Maters beautiful on outside, but inedible

bayou_breeze · October 19, 2006

My bucket-maters did good again this year, but my father had a problem I'm hoping somebody can help with. After several years of poor production, he decided to put the odds in his favor this year by planting a large mater crop in both beds & containers, with different varieties, planting times, soil mixtures, and fertilizers. He figured he'd at least hit on the right combination that way.

He had a good crop of maters, but most of them weren't edible, except for some of the first to ripen. They looked great on the outside, but once that nice red peeling was removed, the insides were mostly a hard, thick, greenish-white wall, with only the very middle of the tomato being red and juicy. It didn't matter how long they were allowed to ripen, the results were the same.

The only pest he noticed were some stink bugs, but he said they didn't get out of hand. He watered regularly throughout the growing season.

[I have pics I can email if anybody is interested.]

Any suggestions on what might cause this? Thanks in advance.

October 19, 2006	#1
bayou_breeze Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Deep South Posts: 5	Maters beautiful on outside, but inedible My bucket-maters did good again this year, but my father had a problem I'm hoping somebody can help with. After several years of poor production, he decided to put the odds in his favor this year by planting a large mater crop in both beds & containers, with different varieties, planting times, soil mixtures, and fertilizers. He figured he'd at least hit on the right combination that way. He had a good crop of maters, but most of them weren't edible, except for some of the first to ripen. They looked great on the outside, but once that nice red peeling was removed, the insides were mostly a hard, thick, greenish-white wall, with only the very middle of the tomato being red and juicy. It didn't matter how long they were allowed to ripen, the results were the same. The only pest he noticed were some stink bugs, but he said they didn't get out of hand. He watered regularly throughout the growing season. [I have pics I can email if anybody is interested.] Any suggestions on what might cause this? Thanks in advance. __________________ [No trees were hurt during the sending of this email; however, a large number of electrons were seriously inconvenienced]