Tomatoes

[OldMcDonald]

I have little experience with outdoor tomatoes, basically a few plants in the garden for the last 12 years. Most years we have had problems keeping a regualr water supply to them due to other demands on time and available water, but this year I have been able to irrigate right through the typical Mediterranean area summer of no rain. I do not measure the quantity applied, but go on the basis of having moisture not more than an inch below the surface, otherwise I give them a top-up. It is usually needed every second or third day. I have a lot of experience of irrigating agricultural crops and seem to get it more or less right.

Everything in the garden has cropped very well but the tomatoes show their usual problem of cracking well before they are ripe. In past years I put it down to irregular watering, but that is not the case this year. I have certain varieties that I like and have bought the seed from the UK every couple of years. These are all varieties that are greenhouse grown in the UK and I wondered if that was the problem - they are not suited to outdoor growing and direct intense sunshine.

Any observations greatly appreciated.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Yes, watering is the cause of the cracking. Rapid uptake of water causes the fruit to swell and the skin to split. When you plant, dig very deeply below the plant and add soil amendments, then deep water less frequently, only watering when the leaves show water stress.

 

[tcreeley]

This site might be useful - Why a tomato cracks and what to do about it

 

[OldMcDonald]

Thanks to you both, but, as I outlined in the OP I am reasonably sure that water is not the problem this year. The soil is deep and high in organic matter, the plants have never been so dry that water uptake would be rapid, not have they been overwatered.

As I said, my theory is unsuitable varieities for outdoor growing, but I cannot ask in the UK because people simply do not grow tomatoes outdoors due to low temperatures and lack of sunshine.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I have grown a lot of tomatoes (outdoors only) and some cracking seems to go with the territory. I have observed that some of the "Heritage" varieties do not do well with disease and insects and do show more cracks and other deformities than some of the newer varieties. Consequently, I mostly plant one variety in particular that will almost always produce in a good year...it's called "Super Fantastic". I do try to mitigate the dry/wet cycles; I use cottonseed hulls, a couple of inches thick as a mulch. It works very well; keeping down weeds and retaining the water. I also water with a soaker hose that I often run overnight; this practice helps eliminate the dry/wet cycles also. This works for a small family patch of tomatoes...15 or 20 plants...but would probably not be practical for anything on a commercial scale.

 

[tcreeley]

We've had good luck with a biodegradable plastic row cover mulch and a soaker hose underneath. It keeps the ground from getting bone dry and it slows the weeds down.

Grow about 30 plants for home use.

 

[oosik]

When we grew tomatoes - the only varieties that showed splitting were those that had the larger fruit. The final 4-5 years I grew smaller varieties and had no troubles. However - all the local varmints didn't seem to care, they liked them quite well - splits or no splits.

 

[dirt ditch]

Yes, watering is the cause of the cracking. Rapid uptake of water causes the fruit to swell and the skin to split. When you plant, dig very deeply below the plant and add soil amendments, then deep water less frequently, only watering when the leaves show water stress.

This year the only time our tomatoes split their skin was after receiving 5" of rain in about 24 hours. Other than that it has been an exceptional year here for tomatoes. Last week, night time temperature got down to 41 deg. so it won't be long until first frost but man are the tomato plants producing now. This is what we got from our 4 plants yesterday not including what we threw over the garden fence to the chickens. Since we have way more tomatoes than we can eat before they spoil my wife has been dehydrating an oven full of cherry tomatoes about every other night for use in dishes this winter. Some batches she just adds a little salt some she adds other spice just after the skins start to wrinkle.

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[cqaigy2]

That's way too much tomato! You should send some out this way.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Apologies for the delay in acknowledging your further posts, I have been rather busy and not logged in for a week. Oddly enough since I stopped irrigating about three weeks ago - nothing else in the garden needs watering, it is taking them longer (closer to ripe) before they are splitting. Two plants, unpruned and in cages are providing us with more than we need, including my wife freezing our winter needs - fried with bacon is our favourite.

Does anybody eat tomatoes whilst still green? I know they can be used in pickles and also made into soup. Just wondered whether anybody likes them raw.