Harvest Extravaganza in New York!

Fantastic Harvest!

I harvested a bunch of tomatoes and habanero peppers this past week! Even though it is October, this is the most I have harvested all season. The heirloom tomatoes are spotless with no cracks, which I am happy about. The habanero peppers are also looking healthy, and should be great in salsas. So blessed!

Tomato Cracks and How to Avoid Them- Garden Tips

Cracked tomato from my garden harvest

My heirloom tomatoes are ripening beautifully, but when I checked in my garden for more tomatoes yesterday, I found that one of my tomatoes had cracked on the side. I wasn't too worried because the tomato is still good and can be used for cooking if I cut out the bad part , but I still have to check for any insects, worms, or bacteria that may have entered through the crack.

There are two types of cracks seen in tomatoes. The crack I have in my tomato is called a radial crack, which is when the crack extends from the stem from the blossom end. The other type is called a concentric crack which is a crack that the goes in circular patterns across the tomato.

Cracking usually occurs while the tomato is ripening and reaching maturity. There are some tomato varieties that are more susceptible to cracking than others and those tomatoes usually crack when they are green. 

Cracking occurs when the tomato skin does not stretch well during growth under certain conditions. There are numerous reasons why tomatoes crack including:

1. Large variations in temperatures throughout the day which can cause the epidermis of the tomato to expand and contract quickly, resulting in cracking
2. High heat and humidity
3. Irregular plant watering which causes uneven tomato growth and cracking
4. Tomatoes left on the vine too long

To avoid cracking, you can choose to grow tomato varieties that are less susceptible to cracking such as Rutgers, Juliet, Sungold, and Mountain Fresh. You can also try harvesting more regularly to not let the tomatoes stay too long on the vine, and make sure the soil is evenly moist so growth is more even. Taking care to prune tomato leaves carefully and not remove too many leaves will also prevent tomato cracking. 

Because the weather in New York has been a bit crazy,  (tornadoes in Queens?!!) maybe thats why the crack developed. Hopefully no more tomatoes in my garden will crack!

For my site, check out atomatogrowsinqueens.com