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It ’s unwashed for love apple to split or crack on the vine , especially when the fruit is mature . Use these pourboire to learn if you may still harvest the fruit and how to foreclose future problems .

If you ’re a new grower , also see10 Best Tips Before You Plant Tomatoes .

Red tomato with large crack.

Ripe red tomato with big split

Tomatoes Cracking Open

It happens to every tomato gardener at some point . You ’ve been spring up tomato in your garden , maintain them game , pruned , and fed as need when , in the home stretch , something happen and the yield suddenly split open — right there on the vine .

Your first view is — drat!—I never even got to savor them . But then you notice they do n’t really look too bad and ask , can I still deplete them ?

Are Cracked Tomatoes Safe To Eat?

The good word is : yes . If the yield is new split and the love apple otherwise seems fine , it ’s still comestible — strike it ’s good enough that you ’d require to .

It ’s when a cracked tomato has been sitting on the vine for some time with the inner parts ( pulp magazine ) of the fruit expose that insects and morbific fungus kingdom and bacteria may get in and ruin it .

If you ’re not sure , see it . If the yield looks and smells alright , it very likely is .

Split red tomato.

I check my garden crops daily so it ’s leisurely to comment pertly - cracked yield . And to me , if it happens , that ’s nature ’s way of telling me to carpe diem and enjoy those delicious sun - warmed fruits correctly aside . Yum !

Related : How To redeem Tomato Seeds ( Easy Tutorial )

Why Tomatoes Split

While a circumstances of garden problems seem complicated , this one is relatively harmless and straightforward .

essentially , a tomato plant part open when theskin is too weakto contain the pressure within .

It often happens after some hot , ironic summer days as the fruit is reachingmaturity . This is when the skin loses some of its snap and may not be able to stretch out further to accommodate newfangled growth or a sudden increment of water system inside .

Tomatoes ready for seed collection.

Down comes a secure rain , giving the plant life some much - demand water but , as that inner yield swells — pop!—the skin ca n’t take the pressure and splits open .

Splitting is say to be most coarse inlarge tomatoeslike some of the lovely previous heirloom but I primarily growcherry tomatoes(with jolly chummy skin ) and they crack every year too . The more resilient ones are often tag as ‘ crack - resistant ‘ in come catalogs .

There are two canonic room tomatoes can split : vertically(top to bottom ) orhorizontally(in a circle , all or part way around the fruit ) . Either way , it ’s all the same thing .

One red tomato split wide open on vine.

Sometimes the splits stay open , other time they seem to mend over take form a sort ofscar tissue paper .

Unlike a elementary split in the skin , it ’s that scar tissue paper that tend to worry gardener because it can look rather strange . But no worries . While unsightly , it ’s harmless . Just make out off the tough parts and apply the repose of the fruit .

Related : How to spring up Tomatoes From Cuttings ( Including Suckers )

Tomatoes cracking on the vine.

How To Prevent Tomatoes From Splitting

Cracking Lycopersicon esculentum skins arenot entirely preventablethe style some say .

Commercial growers , with far more dominance over their glasshouse growing experimental condition than we have in our gardens , struggle with splitting tomato plant every yr , resulting in multi - million - clam losses .

So , if it ’s a struggle for them , the best we can hope for is perhaps to somewhat bring down the risk .

Cracked red tomatoes on vine.

Here are a few thing that may aid :

Plant Choices

Here are a few :

Mail Order seed

Care

While we ca n’t control rainwater , these are idealistic :

Resources

More Tomato Growing Tips

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Seed Starting for BeginnersSow Inside Grow Outside

by Melissa J. Will

Modern EDITION| Everything you take to get started with indoor come starting for indoor and outside works . Grow what you want — any time of year !

Tomato plant cuttings for propagation.

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Tomatoes cracking on the vine.