peculiarities of smallish elongated orange/yellow tomatoes

habitat_gardener · July 31, 2023

I've discovered some peculiarities of two smallish yellow/orange tomatoes that I'm growing this year.

1. About 15-25% of the Flaming Burst and Sun Dipper F1 fruits tend to split vertically before they are fully ripe. It could be from inconsistent watering. We don't get any rain in the summer, and I water the plants every week or so. But the yellow-orange ones are the only ones that consistently split, and this is several weeks into the season, not just the first few fruits.

2. I pick larger tomatoes at first blush, and I often pick smaller ones if they have good color even if they are not fully ripe. All the red and green and black/purple ones will develop their mature color (Supernova Grape, Rosella cherry, Black Cherry, Chocolate Sprinkles F1, Indigo Cherry Drops, Artemis F1, Unicorn F1, Green Tiger). The Flaming Burst and Sun Dipper F1 do not. They are stuck at whatever color they were when they were picked, and they just get softer and wrinklier but don't develop any more color. It's possible that I'm picking them way too early, but as noted above, they have been splitting at a much earlier stage! I grew Hibor a year or two ago, another small elongated orange tomato which also needed to be picked only when it was fully ripe.

I'm also growing Indigo Pear Drops, which has not had any ripe fruit yet but has a similar color and shape.

July 31, 2023	#1
habitat_gardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: California Central Valley Posts: 2,543	peculiarities of smallish elongated orange/yellow tomatoes I've discovered some peculiarities of two smallish yellow/orange tomatoes that I'm growing this year. 1. About 15-25% of the Flaming Burst and Sun Dipper F1 fruits tend to split vertically before they are fully ripe. It could be from inconsistent watering. We don't get any rain in the summer, and I water the plants every week or so. But the yellow-orange ones are the only ones that consistently split, and this is several weeks into the season, not just the first few fruits. 2. I pick larger tomatoes at first blush, and I often pick smaller ones if they have good color even if they are not fully ripe. All the red and green and black/purple ones will develop their mature color (Supernova Grape, Rosella cherry, Black Cherry, Chocolate Sprinkles F1, Indigo Cherry Drops, Artemis F1, Unicorn F1, Green Tiger). The Flaming Burst and Sun Dipper F1 do not. They are stuck at whatever color they were when they were picked, and they just get softer and wrinklier but don't develop any more color. It's possible that I'm picking them way too early, but as noted above, they have been splitting at a much earlier stage! I grew Hibor a year or two ago, another small elongated orange tomato which also needed to be picked only when it was fully ripe. I'm also growing Indigo Pear Drops, which has not had any ripe fruit yet but has a similar color and shape.