ah fair enough didn't know that, makes sense tbh. Should I just leave it on the windowsil exposed to the open air or in a sealed foodbag, I assume the former to keep it natural?
By the by, with varying water levels being named as a cause for this, I did forget to water one day a week ago when we had really look weather, you could see the plant was suffering slightly and the top of the tom had a wrinkles which disappeared after it got watered. So will the splitting hopefully not impact other toms if I keep watering consistent, or can a cross-pollination theoretically create toms which are growing at a rate which causes splitting?
Leave it wherever it's warmest, Joe. A kitchen bench - out of the way, so it doesn't get in the way - is good. The kitchen is usually the warmest room in the house for obvious reasons. Or if you have a cupboard with a boiler in it, put it there. Light is immaterial. It's usually best to rest it on its shoulders to minimise bruising (the equivalent of bed sores, if you like) but keep an eye on it for that reason. Keep an eye on it, rotate it occasionally.
Splitting of this kind is usually caused by a sudden excess of moisture, the excess moisture swelling the fruit, the skin unprepared for the sudden stretch. Sudden heavy rain can cause it.
Update on Frankenstein tomato, it was green for a while but has coloured up over the last 3 days, it's a little soft to touch now so unsure if that meant it was actually more ripe when dark green and not purple, so now over-ripe, or if it's just a symptom of the large scale cracking impacting structure, will cut open this evening...
Will have to see how the better growing ones on the plant do, especially those which still seem to be the proper plum shape, no colouring on any on the plant yet though.
The softness around the top is the result of the cracking, Joe. The lower half looks like it should be all right. And it's definitely not a plum. It's trying to be a heart-shape which suggests you have a crossed seed.
nah the softness exclusive of the wrinkling seems to exist over the entire tomato, it presses in the touch all over, bit like an orange in the fruit bowl too long but not moulding yet lol.
There does seem to be a big mixture on the plant, though actually most seem more plum shaped, I'd say something like 70% look plum, a few sort of fat plums, then about 3 tomatoes look like that one.
Ah well, I'd blame the cracking anyway. It shouldn't have got to that state of softness so quickly in normal circumstances. Cracking interferes with the physiology.
The spread on the plant suggests a first generation crossed seed. The first generation usually throws a majority pretty close to the original with a mixture of other shapes/sizes reflecting whatever tom crossed with it.
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ah fair enough didn't know that, makes sense tbh. Should I just leave it on the windowsil exposed to the open air or in a sealed foodbag, I assume the former to keep it natural?
By the by, with varying water levels being named as a cause for this, I did forget to water one day a week ago when we had really look weather, you could see the plant was suffering slightly and the top of the tom had a wrinkles which disappeared after it got watered. So will the splitting hopefully not impact other toms if I keep watering consistent, or can a cross-pollination theoretically create toms which are growing at a rate which causes splitting?
Leave it wherever it's warmest, Joe. A kitchen bench - out of the way, so it doesn't get in the way - is good. The kitchen is usually the warmest room in the house for obvious reasons. Or if you have a cupboard with a boiler in it, put it there. Light is immaterial. It's usually best to rest it on its shoulders to minimise bruising (the equivalent of bed sores, if you like) but keep an eye on it for that reason. Keep an eye on it, rotate it occasionally.
Splitting of this kind is usually caused by a sudden excess of moisture, the excess moisture swelling the fruit, the skin unprepared for the sudden stretch. Sudden heavy rain can cause it.
Update on Frankenstein tomato, it was green for a while but has coloured up over the last 3 days, it's a little soft to touch now so unsure if that meant it was actually more ripe when dark green and not purple, so now over-ripe, or if it's just a symptom of the large scale cracking impacting structure, will cut open this evening...
Will have to see how the better growing ones on the plant do, especially those which still seem to be the proper plum shape, no colouring on any on the plant yet though.
The softness around the top is the result of the cracking, Joe. The lower half looks like it should be all right. And it's definitely not a plum. It's trying to be a heart-shape which suggests you have a crossed seed.
nah the softness exclusive of the wrinkling seems to exist over the entire tomato, it presses in the touch all over, bit like an orange in the fruit bowl too long but not moulding yet lol.
There does seem to be a big mixture on the plant, though actually most seem more plum shaped, I'd say something like 70% look plum, a few sort of fat plums, then about 3 tomatoes look like that one.
Ah well, I'd blame the cracking anyway. It shouldn't have got to that state of softness so quickly in normal circumstances. Cracking interferes with the physiology.
The spread on the plant suggests a first generation crossed seed. The first generation usually throws a majority pretty close to the original with a mixture of other shapes/sizes reflecting whatever tom crossed with it.