Nearly all my tomatoes have a split on them!

Emstick14

Have been waiting for ages for them to FINALLY go red and now they are just turning but nearly every one has a split in it and I am wary about eating these ones, they have been going in the compost bin!

Are they actually ok to eat or has something happened to them? I am clueless sorry:)

whowants2brich

If you cut along the split, you won't even notice... No, seriously, the ones which have split will be the juiciest so enjoy them. A handful of mine have split too - and if you aren't quick enough to eat them, the picked ones also split after a day or two. Definitely don't waste them though, after all the hard work you've put in!

The only thing to stop me from eating my tomatoes are black spots on the bottom, otherwise known as blossom end rot. These, I wouldn't even cut the bad bits out of, they go straight to the compost heap or to the birds.

PS Make sure that nothing has crawled into the split, because sometimes, if the split happened a day or two earlier, you might find that someone beat you to that lovely tomato and started to enjoy it first. If the split is tiny, enjoy it while it's fresh and hoomegrown...

Vibrant

Splits are usually caused by erratic watering, either by yourself, or the rain. I grow my toms in the borders and the recent heavy rain has caused some splits.
As whowants2brich said, don't waste them, eat the split ones first. I use them in my sarnies.

Sally_A

If the split is fresh, don't worry and just enjoy them. If you aren't 100% sure, cut the split out and pop the toms into the freezer. sniff them first to make sure they don't smell mouldy, and when you get an ice cream tub full, boil them up, add basil, chilli and garlic or whatever you have to taste, and make some passata, a cheap hand blender pays dividends here - shove it into 500ml soup containers and stick back into the freezer until needed, for pasta, cottage pie or even a soup base.

tbw

Its not a good idea to put tomatoes on your compost heap - unless you want tomatoes coming up all over the garden after you use the compost next year! The seeds will remain 'live' and will survive pretty much anything - sewage works have ENORMOUS tomato crops.

KatsMeow1980

Our neighbours down the allotment cuts the black bits out of theirs that have had blossom end rot and says they are fine for cooking.

Emstick14

Oh ok, coz we picked one earlier that looked fine and then a few moments later I saw a split and I am sure it was not there at the beginning.

Lots are still attached with splits, I am dubious because I don't like tomatoes that much, its my 5 year old daughter thats eating them and I am cautious on what she is picking.

Re- compost bin - I have noticed that this year funnily enough as I used my own compost for broad beans and all of a suuden I had hundreds of tomatoes plants growing too! Like I said I am a newish to this and am learning all the time:)

valk_scot

They split because there's so much juice in them they burst with even the pressure of you picking them. They're fine to eat! As soon as they split though they're not waterproof and can start to deteriorate. The ones on the plants are still growing and won't go off as quickly but the ones you've picked should be eaten within 24 hours or so.

None of them will harm your daughter unless they've actually started to go mouldy and even then, they won't actually harm her. They won't taste very nice though!

My advice is to pick off all the split ones and open freeze them, then pack in boxes. You can add them to stew or make tomato sauce for spaghetti with them, straight from the freezer. (You can just pick the skins out the sauce while cooking.) As for the rest, let your daughter eat them straight off the plant before they hace a chance to split, while they're at their freshest and juciest! As long as you don't use chemical sprays they don't need washed...in fact, washing will cause them to split even more.

lola34

tbw wrote: »

Its not a good idea to put tomatoes on your compost heap - unless you want tomatoes coming up all over the garden after you use the compost next year! The seeds will remain 'live' and will survive pretty much anything - sewage works have ENORMOUS tomato crops.

So thats why I now have small tomato seedling growing in my garden from the compost:o

ladylouise62

I also had a load of unexpected tomato plants his year

Primrose

A lot of my tomatoes are splitting this year too and it's absolutely nothing to worry about. If you pick them when freshly split, just wash them under the tap and eat or cook them quickly. Alternatively, cut away the portion of flesh around the split, and freeze them, in quarters, or whole if they're cherry tomatoes. Or cook them down with chopped onions, whizz with a stick blender and turn them into tomato purree for the freezer.