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I planted some tomato plants in August in pots with 70% soil and 30% organic vermicompost. Plants started to fruit from mid November, but even today those tomatoes are very small and green (and hard). It has been 1 month and they are not turning into mature ones. Are the plants missing something?

Is 30% vermicompost not enough or should I use some NPK fertiliser?

What is the usual time for tomatoes to turn red and mature?

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  • My tomatoes was planted in April (Autumn), lasted straight through winter and started flowering in November (Spring). They are almost ready for harvest.
    – Rudolph
    Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 8:31
  • Has it been cloudy? Tomatoes don't care much about day length (currently 10.5h in Jaipur), but they DO like their light: journal.ashspublications.org/content/132/4/459.full Commented Jan 2, 2014 at 22:19
  • yes sometimes its cloudy here.. but after spraying NPK some are getting ripen :) ...
    – Saurabh
    Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 5:33
  • @Saurabh What tomato variety was it? Commented Mar 1, 2015 at 0:01
  • @Shule I am not sure about the exact variety but that seed packet had "Hybrid Tomato seeds" on it.
    – Saurabh
    Commented Mar 3, 2015 at 6:06

2 Answers 2

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You should be using NPK fertiliser, preferably a commercially produced tomato food, or at least something with an NPK roughly approaching 10-10-18 for a liquid feed, or 18-18-21 for a foliar spray.

Your average temperatures and hours of sunlight also make a difference - in the UK, in summer, average ripening time from swelling of the fruit to full ripeness probably 2-4 weeks.

UPDATED RESPONSE: No, your NPK fertiliser isn't quite right - if you look at the numbers I gave in the first paragraph, the 'K' part is much higher than the other two figures. This is the formulation for tomato food, in other words, the nitrogen and phosphorus (N and P) are lower than the potassium (K).

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  • I have NPK (19-19-19) fertilizer... will that work? how much should I use? Current temperature here ranging between 50 to 75 fahrenheit. Getting good sunlight of around 10-11 hours.
    – Saurabh
    Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 6:49
  • Thanks!! i am trying to get NPK 18-18-21.. lets see if this helps!
    – Saurabh
    Commented Dec 23, 2013 at 14:18
  • 11-11-18 will do it if its something you dilute and water in.
    – Bamboo
    Commented Dec 23, 2013 at 18:01
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Where are you located? What kind of temperatures are your plants growing in? Tomatoes like temps in the 60-80 degree range (60s or better at night, 80s during the day) for best growth. If temps are very far outside this range on either side, it may have problems ripening fruit.

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  • I am located in Jaipur, India. Current temperature here ranging between 50 to 75 fahrenheit.
    – Saurabh
    Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 6:47

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