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| I don't know why but every time I pick cherry tomatoes some of them split for no reason. I have tried picking them at dusk, when it's sunny, and several other times and still some crack. I don't rinse them and they don't really get wet since I grow them hydroponically and don't water the plants manually.
What is causing them to crack?
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by bmoser z6PA (b2m2@moserproduce.com) on Tue, Mar 25, 08 at 21:04
| You are flirting with a high cracking potential by growing hydroponically. Excess water is one of the main causes of cracking. I've even had green tomatoes crack from excess water. Picking cherry tomatoes as soon as they ripen is difficult if you don't have the time but that will reduce the number of cracked fruits also. Have you considered changing varieties? Sun Sugar has far less cracking incidence than Sungold in a similar type fruit. Tami-G or Favorita are about par or slightly better than Supersweet 100. A red grape, Cupid and a larger saladette type, Juliet, hardly ever crack but keep in mind that a skin so tough that it won't crack may draw other palatability complaints. You might hear different reasons why the fruits crack but the simple explanation is that they outgrow their skin. Washing, as you mentioned, allows water to pass thru the skin causing the same swelling beneath the skin. Rain water is the same as tap water. I suspect that if you must rinse a saltwater solution would minimize cracking. |
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| Sungolds split very easily when you pluck them. I find it works better if I pull them off at the stem with the calyx (those little green leaves) still attached to the top. Then you can pluck the stem out when you're ready to serve them. |
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| good information. although I won't be picking tomatoes for probably FOUR MONTHS! Lucky buggers you - I wish I had a cracking problem! |
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- Posted by reginald_25 5 (My Page) on Thu, Mar 27, 08 at 12:21
I don't know why but every time I pick cherry tomatoes some of them split for no reason...If you are really A Retentive on this, cracking when picking them can be largely avoided if you harvest them with scisssors, cutting the thing free just above its calyx. WAY too time-consuming for most folks to do. Reg |
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