My tomatoes are cracking

[CrazyConure]

I only water when the soil is dry a few inches deep, about once a week. Why are my tomatoes still cracking?

 

[zigs]

It's because they get the water suddenly and expand quickly, little and often would be better.

Don't worry, you can still eat em

 

[Plantdoctor]

It is a problem when they are in containers, the roots are restricted as to where they can search for the water that the plant needs,so then they get a drenching and that can lead to splitting.

 

[Chuck]

Tomatoes crack because of too much water. Some varieties are more prone to cracking than others. Here is a good rule of thumb. Only water your tomatoes when the leaves are wilted in the mornings. Tomatoes like to be slightly stressed. In fact, professional growers purposefully stress their plants because it promotes more fruit. Just because the soil feels dry 2 or 3 inches down does not mean the plant needs water. Let the plant tell you when it is thirsty, not you forcing water down its throat to make sure it doesn't get thirsty.

 

[Greenhorn]

I've always understood it to be uneven watering, but if nothing else conscience suggests it s obviously related to watering.

 

[Beth_B]

What Chuck said (as usual!) I've also read that commercial growers keep the plants a bit water-starved to increase production.

Year before last we had a very rainy summer, and many of my tomatoes cracked like that.

 

[Chuck]

What happens when a tomato cracks is that the fruit takes up more water faster than the skin of the tomato can grow. UNEVEN watering leads to cracking because the plants vascular system cannot change instantly when a lot of water is applied as opposed to normal watering, like what happens when a prolonged heavy rain occurs. Most gardeners tomatoes crack because of UNTIMELY watering. That is watering too often and not allowing for sufficient drying of the root system. Some varieties of tomatoes, usually the early season types are more prone to cracking than say a mid season variety, but they will ALL crack if watered too much to often, which in turn leads to other serious problems such as fungal diseases.

 

[zigs]

Reminds me of the last mrs zigs stretch marks

 

[roadrunner]

I agree, it's too much water. Once my tomatoes show fruit, I stop watering, even when they have the droopy look, unless that droopy look remains a while after the sun goes down, then only a little water.

 

[CrazyConure]

Thank you guys so much! It sounds much easier to just water when the plant droops in the morning then to force water it!

Thank you everyone!!

 

[headfullofbees]

It's not necessarily too much water, that's more likely to cause splitting than cracking,
although you do need to cut back watering at this stage, but watering so much once a week will cause it.
Your tomato roots are fully formed and since the fruit are now ripening, it's now at a stage where you don't have to worry about the plant, and can treat it for best fruit ripening.
This means watering a little, often, say a pint a day per plant, (dependant upon your soil type?) as stressing the plant a little is fine now, and you're not concerned about the plant only growing shallow roots.

I have even seen a newspaper article by a horticulturalist, respected in this country, a few years ago, who suggested using water to which a little salt had been added, because tomato plants couldn't readily take up this salted water, and INDUCING water stress helps ripen fruit at the end of the season.

 

[Chuck]

When a tomato show its very first coloration, that is when it shows the slightest of pinkish color, that tomato is fully grown. It will not get larger. If you water it very much it will probably crack. But what to do about all the other still green tomatoes if you can't fully water? The answer is to pick the tomato. I pick all of my tomatoes at the very first sign of coloration. I do this for 2 reasons. One reason is so that I can keep up with even watering, maintaining the growth rate that I have established. The second reason is that by picking the tomato I can keep birds and animals from destroying them. It only takes about 5 days until the tomato is fully colored and perfectly ripe. There is no difference in the taste between a tomato picked at first coloration and one that is totally colored. If you pick a green tomato or even a white shouldered tomato and let it ripen off of the vine there can be a taste variation. When a tomato shows a white color on its shoulder it is just about to start showing pink. These are the tomatoes that are most prone to cracking. They are not mature and are still growing, albeit slowly, and any heavy watering will cause them to crack. A green tomato, one that is not showing white will usually be OK except during a prolonged heavy rain. I try to keep all of my tomatoes in a stressed condition. Unless it rains they don't get a drop of water until they are wilted in the early morning. When that happens I water thoroughly if rain is not expected within the near future. If rain is expected I will water a small amount, just enough to keep up with the plants growth

 

[CrazyConure]

What happens if the green tomatoes are cracking too?

I would prefer to leave the tomatoes to ripen on the plant. It looks pretty.

So, Chuck stated that you should water only when the plant droops in the morning, and Headfullofbees said water a pint a day.

Which one do I do?

 

[Beth_B]

What happens if the green tomatoes are cracking too?

I would prefer to leave the tomatoes to ripen on the plant. It looks pretty.

So, Chuck stated that you should water only when the plant droops in the morning, and Headfullofbees said water a pint a day.

Which one do I do?

I'm not getting in the middle of this, but they live in very different climates so might that be a factor?

 

[Chuck]

What happens if the green tomatoes are cracking too?

I would prefer to leave the tomatoes to ripen on the plant. It looks pretty.

So, Chuck stated that you should water only when the plant droops in the morning, and Headfullofbees said water a pint a day.

Which one do I do?

If green tomatoes are cracking you are watering WAAAAY to much. Growing tomatoes in a container can be tricky, especially if you are growing in a plastic container instead of clay. Plastic or ceramic does not allow for moisture to escape, clay does, by the drainage holes and through the sides of the container by evaporation. Drainage holes are for draining excess liquids. You are building up moisture deep inside the soil where the root system of your plant has no choice but to uptake the excess moisture not standing water which has already drained out of the hole in the bottom. Thus the cracking. A tomato plant needs a steady growth pattern to insure proper growth of the fruits. By watering a little each day to keep the plant alive is not a good growth pattern. If you could figure out how little to water each day that would be great but the only way to do that is by experimenting and you do not want to experiment. Too much you get cracking, too little and you stop production and stunt growth. By waiting until the plant tells you it is thirsty is IMO the only option.

I personally couldn't care less about what a tomato plant looks like except to see it covered in tomatoes, whether they be red or green. The object of growing tomatoes IMO is to eat them, not look at them. If I wanted something to look at I would grow roses.