← All diseases & disorders
Fruit Cracking

Fruit Cracking

Disorderalso: Growth cracks, Cracking

A common disorder, not a disease, in which tomato fruit splits as it grows, usually after a swing from dry to wet. The cracks open the fruit to rot and make it unsightly, but the underlying cause is uneven watering rather than any pathogen. It also affects other fleshy fruits and roots like cabbage and carrots.

🔎 How to spot it

Look for splits in the skin of ripening fruit. Radial cracks run out from the stem end like spokes, while concentric cracks form rings around the shoulders of the fruit. Cracks may be shallow and healed-over or deep and open, and open cracks are often colonized by molds and softening rot. It shows up most on fruit nearing ripeness after a rain or heavy watering.

🥀 Damage it causes

Cracked fruit is blemished and downgraded, and open splits let in the molds and bacteria that rot the fruit on the plant or soon after picking. A sudden rain near harvest can crack a large share of a ripening tomato crop at once. The flesh is usually fine to eat if the fruit is used promptly and the cracked area is cut away.

🔬 What causes it

Cracking comes from rapid, uneven fruit growth, when water floods into ripening fruit faster than the skin can stretch. It typically follows a swing from dry soil to a heavy rain or watering, and is worse in hot weather and on varieties with thin or less elastic skin. Steady calcium and even moisture both help the skin keep pace with the flesh.

🛡️ Prevent it

Keep soil moisture even and steady, watering deeply and regularly rather than letting plants dry out and then soak. Mulch to buffer the swings and hold moisture. Pick fruit promptly as it ripens, and harvest before a forecast heavy rain when you can. Choose crack-tolerant or crack-resistant varieties, which differ a lot in how readily they split.

🧯 If it is already here

There is nothing to cure on a fruit that has already cracked, so pick the split fruit promptly and use it right away before rot sets in, cutting out the cracked tissue. Then steady the watering to protect the fruit still on the vine. As with blossom-end rot, consistent moisture, not a spray or additive, is the real fix.

💡 Good to know

Fruit cracking is a watering and weather story, which is why it so often appears right after a summer downpour breaks a dry spell. It is closely related to blossom-end rot in that both trace back to uneven water and calcium movement. Thick-skinned, crack-resistant varieties and even moisture together prevent most of it.

🌱 Plants it affects

82 plants in the library can be affected by this problem

Amish Paste TomatoAnjou PearAsian PearAunt Molly's Ground CherryBartlett PearBeach Plum🍅Beefmaster TomatoBetter Boy Tomato🍅Big Beef TomatoBig Boy TomatoBing CherryBitter MelonBlack Cherry Tomato🍉Black Diamond WatermelonBlack Krim TomatoBlack Tartarian CherryBosc Pear🍅Box Car Willie TomatoBraeburn AppleBrandywine TomatoBrown Turkey FigCasaba MelonCatawba GrapeCelebrity TomatoCharleston Gray WatermelonCherokee Purple TomatoChicago Hardy FigConcord GrapeCornelian CherryCortland AppleCosmic Crisp AppleCrenshaw MelonCrimson Sweet WatermelonDamson PlumDanvers CarrotEarly Girl TomatoFuji AppleGala AppleGalia Melon🍅German Queen TomatoGranny Smith AppleGreen Zebra TomatoHoneycrisp AppleHoneydew MelonIndigo Rose Tomato🍉Jubilee WatermelonJuliet Grape TomatoKellogg's Breakfast Tomato🍅La Roma IV TomatoLemon Boy TomatoMcIntosh AppleMethley Plum🍉Mini Love WatermelonMontmorency Cherry🍉Moon and Stars Watermelon🍅Mortgage Lifter TomatoMr. Stripey TomatoMuscadine GrapeNanking CherryNiagara Grape🍉Orangeglo WatermelonOregon GrapePineapple TomatoPink Lady ApplePomegranatePrickly PearRainier CherryRed Delicious AppleRoma Tomato🍅Rutgers TomatoSan Marzano TomatoStanley Plum🍅Striped German TomatoSugar AppleSugar Baby Watermelon🍅Sungold Cherry TomatoSweet 100 Cherry TomatoThompson Seedless Grape🍅Tiny Tim Cherry TomatoWinter Melon🍉Yellow Doll WatermelonYellow Pear Tomato

For educational and informational purposes only. Disease management advice is general guidance drawn from university cooperative extension sources; always identify a problem positively and read and follow the label on any product before use, especially around food crops, children, and pets.