Your Tomatoes Aren't Cracking For The Reason You Think

When it comes to growing tomatoes, I think that there's certain lists of things that are just very irritating. And if I was to rank those things in terms of the level of irritation, you might have like your top five being like tomato hornworms, blossom end rot, early blight, maybe like no tomatoes forming at all, like it's just kind of a really slow growing season, that's really irritating. But at the very top, the very, very top has to be cracking tomatoes. I think for me at least, it's the most irritating thing because the tomatoes crack when they're just about ripe. You've seen them grow, you've seen them size up, you've seen them blush, you've eyed them up in the garden, you come out to harvest and they've split. And the reason why that's so irritating is because bugs will get in, fruit flies will get in, it just gets really nasty really quick and they lose their shelf life entirely. So when it comes to cracking tomatoes, I've made it my life mission to preventing cracking as much as possible. And in today's episode, I'm going to share with you three super simple ways you can help reduce the chance of your tomatoes cracking on the plant before you bring them inside to enjoy them. The first way that you can prevent your tomatoes from cracking is by understanding why they're cracking in the first place. Tomatoes don't just crack because, they crack because of the growing conditions they're put under. And you see the skin is the thing that's cracking, the whole tomato doesn't crack, just the skin cracks. And that's because as the tomato starts to ripen, the tomato skin turns softer and thinner. And so because the skin gets softer and thinner, but the tomato fruit itself gets larger, that is actually, they're kind of inversely correlated. As the tomato gets larger, ideally you'd want the skin to almost get thicker. But in fact, it gets thinner and softer as the tomato fruit is getting larger, basically increasing the likelihood of it cracking. So the first thing that you can do is you can pick varieties that are crack resistant. So this is a Ace 55 tomato. It is relatively crack resistant. Certain tomatoes tend to be more crack resistant than others, because typically what you're going to find in those more crack resistant varieties like this Ace 55, is that the skin is naturally going to be slightly thicker. When the skin is naturally slightly thicker, that actually will give you a little bit more forgiveness as the fruit is beginning to ripen. That elasticity is there, where on other varieties it isn't. And as that fruit is beginning to swell, if it exceeds the point where that kind of, the elasticity, right? Imagine like a water balloon, that's how I've always described it. You fill up a water balloon to a certain point, one drop more is going to make the water balloon pop. So if you increase the thickness of the water balloon, the balloon itself, you can hold more water, because it can stretch more. And so basically on these varieties, find varieties that are naturally going to be more crack resistant. You can do your research, there's plenty of varieties out there. I will say you can hone in on the varieties that are considered field grown. Field grown tomatoes might be heirloom, they might be delicious, like this Ace 55 is fantastic. It's probably my top 10 favorite tomatoes of all time. But it was a field grown tomato. And field grown tomatoes, they're a lot more neglected than your kind of highly manicured tomatoes. But by finding those varieties that used to be more kind of field grown or widely cultivated, you're going to have a more naturally crack resistant tomato. And that's going to definitely help you out just by giving you that added forgiveness. Next, I want to talk about something that a lot of gardeners do mistakenly, that they don't really understand that they're doing wrong. It doesn't seem wrong in the moment, but it actually is wrong in the fact that it's increasing the chances of your tomatoes cracking. And that mistake is actually letting your tomatoes fully ripen on the plant. Now, this is an optional thing, but when you let your tomatoes sit until peak ripeness, yes, you're going to get the most incredibly amazing, perfectly ripe tomato ever. But by picking your tomatoes about one day sooner, I can't tell you how many times I have come out to my garden, I've looked at a tomato like this one right here, right? Comparatively, we can both agree, I would say that needs one more day. That might even need two more days. But when that tomato has begun to almost completely blush, and I say to myself, maybe just one more day, is actually when I now prefer to pick my tomatoes. By picking my tomatoes at the time when I would normally say it needs one more day, has actually saved me from having cracked tomatoes so often. And this is because when the tomatoes are fully, fully ripe, the skin is actually at its thinnest and softest, and the fruit itself is at its highest moisture content. If you have a little bit of dew in the morning, if you have water, like rain that you weren't expecting, the chances of this tomato cracking go up so high because of the fact that it's at its most vulnerable state. If you harvest when your tomatoes are at that maybe one more day stage, the skin is still fairly thick. The skin gets very thin very quickly when the tomatoes finish ripening up. And when they're only about one or two days away from being perfect, is when that skin is just thick enough to where it's not going to split. Almost all of the flavor, contrary to popular belief, we've done videos on this, all of the sugars, all of the flavor has already gone into this fruit right here. The only thing you're getting is textural difference. You're getting a slightly softer fruit. You're getting maybe a slightly juicier fruit, but you're not getting a better tasting fruit. And so this tomato right here would need about a day or two normally, but I'm going to pick it and take it inside. And that's how I am with all of my tomatoes nowadays. I