, so if one starts to get rotten, it doesnÂt affect the others.

Enjoy your mid-winter tomatoes,
Skybird

P.S. If I'm around, I just cover them for the first few frosts when I'm pretty sure it's gonna get warm out again. Use cloth, not plastic. Plastic transmits the cold to any fruit or foliage it's touching.

One more thing! Wherever you keep them, it should be dark most of the time to keep them from ripening too fast and all at the same time.

I pick the individual fruit and put them on open shelves with newspaper along the bottom, so I can keep an eye on them.

When I'm down to the last 20 or so, I'll let them get just shy of ripe and put them in the fridge, and they'll stay there another couple weeks.

Big thing is keep them out of the direct sun. Well over half of my tomatoes end up getting picked green.

Oi! I guess I have it easy this year because we grew ours in five gallon pots, so we dragged the whole thing in, plopped them in the windows (all windows in my house) and pulled up the shades.
We were thinking of putting them in the ground for next year and having more plants, but our neighbors put out two five gallon pots with all their free stuff so we are happy to have those and will plant in pots again.
I think since our growing season is so short, it just seems safer to be able to drag the whole thing in.

It would never do in this house to bring in the entire tomato plant, Amaryllis. As in previous years and despite our continuing warm weather, what we have started doing is to bring the tomatoes into the kitchen either in baskets or boxes. Baskets are preferred because of better air circulation around the fruit.

What is necessary is to sort thru the baskets AT LEAST twice each week and remove the ripe tomatoes - nothing more to it. Back in the old days when I grew fewer tomatoes, I'd line them up on the counter/shelves and make sure they didn't touch. But, we are finding steady uses for those ripe tomatoes so they aren't just lying in those containers and ripening, ripening, ripening, rotting - while messing up everything around them.

If you will be canning or freezing, or just have quite a few tomato-lovers in the house AND lots of tomatoes - just sort and choose. Do that often and over the next couple of months you'll see a steadily diminishing supply - going, going, gone!

digitS'

All good advice--especially to have steadily ripening tomatoes for a long period. I had good results from failing to take care of the tomatoes one year and have been careful not to take care of them ever since.

First, I cover the plants in the garden for the early frosts, but if we get a good cold storm or the temps. are going to 28 or lower, I just pick everything big enough to be worthwhile and put them in dishpans or 18 gallon tubs or whatever containers are available. They are better if they aren't more than 6-10" deep, though, in the tubs. Then I set them in the "sun" room--indoor south facing unheated room with lots of windows to collect heat for the rest of the house in the winter. Tends to warm to the mid 80's during the day, 60's at night when it is closed off from the rest of the house. Then I just neglect them there for a while. The tomatoes will ripen up pretty well in 4-6 weeks. During this time, we eat the ripe ones as fresh tomatoes, but when the main bunch ripens, I just turn them into sauce and can it. Romas do quite well this way. Large tomatoes like the beefstake type don't hold so well. Medium and small ones are good. One note, the greener the tomato when it was picked, the more it tastes like store-bought tomatoes when eaten.