Tomatoes that split when ripe - tomato cracking

by Jeanne from LA
(LA)

Could this be caused by too much water or sun too hot?

Doug says that splitting and cracking is a physiological problem. It is usually caused by variability in the water supply - a plant is slowed down by a water restriction and then suddenly it gets some and starts growing again but the skin can't expand as fast as the nutrients are being pushed into the plant.

This mechanism works the same for most stressors on the plant at the time the fruit is plumping up. If you get a cold spell and the plant slows growth down and fruit expansion slows down too - then the weather turns and the nutrient flow increases too fast for the skin to handle = cracking.

But my experience is that the most cracking is caused by water variations.