Ripen Tomatoes Indoors:
Only a small portion of Piscataquis County grown tomatoes actually ripen on the vine due to our short growing season. Unless you are able to grow your tomatoes in a greenhouse, you will probably find a huge number of green tomatoes on your plants when frost hits them. An old blanket or sheet may protect the fruit from damage from the light frosts, but when the first hard frost comes, they will be injured.
Tomatoes from lightly frosted plants can be brought into a warm area to ripen if they have turned white on their blossom end. These are called “breakers”. If they are kept in an area that is between 50o F and 65o F they will ripen and retain their flavor. If refrigerated, they may last a little longer but the flavor will be lessened.
Many folks wrap green tomatoes in newspaper and place in a cardboard box to allow them to ripen. You may be able to hold your tomatoes until Thanksgiving unless your family has eaten them all. Wrapping in newspaper prevents a rotten tomato from infecting the tomato next to it. But it is important to check on your tomatoes regularly and remove any rotten ones.
Another way of holding tomatoes is to cut off the vine and hang the whole plant from the ceiling in a warm pantry and pick them off the plant when they are ripe. The problem is as the plant dries out the leaves will start to fall and cause a mess in your house.