Hi everyone, This year, our tomatoes all have had cracks in them, some little, some bigger. Happens as soon as they start to ripen. We're doing something wrong, just no clue what.. any advice/help greatly appreciated, thanks, lucy
Irregular watering usually causes cracking. A dry spell made up with a soaking can cause the inside to expand and the skin can't keep up.
You can still eat the tomato but it won't keep as long. The easiest solution to to ensure even watering. If you have a dry spell, don't respond with a torrent of water. Instead, give them an even watering every day. It may be hard if they're outside and subject to a heavy rainfall...the best way to ensure this doesn't cause the cracking is simply not to let the plants get bone dry. Mulching around them will help retain the moisture as well.
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Zone 5a in Canada's Far East.
Cracking usually is caused by heavy watering, either rain or by hand, and then a dry spell, and then heavy watering again. Being summer doesn't help it either. You can still eat them, they're just not pretty anymore.
George
Thank you both SO much. The problem isn't the weather, it's my ignorance, ugh. I'd been watering them a decent amount every few days.. I heard somewhere it's best to water a garden infrequently and deeply. It wasn't this group, a magazine or something I think? lol So I will water them daily now.. thanks again everyone! Also, I should probably make this a new post, and will if I don't get responses, but I'm new at all this and have so many questions. We have just a few stalks of corn and one ear, the silk has been brown a week or so now.. how do you tell when it is time to pick it? thanks again, both of you! lucy
Pinching suckers can cause the root / stem system to become out-of-balance, such that the plant's uptake of water is more than the fruit loading can bear, which can result in cracking.
The watering schedule depends mostly on soil type and exposure. If you have bare, sun-drenched sandy soil you have to water daily. If you have mulched, shaded clay once a week is adequate. If you have drip you have to water less than by hose. Also, heirlooms crack a lot more than the standard varieties. I have very sandy, very mulched soil with heirlooms, and drip. I try to water every second day, though being out of town some time leads to some irregular watering and to some cracking in the tomatoes.
I have no special knowledge, only my observations from growing in heavey clay. I use drip irrigation (emmiters every 12 inches, 1/2 gallon per hour) and let the water run for about an hour. I continue this practice unless I start to get overwhelmed with the quantity of ripe tomatoes. When this occurs, I reduce the watering to every other day, or less, depending on whether the ground is still damp just below the surface of the soil. I don't want the ground to become dry. I've been doing this for about 6 years and haven't had any cracked tomatoes yet, except for when the rains come. Then all you can do is gorge or can. Hope this helps.
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