Hi Mindi – If you have a splitting tomato you can cut the split area out and eat the rest. There are times when a white or black mold can start growing in the exposed areas. If this happen you can cut those areas out and blanch the tomato before eating if you like.

Is it ok to cut that half of the tomato off and eat the other half?

Hi Richard – I doubt the ants are causing the holes. The holes are more than likely a small worm called the tomato fruitworm. They will eat a hole in the tomato and sit inside gobbling on the tomato’s insides. They are tough to catch and even more tough to treat. The best thing to use is an organic form of Bt called Thuricide.

Holes keep appearing in our tomatoes. There are ants on the plants. Can they be causing the holes? What should we do?

A quick question, Tee…

How practical would it be to surround tomato plants with some kind of fine netting as a barrier against the various larger pests?

Would such a measure interfere with pollination? If netting were used after a period of time–before pests are noticed–perhaps pollinating insects would have time to do their work before the pests followed?

Alos–I have read about a spray-on substance which claims to help “set” tomato fruits (and other crops) when sprayed onto the blossoms; any truth to those claims?

Thanks!