London (change)
Today 17°C / 8°C
Tomorrow 13°C / 6°C

Tomato splitting

in : Problems: Veg & herbs

Symptoms

Tomatoes split open while still on the vine. This can lead to secondary infections and the tomatoes often start to rot.
Find it on: tomatoes
Time to act: summer to autumn

Problem categories

Overview

Fluctuating growth rates cause tomatoes to suddenly expand. This might happen after a period of drought followed by generous watering, or low temperatures followed by a sudden sunny spell. The split might then become infected, causing the tomatoes to rot.
Solution
Tomatoes split open while still on the vine. This can lead to secondary infections and the tomatoes often start to rot.
Organic
Water plants regularly and consistently, so it's not feast then famine for the plants. Ventilate greenhouse tomatoes during very hot spells and provide shading. Promptly pick off any split tomatoes before they start to rot.

Discuss this problem

Talkback: Tomato splitting
Your comment will appear after a quick registration step

rogerdennis 24/11/2011 at 15:27

I have had this happen and wondered what it was, so now I know.

chadward 24/11/2011 at 15:29

Hi,

Up until yesterday I was concerned my tom plants would not come to much and after coming back from a 10 day holiday expecting to see my plants dead I was amazed to see that they had gone mad and flurished so much they have out grown area and are now very crowded.

Surprisingly I am getting a good sized fruit, could the over crowding be an issue in the future??

Thanks.

tony williams2 08/10/2012 at 09:47

I also had this problem but only on one plant,i wonder if it could be drafts because its next to the open greenhouse door,the other six plants where fine.