On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 11:29:09 +0000, Pam Moore wrote:

On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 01:13:03 +0100, Janet Galpin
wrote:

Can you just pick them slightly before fully ripe and eat them the next
day when they've finished ripening - or do they still split off the
plant?
I find Sungold is quite prone to splitting but haven't experienced much
on my Gardeners' Delight. (My watering is very hit-and-miss).

Janet, you are right on two counts. My Sungold are splitting more than
GD, and I am also finding they are splitting after picking.
Shortage of water causes the skins to harden slightly, and then when
they get water the skins split rather than stretching.

Pam in Bristol

However Sod's law states that if you drench the pot in the morning, by the
time you are back from work on a hot day the plants are starting to droop.

There seems no way to avoid irregular watering in really hot weather.

Picking the fruit with the stalk - there is generally a node on the stalk
that will part if pressured (much like picking an apple); this will reduce
the chance of the fruit splitting just after picking.

Pick early, pick often?

As long as you use them quickly, you can still eat/cook split fruit.

Another option is to pick all ripe and nearly ripe fruit before you
water.

Whatever you do, home grown cherry tomatoes taste so much better than shop
bought.

I am maxing out on tomatoes and burpless tasty green cucumbers at the
moment, although I nearly lost the cucumber plant today due to lack of
water.

HTH
Dave R

P.S. [to the OP] the logical part of me thinks that you should pick all
you tomatoes about 11 hours after they ripen ;-)