Our cherry tomatoes plant is producing so many tomatoes and we are so happy but these tomatoes are HUGE and splitting at every stage of ripeness. How can we help prevent them from splitting??
by Jazzlike_Yellow8017
14 Comments
Sekspastlad
Inconsistent watering causes this.
Designer_Call_5042
Remember that as a tomato plant ripens from green the skin gets thinner and thinner if you are watering a lot close to ripening then they have a tendency to crack due to to much growth my advice take them off before earlier
MAJOR_WORLD_OFFICIAL
did you get hella rain this week
Annual_Judge_7272
Tooo much water
professorfunkenpunk
Period of relative dry followed by a big rain. I had this happen a couple weeks ago. I had been watering some but maybe not enough. Got two inches of rain one night and most of my ripe tomatoes split
Molestoyevsky
Uneven watering — fruit react to the availability of water, and then get an increase while ripening that cause uneven growth. One part gets rapidly bigger while the other doesn’t, which causes pressure/tension inside the fruit.
AngryAlien21
Mine split if they’re close to ripe, get a lot of water, then get experience high heat. I think they swell with water, and the heat expands everything further
Unlucky_Caregiver242
As others have said, too much water. Pick as soon as the color breaks and let ripen on the counter.
naturally_imunized
Too much water over short time.
mslashandrajohnson
Tomato fruit, when ripe, have a shiny outer skin that is either clear or yellow.
When fruit are nearly ripe, that outer skin becomes less flexible (it was flexible while the fruit grew).
Each tomato variety has a characteristic pattern for the way fruit will crack (term for when the outer skin breaks).
Radial, concentric, or spiral are three typical cracking patterns.
Fruit cracks when there is too much water, as others have commented.
Once that outer skin is shiny and the flesh is showing color (becomes red or whatever color ripe fruit will be), you must watch the weather closely and pick before heavy rain.
It is not necessary to pick unripe fruit that is not yet shiny, when heavy rain is coming.
The best you can do is keep an eye on the fruit and weather and learn by observing and intervening.
space_wormm
Yes about the watering causing splitting, but there are some things that can help.
Higher levels of calcium in the fruits will reduce cracking! You could apply to the soil for future tomatoes and foliar feed for current tomatoes and future.
They do that if you water them too much while forming. Also, if it’s way too hot a dry, when ripe their skins are tougher.
Bc212
This is the result of getting a lot of water in a short amount of time,hard to avoid unless you have a green house.Its because the flesh is growing faster than the skin can keep up with.
GardeningwithDave
This happens to my tomatoes when the weather changes suddenly (rain/dry weather).
Ripe tomatoes are sensitive to change but they pack maximum flavor 💪
14 Comments
Inconsistent watering causes this.
Remember that as a tomato plant ripens from green the skin gets thinner and thinner if you are watering a lot close to ripening then they have a tendency to crack due to to much growth my advice take them off before earlier
did you get hella rain this week
Tooo much water
Period of relative dry followed by a big rain. I had this happen a couple weeks ago. I had been watering some but maybe not enough. Got two inches of rain one night and most of my ripe tomatoes split
Uneven watering — fruit react to the availability of water, and then get an increase while ripening that cause uneven growth. One part gets rapidly bigger while the other doesn’t, which causes pressure/tension inside the fruit.
Mine split if they’re close to ripe, get a lot of water, then get experience high heat. I think they swell with water, and the heat expands everything further
As others have said, too much water. Pick as soon as the color breaks and let ripen on the counter.
Too much water over short time.
Tomato fruit, when ripe, have a shiny outer skin that is either clear or yellow.
When fruit are nearly ripe, that outer skin becomes less flexible (it was flexible while the fruit grew).
Each tomato variety has a characteristic pattern for the way fruit will crack (term for when the outer skin breaks).
Radial, concentric, or spiral are three typical cracking patterns.
Fruit cracks when there is too much water, as others have commented.
Once that outer skin is shiny and the flesh is showing color (becomes red or whatever color ripe fruit will be), you must watch the weather closely and pick before heavy rain.
It is not necessary to pick unripe fruit that is not yet shiny, when heavy rain is coming.
The best you can do is keep an eye on the fruit and weather and learn by observing and intervening.
Yes about the watering causing splitting, but there are some things that can help.
Higher levels of calcium in the fruits will reduce cracking! You could apply to the soil for future tomatoes and foliar feed for current tomatoes and future.
Also this study seems to indicate that harvesting them later in the day will reduce post harvest splitting.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0925521402000613
They do that if you water them too much while forming. Also, if it’s way too hot a dry, when ripe their skins are tougher.
This is the result of getting a lot of water in a short amount of time,hard to avoid unless you have a green house.Its because the flesh is growing faster than the skin can keep up with.
This happens to my tomatoes when the weather changes suddenly (rain/dry weather).
Ripe tomatoes are sensitive to change but they pack maximum flavor 💪