The Perfect Tomato

The perfect tomato is not easy to come by. When you come across one, you know instantly you have a prize winner.

Here are the signs:

1. No woodiness especially in the middle of the tomato. The perfect tomato is juicy all the way through.

2. The eight of an inch around the edges of the tomato is not discolored. Bugs like the stink bug will suck your precious tomatoes and cause the skin to be blotched.

3. The easy one is that there are no holes in the tomato. There are many worms that wait for the chance to eat holes in your tomato. They won't stop at the leaves. They love the fruit.

4. The perfect tomato has a uniform shape. It will not have deformity. Catfacing is a deformity that occurs during the formation of the flower and is on the blossom-end of the tomato. It can be caused by cold temperatures during flowering, high nitrogen fertilization, or improper pruning.

5. No splits on the skins or excessive cracking. This can happen due to abnormal conditions that causes over-watering, over-feeding with fertilizer,  extreme temperatures, and sometimes it is genetic.

There are a multitude of other problems that can affect your tomatoes. You are blessed if you happen to get and eat a perfect tomato. With all the potential problems that await your plants it is amazing that we ever get one.