My Tomatoes Kept Splitting—Until I Tried This Easy Trick

Key Takeaways

Tomatoes often split due to fluctuating water levels caused by weather, temperature, or inconsistent watering.

Picking tomatoes just after they begin ripening (yellow to orange stage) prevents splitting, and they can ripen indoors.

This method preserves the quality of the tomatoes, avoids cracks, and ensures they taste as good as vine-ripened ones.

This spring, I planted my first vegetable garden and filled it with tomato, cucumber, and pepper plants. At the time, it felt a bit ambitious (I’m a new homeowner who has never had my own growing space before), but it’s now mid-summer, and my plants are thriving.

I have three varieties of tomatoes (cherry, Roma, and ‘Celebrity’), and while they’ve produced plenty of tomatoes, they kept splitting on the plants once they ripened. Thankfully, I have a tomato-growing expert on speed dial: my Midwest mom, who has been growing vegetables for more than three decades. She taught me a super simple trick, and now I have a bowl full of fresh tomatoes on my counter without a crack in sight. Here’s what worked for me.

Credit: Scott Little Why Do Tomatoes Split?

Tomatoes can split while they’re still on the vine for several reasons, including weather, temperature, and water conditions. I live in the middle of the Midwest, so my plants have been subjected to sweltering three-digit temperatures, several summer thunderstorms, and the occasional day that I forget to water. (Hey, it happens to the best of us.)

When water levels fluctuate quickly, whether due to weather or high temperatures, the skin on developing tomatoes can crack or split open. Cracks on a tomato don’t always mean it’s inedible; sometimes you can cut around the split part, but other times the fruit will rot before it fully ripens.

Here’s where my mom’s genius trick comes in handy.

The Trick: Pick Them Early

All of my tomato varieties have been prone to cracking this time of year, even the ‘Celebrity’ tomatoes, which are supposed to be one of the more crack-resistant varieties. My mom suggested I start picking the tomatoes before they fully ripen, and it’s worked surprisingly well.

The trick is to pick the tomatoes just after they’ve started to ripen. Green tomatoes picked too early won’t ripen on their own, but tomatoes picked just after they’ve started changing color will fully ripen on the kitchen counter. (I pick mine when they’re between yellow and orange, which seems to be right before they start splitting.)

Then, I leave the tomatoes in a bowl on the kitchen counter and wait for them to turn red. They taste just as good as red tomatoes straight from the vine, and I don’t have to trim off any unsightly cracks or splits. After I started using this trick, I was able to use so many more of my tomatoes. Now I have so many that I’ll need to start freezing and canning them to save for winter.

Read the original article on Better Homes & Gardens