Biology professor and 'tomato expert' Karen Kackley-Dutt from Penn State Lehigh Valley stopped by virtually Saturday morning to explain why tomatoes seemingly crack so easily this time of year.
She says, it's a weather issue.
"When tomatoes grow in weather that has been dry, like we had at the beginning of summer, and then when they are supplied with abundant water, those plants are gonna suck that water up," Kackley-Dutt says. "It's kind of like when you have a Thanksgiving dinner and you eat too much and your pants are still the same size."
Due to a rapid influx of moisture, the skin on the tomato cannot keep up with the expansion of the interior of the fruit, literally cracking it open.
Kackley-Dutt also provided a few helpful tips to prevent cracking.
- Try and maintain even moisture
- Water the plants consistently
- Mulching
- Pulling them off the plant before the cracking happens, and allow them to ripen off the vine
August 29, 2020 at 07:47PM
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Tomato Talk: Why do tomatoes crack? | Weather | wfmz.com - WFMZ Allentown
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