used to think it was just so, it was almost like a cool party trick to leave tomatoes on the vine until they were like completely ready, ready to rock. Not only is the shelf life dramatically reduced by doing that, you also increase the chances of it cracking. And I can't tell you, I just, I got so sick and tired of seeing tomatoes crack by just saying maybe just one more day, maybe one more day. And I would tell myself one more day, one more day, one more day. And it is unbelievable that even a heavy dew on a cool morning is enough moisture dripping down into the soil to give those tomatoes enough water to crack. It happens all the time and it's absolutely infuriating. So let them go ripen up on the You guys, I am so bummed to see this because no theater magic here. Look, a cracked tomato. That is just such a bummer. Look at that. Look at that crack right there. Now this, this was totally preventable. And the reason why it happened was for the third and final reason. The reason why your tomatoes are cracking has to do with the fact that the skin starts to kind of set in place. The skin loses its elasticity as the tomato starts to ripen. And so when the tomato is green like this, this is a, what tomato are we? I'm not sure. It's a Bonnie Best. So this Bonnie Best tomato here, as the tomatoes are starting to size up, the skin is really elastic because obviously the tomato is growing, it's swelling, it's beginning to take on size. But as the tomato starts to blush, the skin actually kind of almost says, I'm done. And because it says I'm done, it starts to actually kind of solidify in its place, if you will. It loses that elasticity. And so what happens is you have a case in which the tomato itself wants to get larger, but the skin says no. And what causes this has to do with inconsistent watering. You see, as you water the plant, the water enters the roots, goes up into the vascular system of the tomato, and actually enters the fruits because most of the water is actually stored in the fruits. Tomatoes are like 97% water. And because tomatoes are 97% water, all that water is constantly going into the fruits. But at the point when the fruit, when the plant says, all right, well, I'm going through a drought, I'm going to start ripening my fruit. Maybe that fruit's slightly undersized, or maybe it's perfectly sized, but it just isn't being consistently watered. The plant sends a signal to start ripening that fruit. And when that happens, the skin kind of, almost kind of, like I said, it kind of solidifies a little bit. And all it takes is a lot of water, all at once, to then send a signal for the plant to start putting water back into the fruit. Well, it doesn't have any idea that those fruits, the skin has solidified. The skin has kind of, kind of, chosen that it's, that's as big as the fruit wants to be. The plant wants the fruit to be larger because that's, larger is always better. So because the plant wants it to be larger and better, but the skin says, nope, I'm done. That's what happens is it ruptures and splits because the fruit went from what was fine with no water to then getting water and having it not be fine and cracking. And so a super simple solution to this is, and this is especially important in containers. That's why this one was kind of a demonstration for what can go wrong. Because in containers, especially, they can dry out very quickly, and then you water them, and then they dry out very quickly, and then you water them. That consistent soil moisture is critical to continuing the flow of water into the fruits so they continue enlarging at a normal rate. And that then allows the tomato to ripen at the right time so that the water entering the tomato doesn't cause it to crack later. If you have rain in the forecast, if you have, if you're planning on watering, go through and pick all of your tomatoes that are 85 to 90 percent ready to go. Or if they're 100 percent ready to go, definitely pull them. I can't tell you enough how much this actually helps, because it is always when they, you got all these perfect, beautiful tomatoes that are looking gorgeous, and then you get a rainstorm, and that deluge of water ends up causing your tomatoes to crack, because it's just too much too fast. And it's kind of like when you're blowing a bubble, you have a, you're making a bubble gum bubble, blow super fast. It'll pop when it's this big around. You blow consistently and smoothly, you, the bubble will get as large as it possibly can before it pops all over your face. But that's kind of the example that I give, because what you're doing is you're pumping that water through it super quick, it just can't expand fast enough, and it ends up rupturing. And that is the third and final way that can really help to decrease the chance of your tomatoes cracking. Harvesting slightly early, finding crack-resistant varieties, and watering on a consistent basis, and making sure the soil does not dry out. Very super simple ways for you to have better quality fruit, more fruit, and to make sure that you don't end up with one of the most frustrating things ever to happen to a tomato plant, which is cracked tomatoes. So let me know in the comments box down below if you've tried some of these tips, if they work for you. I really do hope they help. And as always, this is Luke from the MiGardener channel reminding you to grow bigger. I'll catch you guys later. See ya. Bye. Hey, thank you so much for watching today's video. I really appreciate it. If you enjoyed, consider clicking this one. You'll probably enjoy it just as much. I want to thank you for your viewership, because without it, this channel would not be as amazing as it is. Also, if you haven't subscribed, consider subscribing. It's free, and we upload videos every Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. We also have vegetable seeds, fertilizer, or tools. If you need any of those, consider visiting MiGardener.com. Links will be in the description box below. We've got you covered. And as always, we'll see you all in the garden. Take care. Bye.