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Dissily Mordentroge
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‘Black Russian’ splitting

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Last edited by Dissily Mordentroge on Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Dissily Mordentroge
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Dissily Mordentroge wrote:
Wed Mar 10, 2021 5:42 pm
I wonder if you can solve a mystery for me.
I have a large raised bed containing ‘Black Russian’ and ‘Roma’ tomatoes. Both have received exactly the same treatment (soil, fertiliser, watering etc & planted on the same day) yet only the ‘Black Russians’ are splitting as if they’re being overwatered. Any ideas as to what’s going on?

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applestar
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I have not grown black russian tomatoes but generally speaking, some varieties are more prone to splitting than others. In this case a beefsteak is less likely to be able to sustain skin stress.

If they are splitting after they blush, try harvesting earlier, as soon as they color up, and let the fruits ripen indoors. I like to pick my tomatoes as soon as the bottom “give” a little to pressure. Keep out of sunlight with good ventilation - I put them on raised wire cookie cooling racks lined with paper towels or tea towels or in baskets or colanders. The flavor will deepen and will be ready to eat in 2-3 days. Most sugar-rich tomatoes will start to lose flavor after that and may suffer from sunken spots etc after that so experiment and eat then when and while good.

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Dissily Mordentroge
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applestar wrote:
Wed Mar 10, 2021 8:39 pm
I have not grown black russian tomatoes but generally speaking, some varieties are more prone to splitting than others. In this case a beefsteak is less likely to be able to sustain skin stress.

If they are splitting after they blush, try harvesting earlier, as soon as they color up, and let the fruits ripen indoors. I like to pick my tomatoes as soon as the bottom “give” a little to pressure. Keep out of sunlight with good ventilation - I put them on raised wire cookie cooling racks lined with paper towels or tea towels or in baskets or colanders. The flavor will deepen and will be ready to eat in 2-3 days. Most sugar-rich tomatoes will start to lose flavor after that and may suffer from sunken spots etc after that so experiment and eat then when and while good.

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Dissily Mordentroge
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It surprises me you recommend indoor ripening without exposure to the sun which is how I’ve treated them previously. What is the disadvantage of ripening indoors in sunlight? Black Russian tomatoes are indeed sugar rich, especially once they start turning black near the stems.

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applestar
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There’s no hardfast reason I guess. If sun ripening has worked for you then by all means. I find them spoiled too often if exposed to direct sun — though one of my ripening areas do get sheer curtain-filtered morning sun and have not had noticeable issues. I’ve just assumed there is too much chance of extreme and uneven temperature fluctuations.

It is also no doubt related to my having way too many fruits to provide due daily individual attention to them.

I don’t think flavor suffers in any way with lack of sun. I have more issues with spotty overripeness.

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TomatoNut95
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@Applestar is correct. Some tomatoes are more prone to splitting than others. Thin skinned tomatoes and cherries will easily spilt. Usually occurring with too much water. (Or, for example, you're having a dry spell and all of a sudden you get a bunch of rain. The fruit expands and splits the skin) As I recall, my Purple Russian split as well.

I'm not fond of ripening indoors because the fruit doesn't reach full flavor as does vine ripened. However, I have ripened fruits indoors in the windowsill before.

pepperhead212
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I have had serious splitting with many black/purple varieties, one of which was a purple russian - may be the same? It was an elongated tomato, and I did not get a single unsplit tomato from either plant, and it was not an extremely rainy year, causing splitting in other varieties. It seemed that as soon as they had a hint of ripening, they would be split! When picked early, but split, more would rot, so I let them totally ripen on the vine, and I had to cut less out with some, though some were useless. If I did have any blushing, without splits, I would have picked them then, and ripened them indoors. Some growers have to do this with all of their tomatoes, as they have pests that attack just the ripe fruits.

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applestar
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If a tomato has a skin-deep surface split that just happened overnight and you managed to find it early next morning before any bugs have been at it, I have found it’s possible to pick the fruit, wash with water and dry thoroughly, then wrap in single layer of paper napkin with ends tucked underneath or taped closed. Keep in same area with the other indoor ripening fruits and keep a close eye on it - unwrapping and checking.

IF ants, fruit flies, etc don’t get to it and if fungal issues were averted, the subsurface split will dry and heal enough for the fruit to ripen in the 3-4 day period.

Most often — failure involves a sunken round spot that start somewhere along that crack into anthracnose like depression and eventually oozing and mold. Caught early enough, I just cut out the spot before eating.

Vanisle_BC
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@pepperhead212; My experience with Purple Russian was the same as yours and I won't grow it again. In fact I'm giving up on the blacks/purples. Their color & flavor are interesting but in my case they've all been quite prone to splitting or catfacing. This year I'll stick with reds & a couple of yellows.

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TomatoNut95
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One year I had a lot of trouble with splitting. Bradley was a very prolific pink, meaty tomato that didn't even split once. I'm growing it again to see if it remains prolific.



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