Great information. This is my fist attempt at growing tomatoes and I am working with a blacke heirloom variety. They look great except for the craks. I will get to pulling them sooner and dialing in the H2o.

Great article! Just what I was looking for. Thanks!

Hi Tee! Thanks so much for this article. I am new to gardening and just harvested my first ever organically grown tomatoes Unfortunately, a few cracked because of Hurricane Irene sweeping through the Hudson Valley. I am going to follow your advice and pick some now before they ripen so they don’t continue cracking, and let them sit in a sunny windowsill.

Happy gardening!
Bea

Hi Jeff – Although I’m not very familiar with your conditions in Nevada, I believe you should let the drip irrigation run for longer periods. I would let it run for 2-3 hours in the morning (like 5 – 8am) twice a week. It is much better for the plants to have a good soaking rather than short quick “bursts”.

You want the water to thoroughly soak the soil all the way to the bottom roots of the plants.

Here’s a great way to check to see how much you need to water – let your drip irrigation run for the 2 -3 days one morning. The following morning go out to your plants and stick your index finger down into the soil as far as you can about 6-8 inches from one of the plants.

Does the soil feel moist?

If yes, then do not water that day. Re-check the soil again the same way the next day. Keep checking each day until the soil begins to feel dry.

This will determine how many days you need to water. For instance, if after 3 days of checking the soil starts feeling dry then you need to let the drip irrigation run for 2-3 hours every 3 days.

Does the soil feel dry (the day after the initial watering)?

If so, you need to water again for 2-3 hours and re-check the next day. If it feels dry again then you may need to run the drip irrigation longer – say for 4 hours.

Now, when I say run it for so many hours you also have to consider the flow rate at which your drip irrigation releases water. If your system flows at a high rate then you may need to decrease the length of time to an hour or two for each watering.

On average most plants need about an inch of water per week. There is really no definitive formula for watering, and it’s going to take a bit of testing and fine tuning to get it just right. Using the finger check can give you a great idea of when you need to water and when not to.

I hope this helps!

Great information! My wife and I live in the Las Vegas valley,and believe me it’s definitely a hot and dry climate! This is our 2nd year of trying to grow tomatoes. Last year we planted too late, whith no success. But this year I put in a “drip irrigation “tied in to my sprinkler system. But I’m. Still not sure if I need to increase watering time or decrease it. I have it set for 5minutes , 4 times at night,every other day, if anyone has a solution we would appreciate it emensely!…Thanks again, -Jeff

This is great information. Many gardeners, and especially first timers, have no idea why their tomatoes crack. It is definately a controllable problem with watering frequency. However, for those locations that get periodic downpours of a few inches in a short period of time, even the best watering strategy can result in cracking/splitting.

Thanks again,

Tommy Smith

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tee Riddle. Tee Riddle said: What Causes A Tomato To Crack Or Split? http://is.gd/bnKKS #gardening [...]

[...] “What Causes a Tomato to Crack or Split?” Share and Enjoy: [...]