Okay, What causes this??????

[dice]

Ted, after reading what you said about the light exposure of the fruits, which was variable, I'm having a hard time believing it could be sublethal sunburn. Just my opinion.

It looks like there are two different phenomena at work in
those pictures. I also had a few fruits like the green-red one
on the right (not the same cultivar), and they did not have
the abnormal cores of the fruit on the left. I have no idea what
causes that sort of uneven ripening, particularly when it
happens with a fruit still hanging on a plant.

The fruit on the left, however, does look like some I picked
that were in a position on the plant where sunscald was
possible (on a branch trailed horizontally along a support,
with no leaf cover above those fruits). They had the yellow
spots around the top of the fruit like that fruit on the left
and the abnormally large core extending deep into the fruit.

[ContainerTed]

Good morning, Dice. I'm not sure what you're seeing, but the fruit on the left (which was the first fruit) had consistant color on the "first to ripen" side. The green side ripened by slowly turning color starting at the edge of the already ripe portion and then "creeping" out into the green area like a tide floods the beach.

To help orient the pictures, look on the second picture in the original post. At the 9 o'clock position is a small skin defect. That same defect is at the 7 o'clock position in the picture on the left in post #13. I am familiar with sunscald, although I only had two fruit this year that I 'know' for sure had a small area of it. Both of them were on fruit from a potato leaf variety called Giant Tree. Also, my smallish tomato garden area doesn't get full sun all day. The maximum has been about six hours broken up into two parts. This plant got more like 4 hours from approx 0830 - 1230. (My chainsaw has been sharpened and next year there will be more).

The fruits above were in healthy, heavy foliage and I really think sunscald, while always a concern here, is not likely the case for these two. The plant's foliage was so lush, that I had almost forgotten about the one with physical damage because I had to move leaves to see it.

Ted

[dice]

I understand that both fruits in post 13 had the uneven ripening
that was the original focus of inquiry here.

The fruit that I saw with the yellow spots on the top
of the fruit and the "dense, fibrous core" did not have
uneven ripening, but they otherwise matched your
description and picture of the fruit on the left after
it ripened. They were not characteristic of the cultivar,
on which better than 9 out of 10 fruits ripened without
any abnormality. The only apparent difference while
growing between the fruits on my plant with the abnormality
from fruits on that same plant with no symptoms was their sun
exposure.

That would not seem to fit with the sun exposure on your plant,
but it does look like the same problem just looking at the fruit.

Perhaps any sunscald on the fruits on my plant was coincidental
to whatever causes the oversized, fibrous core and yellow spots
on the outside of the fruit, but I did not see it on any of the
fruits down inside the plant with normal shade cover.

[Linda10]

Hi Ted. Take a look at my avatar to the left.

This one was very pretty and both side tasted equally good. Can't help you with an explanation but it didn't carry through in the saved seed, so was probably just a physical oddity.

[ContainerTed]

Yeah, Linda, I did notice. And I think I agree with you. It's just that, while I've had several over the years that had green areas while the rest of the fruit was normal, this time it just seemed like both toms had been split exactly down the middle. One would have been a quirk. But two in-a-row from the same plant has me wondering. If the last two fruits on this plant show the same thing, then I'll be a little excited about it. But right now, I'm still on the fence. If it turns out to be nada, that's okay. I still learned something - at least I think I did. Now, if I can just figure out what it was I learned, then ...........................

I've always said that if you can't have a giggle, don't make the trip.