Hello everyone...The past few days my cherry tomatoes are cracking open, they aren't over ripe (still orange and green). The only thing I can think of is that we have had rain for a solid week, often really heavy. The grape tomatoes haven't had any issues, just my cherry tomatoes.

Any ideas???

Thanks in advance

Shawn

Thanks for the info John. This is the first year I've had them crack. Hopefully the rain clears up this weekend. I hate the rainy season here, atleast no real monsoons to date.

Shawn

Yep, mine crack wide open too..
(can be the rain, definately)

Mine also do if I don't pick them fast enough!

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Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Sometimes it depends on you and your likes...
I like a ripe tomato...
I leave mine on...

But I do grow ALOT of cherry tomatoes...
*I eat them as a snack as I'm gardening,
and my husband takes a salad a day *6 days a week* for his lunch... and gets about 10~13 a day.

So, I pick as I need them...

but I also watch the weather reports,
when it's going to rain..
and if I have some tomatoes that are red..
I will go pick them before it rains..
If it rains, *and I don't relize it*
I pick them as fast as I can..

It seems just over night or a few hours sometimes they can crack...

but if they are reddish, and orange.. and you
like a firmer tomato, pick them...

And the more you pick, the more the tomato will
make more tomatoes and ripen more...
*Cause it thinks all of it's seeds are being taken or gone, and still must complete it's task of MAKING SEEDS*

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Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

I had a long post here, and I moved my mouse the
wrong way, and it ate it...

Gonna try this one again..

I am not 100% sure???

I do know that when they save seed,
they put it in a cup/pail/bucket, etc.. of water.

They then let it sit, and sit and sit..
and it ferments... and gets all yucky on top..
*it has to go thru that process to break down
that outter sac around the seed*

they then pull that load of stuff off the top..
and the seeds I believe are under it, or on the bottom, and you have to wash the seeds several time to get that stuff off of it...

And then let to dry...
Like on top of a screen..

I get mine to volunteer in the garden over the winter by placing them on the side of the beds' and they over winter *and break down that way*
and come spring time, they sprout with the warming of the ground...

Why don't you try a couple of different ways and keep track of how you did what and which came up and which didn't... and how it easy/hard it was,
and what rate of sprouting occured...

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Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

The only thing I might think of for not
doing it really fast would be that the seed
could mold or rot... if the seed is too wet (it'self, inside* and then you put it in wet *watered* ground.. it wouldn't sprout?????

I dunno??
Really...

Try it both ways and let us know..
I'd love to find out myself..

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Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Deb, if you ferment the seed to break down the gel-coat on them, you can plant them right away. Otherwise the gel won't break down right away and the seeds won't germinate for a while. This is why volunteers don't come up the same season.

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John - Zone 6

Thanks, Weezie and John.
Now I get it-that coating is nature's way of ensuring a food supply a year later.
But if we step in, a seed could sprout earlier.
Got it !

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