Tomatoes

[Wendell Ford]

The tomatoes in my system are splitting before they ripen. They split wide open before they turn red. i am getting quite a few tomatoes but none making it past the fried green tomato stage.I looked up on the Internet and all said they were getting to much water too fast. (Dirt farming) since AP is growing in water what do you do? Mt system fills in 15 min and drains in 5. If I change the time then my filtration will change, I need as much filtration as I can get. Does anyone have any ideas or possible other causes? Any and all info on tomatoes will be appreciated.

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Wendell,

Are your temperatures very high? Are you also getting rain?

[Randy]

I think nitrates that are too high or fluctuating can cause the same thing in aquaponics or hydroponics. You might just need to feed less.

[Wendell Ford]

Thanks guys for the response. I guess I should have included more info. I test every day for nitrites,ammonia, PH and nitrates once a week. My PH stays around 7.2 I quite trying to regulate with muriatic acid since my water supply has a PH of 7.6. I know that's a little high especially for tomatoes. I thought that would reduce my crop or make the tomatoes small. That's doesn't seem to be the case. I have big tomatoes and the plants are full. My ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are at zero and have been for some time now. I live in Goose Creek SC which is near Charleston. We have had a lot of rain this year and my water temp is in the low 80's in the evening when I test. I'm sure it's a few degrees higher in the heat of the day. I hope the info helps.

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Wendell,

I've had tomatoes splitting due to high temps with direct sunlight and sudden rain. I may be wrong about the diagnosis, but i have observed this a few times.

[Alex Veidel]

Tomato splitting has to do with water fluctuations. If there hasn't been a lot of water available and suddenly there is, then it causes the skins to crack....I have no idea why that would be occuring in an aquaponic system.

[Teresa N Florida]

If you haven't found an adequate explanation, I would suggest picking early.  Tomatoes will ripen further on their own. 

Just set them on your window sill.