Tomatoes are cracking near the branch

[Francis Barnswallow]

The tomatoes I'm growing are cracking open were the branch and the tomato meet. Once I pick them the cracks start to get moldy and gross. But the rest of the tomato looks just fine.

What's causing the cracks?

[gardenvt]

Sometimes, too much water will do that. Have you had a lot of rain?

[Francis Barnswallow]

Lately no. It's been really hot and dry. I have been watering them everyday since TS Debbie finally got out of here. So, is it a case of over watering?

[MaryDel]

Tomatoes that crack around the stem are usually from underwatering. Overwatering causes blowouts which split the entire tomato usually splitting the bottom.

[gixxerific]

What you have is a dry to wet problem tomatoes have. They are splitting since the skin dry's out with dry conditions and with a large amount of water they swell and split. Like a stretchmark gone bad.

Consitent watering is the key. As soon as you figure that out, hit me back. I always have splits as well. They are still edible, but if mine get to the moldy stage they become seed tomatoes.

Good luck in this heat it is very hard to keep it even.

[dustyrivergardens]

there are lots of kinds of tomatoes that crack very easy. It is difficult to get tomatoes not to crack. The easiest thing to do is get tomato variety's that don't crack easily.

[MaryDel]

there are lots of kinds of tomatoes that crack very easy. It is difficult to get tomatoes not to crack. The easiest thing to do is get tomato variety's that don't crack easily.

'Rutgers' is one of the most crack resistant that I have found.