That's called radial cracking. It happens when the plant suddenly gets a lot of water through heavy rain or uneven watering after the fruit has begun to mature. The water moves up through the plant into the interior of the fruit, which cannot expand any more and cracks. Some breeding programs have tried to overcome this problem by developing hybrids with tougher skin (ugh, blech). Maintaining even soil moisture by mulching and consistent watering will help to prevent cracking. Some varieties are just prone to cracking no matter what, but if you like the flavor, they are worth growing in spite of their appearance.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cracking in Tomatoes

More links about cracking (and other problems):

from Cornell University: Common Tomato Fruit Disorders

from University of Wisconsin: Tomato Fruit Disorders

While some breeding programs may have developed crackproof tomatoes that don't measure up to certain folk's expectations or high standards for flavor, there are other breeding programs that have developed tomatoes that don't typically crack and still taste very good.

Glamour, Traveler 76 and Bradley are just a few open pollinate products of breeding programs that I think taste very good and hardly ever have a blemish, much less a crack. I've never seen a crack on my Mozarks either.

I grew a modern hybrid this summer called Bolseno that never showed the least sign of cracking and tasted very tart and tomatoey.

And even tomatoes that have never seen a breeding program can be grown with no cracking. My Indian Stripes seldom have cracks, and a number of custom crosses I'm growing seldom crack either.

Point is, don't turn your nose up at hybrids or common standards without exotic names. You might find several tasty varieties that don't crack and taste great.

And another point is, when folks find out that the ailment affecting their tomatoes is called cracking, it's not uncommon to start looking through catalog descriptions and settle for one that says "crack-resistant", usually a hybrid like Celebrity from a breeding program somewhere. Blech.

Although, there are people who like Celebrity as well as Bolseno and others, so we won't cast stones, will we? How's "Bolseno" for an exotic name by the way, LOL. :)

There are any number of varieties that seldom have cracks or blemishes, and lots of folks have favorites they can suggest so Neil will have a good selection to choose from. We have Glamour, Traveler 76, Bradley, Mozark, and Bolseno to start the list.

What others would be good ones for Neil to try?

Brandy Boy is a hybrid without an exotic name, and a lot of people like that one. I don't know about cracking. It's definitely worth a try though. I think a couple of folks are working on an OP version too.

Well, there's radial cracking as shown in the picture and concentric cracking and I'm sure both were discussed in some of the links as well as horizontal cracking, which ANY variety can be afflicted with b'c it's independent of specific variety and occurs when the fruits are at the mature size and there's too much water absorbed due to heavy rains of overirrigation, so they split.

I could make a long list of those varieties that I've never seen split ( not including the water induced splitting) but quite frankly, many of the OP heirloom varieties can show either radial or conentric splitting and I just ignore it b'c it's taste that I'm after not cosmetic perfection.( smile)

And besides, the splits do scar over and the major problem is if they reopen due to XS water and then a rotting process can start due to invasion by just normal bacteria and fungi in the environment.

Carolyn

Well first off, the rotting process has started on the tomato in the center of the picture in the original post. Secondly, there are other issues with that plant and other symptoms that indicate drowned roots or roots afflicted by chronic soil wetness.

and unsound fruit. Associated with that is the fact that such fruit is unmarketable. Hence breeders have developed tomatoes that are relatively crack resistant ... because not all tomatoes are grown in backyards with the intent of immediate consumption. And in fact, there are home gardeners who prefer aesthetically pleasing as well as tasty fruit.

And many of the improved varieties have good flavor not withstanding that some have perceptably thicker skins than others. I don't find that an automatic "blech" especially depending on the use of the tomato. For example, if the tomato is meant to be held on a market stand or shipped to a distant market, the thicker skin is essential. If the fruit is meant to be sliced before consumption, the thickness of the skin becomes less an issue at the table anyway. And there are many tomatoes both hybrid and open pollinated that fall into categories of crack-free and tasty.

Now if someone wants to eat tomatoes soley out of hand between the plant and the back door, or while swinging on a tire swing in bucolic reverie, then yes, a thick skinned tomato might awaken one with a startled "blech!" On the other hand, I've eaten many vintage type tomatoes with very thin skins that evoked the same repugnance whether regarding taste or texture. And a tomato that looks like the one in the picture would be used by me for seeds or chucked out into the woods.

So what it seems to boil down to is I have a different take on breeding programs aimed at producing crack resistant tomatoes. And I don't think the only result of such programs are tomatoes with thicker skin and blechy tastes or textures. Just another opinion.

So what it seems to boil down to is I have a different take on breeding programs aimed at producing crack resistant tomatoes. And I don't think the only result of such programs are tomatoes with thicker skin and blechy tastes or textures. Just another opinion.

*****

And not one I would disagree with Bill.

There are Market Gardeners and Market Gardeners and some specialize in OP heirlooms and some specialize in primarily hybrids and some do both.

There's a new Forum at another place where I post that's all about Market Gardening, whether to Chefs or retail stores or to farm markets or dragging a card table out to the end of the driveway.

I've only sold to chefs and a large farm market stand and only OP heirlooms, so it's been interesting reading the posts of others in terms of what they grow and why and where they sell and a lot more as compared to what I did. A lot was the same but for instance, some of them hadn't thought about shelf life that much when I told them it was my job to remove the soft and weeping fruits, weigh them, and subtract them from the poundage delivered.

Carolyn