Soaker hoses are my favorite answer for a lot of things, including tomatoes. I turn them on when the top inch or so of soil has dried out. Keeps excess cold water off the leaves and does a great job of keeping the root zone mosit and cool.

Soaker hose or a drip irrigation system seem to work best. And less frequent but deep watering vs. frequent shallow watering is preferred. That promotes deeper root development on the plants.

Why do you say "they do not like water"?

Dave

I use a drip system I purchased at a local home supply chain. It works well, and is supposed to be rated at one gallon per hour. I set it for two hours each evening, but it still seems that my tomatoes are not getting enough. The leaves look full and healthy, but the fruit still cracks and splits... and I still occassionaly get end rot. I've heard that tomatoes don't like lots of water, but my neighbor never waters her's and mine looks much better.... just not as good as I think they should. Suggestions welcome!

Maybe you are watering too much. Splits and cracks are a symptom of too much water. I believe you can get BER from over watering as well as under watering. I soak mine about every 3 or 4 days if it is really hot and dry. I usually use my gourds and squash as a guide, as they will wilt before tomatoes. I have very little spltting and cracking (unless it rains buckets, and then every cherry tomato will split) and have not had 1 problem with BER in years (even growing Roma and other paste types), knocking on wood as I type.
Just my opinion,
Tom

I am still getting ugly cracks on top of half my tomatoes.I am drip watering over night.

There seems to be more cracks in direct sunlight,but there are cracks in shaded areas also.

I really have not found a good answer yet to preventing cracks.

Any proven answers out there?

As tomakers says, fruit cracking is caused by over-watering.

It sounds like both dirtbagg and johnh9600 are overwatering if I understand their posted info correctly. "Drip watering over night" - ALL night long, every night? Way too much water. And "2 gallons per hour EVERY evening" - way too much water.

Tomatoes don't require nearly that much water. ;) Try watering deeper but much less frequently and see if your cracking problems don't disappear.

Dave

I'll back off on the watering. Any recommendations? I live in southeastern VA and it's usually in the 80s or 90s during the day with high 90s common. Humidity is usually up there too. I've been watering each evening (actually, moring before dawn) for two hours using a drip system. Would cutting back to three or four evenings per week still be too much? I really appreciate the help.

I use drip fertigation and water approximately 1/2 to 2/3 gallons per day, every day. (1gph drippers, twice a day for 15-20 minutes.)

Mark

I use soaker hose and water for 1 hour every 4th day - every third if temp is above 95. This is assuming no rain (which we haven't had for a month now).

But the real test is to check the soil first. Dig down the length of your finger and only water if it is dry at that depth. Frequent, shallow watering promotes shallow, surface roots while less frequent, deep watering promotes deeper and healthier roots.

Better yet is to watch for signs of droopy leaves before watering. When in doubt - hold the water - as more problems are caused by over-watering than by under-watering.

{{gwi:10965}}

Are your plants well mulched? If not, they should be. No naked dirt allowed in the garden. ;) It will maintain even, consistent moisture levels while cutting the watering needs in half.

Dave

Dave,
I think they're well mulched. I laid on a good layer of hardwood mulch in June and it seems to be doing the trick. I see you use pine straw... it that better than hardwood? Your plants look great! I hope next year I can get mine to look that good. I have a few pics to post if anyone can tell me how.

I don't like to wait for wilt, especially when the first set of fruits is small. I've read that even a half hour of water stress can initiate what ends up as BER, so I try not to let it get to where they wilt.

The finger-in-the-dirt test is the best, I think. If there's any question and the weather's going to be really hot I water.

I do think daily watering is way OTT.

Once the plants are really full sized and the first fruits are nice and big I get much less obsessed about it, and don't sweat a bit of water stress.

This year has been amazing, the first year in recent memory where I had no BER. Well, that's a lie, I had one BER tomato. Still amazing, for me.