Tomatoes splitting on top
 

My tomatoes have finally started to ripen. Some have turned uniformly
red, but many turn red up to the crown where spots of green remain.
Also, the tomato splits deeply, fanning out from the stem. The taste is
fine. I simply cut off the top of the tomato.

Any idea why this happened? Our summer has been *unusually* dry, and
I've been watering once a day for about 1/2 hour using a soaker hose.

GK wrote in
:

My tomatoes have finally started to ripen. Some have turned uniformly
red, but many turn red up to the crown where spots of green remain.
Also, the tomato splits deeply, fanning out from the stem. The taste
is fine. I simply cut off the top of the tomato.

Any idea why this happened? Our summer has been *unusually* dry, and
I've been watering once a day for about 1/2 hour using a soaker hose.


Too much water? How much water do your plants get per week?

Puckdropper

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To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

On 8/10/05 7:25 AM, in article
s.net, "Puckdropper"
wrote:

Too much water? How much water do your plants get per week?

I cannot be just too much water. I gro tomatoes hydroponicly. Nevertheless,
my tomato tops range from perfect to very cracked. It is true, however, that
sometimes I do not get to add makeup water until the nutrient has more than
doubled in concentration.

Bill

GK wrote:
My tomatoes have finally started to ripen. Some have turned uniformly
red, but many turn red up to the crown where spots of green remain.
Also, the tomato splits deeply, fanning out from the stem. The taste is
fine. I simply cut off the top of the tomato.

Any idea why this happened? Our summer has been *unusually* dry, and
I've been watering once a day for about 1/2 hour using a soaker hose.

My experience is there are two kinds of tomato cracking. On the top is
from too much water, or uneven watering. These types of cracks are
circular and go around the fruit.

The other cracks that I see are the short perpendicular gashes on the
fruit where the tomato stem connects to the vine. This is mostly with
non red varieties.

There is a third crack that I see. When a tomatoes is super ripe and
still on the vine, they seems to burst after I pick it.

I sure love this time of year.

Regards,

Puckdropper wrote:
GK wrote in
:


My tomatoes have finally started to ripen. Some have turned uniformly
red, but many turn red up to the crown where spots of green remain.
Also, the tomato splits deeply, fanning out from the stem. The taste
is fine. I simply cut off the top of the tomato.

Any idea why this happened? Our summer has been *unusually* dry, and
I've been watering once a day for about 1/2 hour using a soaker hose.



Too much water? How much water do your plants get per week?

Puckdropper


Once a day, 1/2 hour, soaker hose surrounds the plants.

"GK" wrote in message
.. .
My tomatoes have finally started to ripen. Some have turned uniformly
red, but many turn red up to the crown where spots of green remain.
Also, the tomato splits deeply, fanning out from the stem. The taste is
fine. I simply cut off the top of the tomato.

Any idea why this happened? Our summer has been *unusually* dry, and
I've been watering once a day for about 1/2 hour using a soaker hose.

The green area near the stem that never ripens is caused by a gene.

As for cracking, some tomatoes do it as they mature without the added
influence of too much water.

Many of the varieties that behave this way are no longer sold b/c over time,
people have been conditioned to expect perfect looking specimens w/out
regard to taste.

What variety are you growing this year?

On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 13:02:07 GMT, GK wrote:

My tomatoes have finally started to ripen. Some have turned uniformly
red, but many turn red up to the crown where spots of green remain.
Also, the tomato splits deeply, fanning out from the stem. The taste is
fine. I simply cut off the top of the tomato.

Any idea why this happened? Our summer has been *unusually* dry, and
I've been watering once a day for about 1/2 hour using a soaker hose.

This is the first year I *haven't* had that happen. Unfortunately,
the tomatoes are really small, too. Same varieties as years past -
Better Boy (I think it's called) and some sort of Beef Steak. If I
ever get enough ripe at one time to do any canning it's going to be a
bitch with such small ones. We've had especially hot weather this
year (over 100 degrees for weeks now) so maybe that's why they aren't
getting as big as they should. I don't know.
Sue
SJV, CA