16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
What you are likely seeing is due to thin skin and the expanding fruits readily crack the skin. Calcium will help in producing stronger skin on the fruit. This may be beyond what you might want to do but today I sprayed my greenhouse tomatoes with a Nutri-Cal formulation to help prevent that sort of occurance. Some varieties are more prone to cracking but Vintage Wine is such a beautiful tomato to give up on without a little extra effort.
Those were the 2 worst specimens of the year that I posted photos of to see what was wrong. They weren't all that bad, but there was enough cracking on enough of the tomatoes that I have given them up. The parts that were fine were lovely, and I could use them myself, but I give lots of tomatoes away and people are wary of tomatoes that look like that. I figured, if it was going to be a chronic problem, I could find other varieties that grew better for me and tasted good as well.
You can try picking them with a blush of color and letting them ripen inside ... it helps a little, if not a lot ... I wish reviews on this tomato would mention cracking as a problem, I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong as none of my other tomatoes were affected ... until I came here to ask :)
Right you are. Right after having my garden deep plowed in April, my brother in law came by and saw the deep red ruts and made an uncomplimentary comment about my soil. I said "check back in July". It holds water but right now I have egg plants and California Wonder plants producing like crazy. Tomatoes are just starting to slow down except for a few I started late from suckers.
My wild guess is that you have a better mix in the containers than your garden soil. I went to raised beds this year and am getting way better plants with the better soil.
I don't have much luck with container.
Every year seems different and no body ever knows why.
Hey, whatever works! Agree the mix is probably good. I have to grow in containers due to my high water table. Larger pots are better, but I use only 5 gal buckets and my Brandywine Suddeth's was in a 10 gallon container this year. I'm buried in tomatoes and my brandywine has produced over 20 1 pound+ tomatoes, and like you, is working on a second flush with the cooler temps. I'm doing whatever I can to get the second crop to ripen.....have trimmed the plant back to focus the energy.
"Pinching out suckers" IS pruning. It is also a source of stress for the plant and costs you production as well as exposing the fruit to sun scald. Not to mention that San Marzano is a semi-determinate so should not be pinched or pruned at all.
As for liquid fertilizers, there are 100's of brands available. Seaweed is just one component in several them and a good additive but you want something that is well-balanced and also contains the many micro-nutrients. To do that you first need to understand exactly what and how much of each nutrient the brand you choose contains.
There are many discussions here about fertilizers, both organic and synthetic full of recommendations for or against the various brands. Just type 'fertilizer' in the forum search bar at the bottom of the page.
Synthetics range from Miracle Grow (of course) to plain old 10-10-10 dissolved in water. Again unlimited brands available. Your choice.
Dave
Thanks Dave and naturemitch. Didn't know that about San Marzano's. Obviously I missed that one. So sun scald must be the problem. I like your hybrid system. And it's definitely another thing to consider for next year. Dave I will look into fertilizers. I have used Miracle gro in the past, and it's true, there are pros and cons for all of them. In any event, I'm removing them at first blush and we'll see. I'm assuming gold medal will be my best one this year! Thanks. To be continued....
Green Tomato Salsa
Yield: 5 pints
5 cups chopped green tomatoes
1 1/2 cups seeded, chopped long green chiles
1/2 cup seeded finely chopped jalapeños
4 cups chopped onions
1 cup bottled lemon juice
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp ground cumin*
3 Tbsp oregano leaves *
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and stir frequently over high heat until mixture begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot salsa into pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner 15 minutes
Thanks CH, that makes a lot of sense. My husband starting coming up with crazy contraptions for steaming the entire garden (52'X26'). After sleeping on it a few nights, I think what we are going to do this year is move the entire garden. I know this seems extreme and will not work in the future if this happens again so your torch idea may come in handy so I will keep it in mind if this happens again.
Part of what I think my problem may be is when I placed the garden in this location 6 years ago, the trees on the edge of the woods were not as tall as they are now. I am getting far less light these last two years in the back 2/3's of my garden (where the tomatoes were rotated this year). Not only are they getting the bare minimum of sun needed, but I think they are not drying out in a soaking rain as they should. I had been toying with they idea of moving the garden last year as we were planing on building a more permanent and sturdier fence system (and one that looks better) as our current system has been added on to after each new creature has found their way in and decimated on or another vegetable.
Also, when we originally tilled for the garden I suggested we cut up the top layer of grass (or should I say field of weeds). My husband insisted that you simply just tilled it all under that was what the tiller was for, so we just tilled. So I have a HUGE weed problem in my garden. 6 years later, I still have huge clumps of grass growing their way back up that you have to dig up with a hand trowel. For the sake of our marriage it may be better if we start a nice fresh garden where every time I have to pull weeds for hours at a time I don't secretly blame him and his bad advice.
I guess you learn as you go though. Besides, I now know I am not too pleased with the shape and size of my garden either and can correct these. Maybe I will have a little extra room for that corn I always want to grow, but never have room for. Lucky for us we have plenty of room on the other side of the house in full sun. I have been planing on putting a small greenhouse over there. It makes sense to have the garden near the greenhouse anyway.
Thanks again.
Kalindi
I also have early blight and have had it for the last three years and can seem to kick it. After reading these posts, I know I have not been turning over the soil nor mulching. I will do that now. I planted 20 plants, all affected and have been cutting down plants one by one and collecting all affect foiliage, placing in a black plastic bag, leaving that in the sun for a few days before disposing. I am hoping for an improved crop next year.
My question is, can I replant the tomatoes in the same beds next year or should I move them to a new bed. I have 8 x 4 raised beds. Thanks
Here you go, all sorts of info on splitting and cracking.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Splitting and cracking discussions
I have a lot of watering/rain/weather/growing in containers, issues that I really don't have much control over. I HAVE to use containers, and I HAVE to water them often. The weather I can't control, so the best I can do is keep an eye on my cracking/splitting situations and remove them from the vine asap and let them ripen as much as possible inside. I eat the split ones asap to keep the split from becoming moldy.
Pictures would help a great deal in identifying the problem. Mushy green fruit is usually associated with plant diseases. Is the skin wrinked, deformed, discolored as one might see with sun scald?
Dave