Splitting Tomatoes

July 18, 2012 Gardening Gals Uncategorized

If you are currently experiencing cracks in your tomatoes as they ripen, it is probably due to the recent rainfall we have received in Perth.

Tomatoes tend to split with fluctuations in the amount of water they get. If it has been quite dry and then all of sudden you get a heavy downpour, the insides of the tomatoes grow faster that the outer skin is able to and the tomatoes crack.

This tends to happen more often to tomatoes that are starting to ripen, mainly because the outer skin becomes more fragile the closer a tomato gets to ripening.

The best ways to prevent tomatoes from splitting is to water regularly and deeply, mulch and look for resistant varieties. Unfortunately you cannot control the amount of water that a rain storm will dump on your crop!

Split tomatoes are still edible so feel free to harvest and eat them. They won’t store for long so be sure to eat or cook them right away.