Why are my tomatoes splitting?

Question

They are still green. The splits have a little brown or gray around them. The split are at the top of the tomatoes and it circles around the top.

Answer 1

It is irregular watering..not too much watering..

http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetablep...

Salmonella contamination of tomatoes has been in the news a lot lately, but that’s an unusual problem we rarely see, and probably not one you need to worry about in your own home garden.  There are more common problems the home gardener will face with tomatoes. It’s that time of year when people’s homegrown tomatoes are ripening and invariably I get the question, “Why are my tomatoes cracking?” or, “Why are my tomatoes splitting?”

I’ve heard all sorts of reasons offered, but the problem is pretty easy to explain.

The simple truth is that on the inside of the tomato, the fruit grows faster than the skin can develop and stretch to contain that fruit. Think “stretch marks”. Okay, so that’s the issue, but what can you do to prevent these so called “stretch marks”?

The trick is to regulate the growth of the fruit as much as possible.

Fluctuations in the temperature, fertilizer levels, or amount of water can cause the tomatoes to grow in spurts rather than at a gradual pace. A plant goes through a “hardening off” period after it has a spurt of growth, which would not occur if all of the growing elements (fertilizer, water, heat, etc.) remained somewhat constant. This “hardening off” happens to the fruit and the skin.  Once the skin has hardened off, if the fruit has another growth spurt, the skin will not be able to stretch to contain the fruit inside it, hence the cracking or splitting.  Your goal should be to keep your tomatoes growing at a steady, consistent pace, avoiding the hardening off period until they are ready to pick.

Answer 2

The splits are caused by irregular watering, either by rain or you watering. The fruit grows in spurts and causes the splits. It will not interfere with the taste.

Answer 3

You have had considerable rain and not too much warm sun or weather so the splits are occurring due to the tomato getting too much water. Picked one today which was ripe and absolutely too juicy.

Answer 4

If the skin of the tomato is hard in that area and the splits are shallow and lined with gray or white you have a sunscald caused by exposure to too much sun.  If the leaf foliage is thin, provide your tomatoes with a bit of shade through the hot part of the afternoon.