Why won't my tomatoes go red?

jonesy, thanks for all your good advice. Hmm, that's a good question. The only reason that I put it in a dark drawer is that my parents used to do that with green tomatoes when I was little. I never questioned it and just assumed that's what you did! I realise now that it would probably be better to put them on a sunny window ledge like you say. It's interesting what you said about cross-pollination or a new breed, I never thought of that. We have had all sorts of weather these last few months, there have been lots of rainy, humid days, but we've had a fair bit of sun as well. It's reassuring to know that they can take some time to ripen though, maybe they haven't had as much sun as they need and I need to be more patient. It's strange you should mention about the colour because some of them, especially the bigger ones have gone dark green at the top and light green at the bottom. I don't know what this means for their chances of turning red. They are also all quite hard, not soft. What do you think?

Thanks for replying back. I'll see how they go over the next week or so. No, I don't have any of the packaging information so I'm not sure what variety they are, just that they're meant to be cherry tomatoes, even though some of them are pretty big! Thanks again for the advice.

They seem to start the turning process. Don't press hard anyway, or they get bruised. They should get softer soon in the lighter areas, but it'll take a while. Tomato plants do need lots of watering to the roots, never the leaves. Somehow they don't like anything but rainwater to the leaves. Anyhow, give it about another week and you should see some progress. Do you still have the package info? Some of the late varieties take longer, too.

Yes, it seems like I was waiting a long time. I've got a couple of reddening cherry ones now, which is really good. Doesn't seem contagious yet as the others are showing no signs of turning, but I will watch and wait! Thanks for your answer.

Yes, it could well be the lack of sun I suppose. I'm not sure about it being a bum plant as it's not just one plant that's the problem, I've got 10 or more plants, and the tomatoes are green on all of them! However, I suppose that the seeds could originally have all come from the same tomato or from tomatoes from the same plant, and maybe that was a dodgy plant(?) Thanks for your answer.

Thanks for your reply. Hmm, no, don't think they are meant to be green tomatoes! I think I must have some strange ones here. Either that or we're not getting enough sun maybe?

Thanks for your opinion Barb. The big ones you have sound the same as mine, it's very strange. It seems like other people are having these problems this year, whether they're in the UK or in the States. Maybe it's due to some weird effect of climate change... I'll see what happens with the one I picked, but I'll probably end up leaving them on the plant to ripen, and just hope that they do some time!