Poor tomatoes
Checking out the tomatoes’ progress is definitely the least happy task of this season. After removing most of the hail-damaged fruit, there’s not that much left, new growth is slow, and what’s there is taking its time to ripen. Also, with the summer’s abundance of water, taste and texture can run to the mushy, and toms are more likely to split. Here, double damage: a hail-nicked spot has grown and rotted, and the tom has split as well. Gruesome! On the upside, the weather has finally changed, with warm, sunny days forecast for weeks to come. It’s about time!
Tags: crop damage, tomato
Somewhat related posts: • Three minutes of mayhem • Tomatoes to the heap • Hail damage reassessed • Great day in the field • Greenroom bubbling over…
Somewhat related posts: • Three minutes of mayhem • Tomatoes to the heap • Hail damage reassessed • Great day in the field • Greenroom bubbling over…
bummer about the tomatoes!! hopefully you can find enough good ones left, or with good sides salvageable, to can or make sauce?
Love the blog.
We’ve been battling critters (chipmunks, birds) who take 1 bite out of a fairly ripe tomato. Found that if you pick them when they show the first blush of color, they ripen beautifully in a cardboard box in the basement. No more splitting, either. Taste is equal, if not better, to fully vine ripened ones. Flawless looking.
Texas is bug central and spots like that are commonplace—we just cut out the bad part and throw them in the freezer for making sauce later in the winter when we’re out of fresh tomatoes.
Bummer about the hail—you got Texas weather!
–Sorry about your losses. I know it doesn’t come easy after all that work. What’s the saying about making lemonade when life hands you lemons? Maybe it’s a good excuse for a messy tomato fight. :)
Alex Tiller
http://blog.alextiller.com