Tomatoes: Cracking on young Cherokee Purple tomatoes

I'm a little concerned about my Cherokee Purple tomato plants. I have about 10 of them, and a few are starting to produce fruit. All of the fruits so far are extremely cracked, even at this young age. :-(

We've not had very much excessive heat, and for the past week (during which these fruits were set) we've been very cool, topping out around 70 degrees.

Take a look at some pictures I took of one of the fruits today: http://davesgarden.com/gj/dave/viewentry/4867.html

Notice that the inside looks just fine, but the outside looks just aweful! I'm really disappointed here, because I've heard that the Cherokee Purple was one of the best tasters out there, and native to my region. :-(

Any advice or information?

Thanks,
Dave

Dave,
They looked cracked rather than catfaced to me too,but I'm clueless as to the cause.

Catfacing is caused by fruit set in cool temps,so I'm going to blame them for the time being.It looks like cracks though,so if anyone else has any input,I'd be glad to listen too.

I've got a couple of catfaces on my Hungarian Giants because of the cool temps,but not this extreme.

Dave, here are some theories as to the cause of tomato cracking:

Cracking or splitting fruit - this is often caused by sudden changes, and often is from the tomatoes getting wet during the hot day. It can also be from rapid changes in the nutrient solution (it looks like you applied some mushroom compost on 5/2 - maybe that's contributing to the problem?)

Another source:
TOMATO CRACKING AND RUSSETING (from 1999 NJ Vegetable Recommendations)
Fruit cracking is due to the rapid uptake of water by the fruit, resulting in enlargement of cells and separation of the epidermis of the fruit. Water can be taken up by the fruit through the roots and vascular system or through the fruit tissue around the stem scar. The type of cracking (concentric cracks around the stem, radial cracks radiating out from the stem, or diagonal or transverse cracks across the fruit) is determined primarily by fruit structure and variety. More than one type of cracking may be present in a variety or an individual fruit. The severity of cracking is determined by rainfall and irrigation amounts, variety and stage of maturity. As the fruit ripens, the strength of bonding between cells progressively decreases, resulting in more severe cracking. Severity of cracking is increased by high rainfall or irrigation, or frequent low to moderate rainfall, especially following a period of low soil moisture.

And another (in very plain English): Fruit cracking occurs when there are alternating periods of dry and wet weather. During a dry spell the skin of the fruits gets too rigid, and once good growing condition return it can’t expand fast enough to accommodate the swelling fruit tissue, and ruptures. These cracks then offer an ideal site for bacterial or fungal infection.

And yet another: When the skin of the tomato fruit is weak or brittle, cracking can develop. You can get concentric circular cracks or radial cracks from the top of the fruit toward the bottom. Several factors seem to contribute to cracking, including plant succulence from high nitrogen, low potassium nutrition, excess rain, wide fluctuations in temperatures, and fruit that is exposed to the sun rather than protected by the foliage.

These aren't my own theories, but perhaps somewhere in here lies the cause? Good luck - I'm watching your progress with this variety with interest, as I'd like to try some myself next year.

Excellent information - thanks! A common theme I read through all your theories is irrigation. We had some pretty severe drought for quite a time, several weeks of hot sun, hot weather, and no rain. I watered very sparingly during this time.

Then, starting 8 or 9 days ago, the rain came and has yet to really let up much. We've had a few days of sun, but the ground has stayed fairly moist nonstop for this time. During this time, all my tomato plants have shot up toward the sky and grown like big weeds (some of my plants are now chest high) and almost all of them have set fruit.

So, I'm blaming this on the sudden increase in water. This gives me hope that I'll have some good fruit as the summer progresses and the weather (hopefully) straightens out and becomes a little more consistent.

Thanks both of you for your thoughts, and thanks vols for this exceptionally detailed report.

Dave

hey dave,I think you are right.because we 2 have had the mixed bag of weatherand looking back to last years crop
I now remember cracking and now I believe Vol has showed
me why !!!
thanks for all the great info
luvnana

Keep in mind that cracking to some degree is not uncommon in heirloom tomatoes. That is why alot of them fell out of favor to begin with. No one wanted to buy an ugly looking tomato no matter how good it tasted. As a result, this undesirable trait was bred out of the more modern hybrids. Basically, the larger the tomato, the more likely it is to crack.

I think what your seeing is a physiological response to stress (as already mentioned) combined with the natural tendency for heirlooms to crack even under the best of conditions.

I have had similar problems with a different type of tomato. I cut the water by 2/3 and the problem has stopped.

Good luck.

my head's a-thinkin again (sorry) When cabbage heads start cracking it is due to too much water and I exercise "turning off the faucet"...not the water faucet, the one on the cabbage. You grab the head and give it a sharp half-turn twist. It breaks just enuff vessels to stop the flow of water to the head but yet still keep the plant alive. Anyway, as for tomatoes, in contests to be the first on the block to have the first ripe tomato sometimes folks take a shovel and insert it in the ground about 4 to 6 inches or so away from the base of the trunk and sever some of the roots about halfway around the plant. (This sends the plant into a semi-shock and makes the maters begin to ripen.) I wonder if that can be done to stop the uptake of so much rain when we get those deluges
and stop so much cracking of the tomatoes. It would be a nice test to try.

Sounds reasonable Horseshoe...I've heard of the cabbage thing and it might just be worth trying on a mater or two.
The roots will regrow anyway. If mine weren't so far gone,I'd go out and do it now...but they're pretty pitiful at present with all this rain I'm getting.Usually things are crispy by now and I'm screaming for a heavy dew just to help out the poor plants.Not so this season....Things look like a jungle out there!

Horseshoe

While I was surfin, ran into an agi school statement,

High nitrogen applied after fruit gas started to form can also cause fruit cracking..

Hi Dave and All,

Just a quick note. Cherokee Purple is one of my favorites but it is KNOWN for the cracking. It is relatively thin skinned and therefor prone to cracking and will not store for long once picked.

someones already commented on some of why heirlooms fell out of favor. this is just one of those things.

Chris