The plant seems to be growing just fine, but the something always seems to be wrong with the tomatoes. I got rid of the blossom end rot, and this time, they look like this: Someone please help me!! Should I repot the whole plant again?
Have you had a lot of rain lately....particularly fast and hard after a dry spell or just heavy and fast? Usually splitting like that is caused by accelerated growth of the inside of the tomato after a heavy rain. Once a tomato reaches maturity and begins to turn red, the outside has grown all it is going to, but if it rains a lot and the inside takes in some of the moisture, the skin can't expand so it splits. If the plants are in pots, make sure there is very good drainage, drill more holes in the pot if there aren't very many. Or if the rain starts again, go ahead and pick the ripening ones to keep them from splitting.
Thank you! Yes, it has been very rainy here lately with some heavy afternoon thunderstorms almost every day oddly enough.
I see two problems here: the splitting of the tomato's skin and the disorder known as "green collar " or "Yellow Shoulder" disorders. The splitting of the skin is due to the plant having too much water all at once when it has not had much water in the days before the heavy watering. This was explained so accurately by Toni The Yellow/Green Shoulder Disorder is caused by an exposure to too great heat, potassium deficiency, an alkaline soil or a combination of these possibilities..
Thank you! How can I fix this? Should I repot it with better soil? Is there a "plant food" or something that I can use to prevent this from happening? It is hot here, but it seems to me that it has been more mild than previous years. As I said before, it has been very rainy in recent weeks also. I appreciate the advice.
Potassium deficiency, by the time it shows up, is pretty hard to correct. A high potassium fertilizer applied according to package directions may help. Potassium is the last number in fertilizer (NPK, with K being potassium) so something like 5-5-10 is what you want. Plants in bloom or fruit should only be re-potted in extreme emergencies. Leave your tomato in its pot, try to give it shade during the worst of the day's heat, and water to keep the soil moist, but not soggy.
Mart is right about that. I get a couple split ones each year and I do exactly as she says and eat them. As for the K-deficiency: Well, if it IS K-def., then you could add some. Just follow Marling's advice for this. You know, toms are very heavy feeders and if you are not feeding them about every week, the soil nutrition in the pot will become depleted. Don't forget to feed your babies. If however, it is due to intense sun exposure then these fruits that I see cannot be corrected. Just cut the green shoulders off the fruit when you are preparing the toms to eat. You could perhaps arrange some sort of mobile shade for your toms on those very sunny days. Wishing you the best with your toms.
Many of mine split when we get heavy rain, and they grow too fast. Outside can`t keep up with the inside.
Pick the tomatoes once they show any color at all and let them ripen inside on the counter. Especially of there is rain in the fore cast. The rain after they start to ripen will make them split. I lay mine out in trays to let them color up.
