[Market-farming] Cherry tomatoes splitting

Road's End Farm organic87 at frontiernet.net
Sun Sep 14 11:23:36 EDT 2008


On Sep 14, 2008, at 7:53 AM, Tom at Limerock wrote:

> It always seems that at this time of year, our cherry tomatoes (both 
> red and
> orange) tend to split when picked.  Any thoughts on why and how to
> avoid/prevent this?  Is it just us?

Uneven water supply will do this. Cherries seem to be worse for it than 
the bigger types.

If you have dry spells alternating with periods of wet weather, 
irrigate moderately through the dry spells if you can; then the plant 
will be better adjusted to water supply and may split less when it 
rains. (Of course, if too much rain arrives unexpectedly you'll then be 
even more oversaturated than if you hadn't irrigated. What I would give 
for a guaranteed accurate weather report . . . but not possible in this 
area of the country.)

Resistance to splitting varies drastically between varieties. Try Sweet 
Million (Veseys, Tomato Growers' Supply, Park Seed, Jung's) for a red 
and Lemon Drop (Seed Savers) for a yellow; I have no idea how they'd do 
for you, but they've been more crack resistant here than many others 
I've tried. Nice flavor here, too.

If you really get a lot of rain, in my experience nothing will help.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale
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