Over the past month, I've pruned most of the suckers. I did water yesterday
morning, then we had a huge rain the late afternoon.
Another thing I've noticed is the lack of new blossoms. The temp here in
St. Louis the next few days will be about 100 degrees.
I'll hold off watering until the end of the week.


"TQ" ToweringQs AT adelphia.net wrote in message
...

Persephone wrote in message
...
On Sun, 30 Jul 2006 20:39:54 -0500, "brsher"
wrote:

I'm growing some Big Boy and Better Boy tomatoes. They are just
starting
to
ripen, and most are still green. I'd say they are about
10-15 days late in ripening. However, some, that are still green, are
starting to split. It's not a complete split, but a ridge around one
side.
Does anyone have any suggestions about curing this problem. It's
getting
very hot here, but we had a big rain yesterday, and I water them
about every 4-5 days.

In my experience, splitting is due to overwatering. You don't say
where you are, but it sounds like the big rain + watering might have
done it.

I was taught that after tomatoes flower, you cut back on water, so
"strength" goes into fruit, not leaf/stem growth.

Opinions?


Not so much 'over watering' but too much water applied too quickly, as in
'big rains after dry spell.'

The fruit takes up water faster than the skin can expand, resulting in
splits. Maintaining an even moisture supply can reduce the damage, but
some
varieties are simply more prone to splitting than others. Split tomats
are
harder to market, but for the home gardener, it don/t make no never mind.

Agressive suckering / pruning can also lead to spliting, b/c the root
system
is larger than the foliage it supports.