Kitchen Garden Forum

I have grown many types of tomato before usually the tried and tested types such as my fav Gardeners Delight and Moneymaker, however this year upon recomendation by a fellow allotment holder to try Sungold.
I have had very very good health germination of the seeds they are from T & M, however i have never come across this problem; the fruits skins are too weak, just touching them to harvest they split. i have watered and feed as per usual. i was wondering if any one else has come across this problem, or can some one provide a reason?

Help would be very appreciated.

this does happen if you leave them on the plants too long, but ours don't even make it to the kitchen they are so tasty. I've got sungold and tangella from t&m both are similar in look and taste and the skins are thin, if they are overripe they do 'burst' as you suggest, but imo it is worth it for the flavour.

Try to keep the watering steady. Too much water can cause the skins to split. When picking, make sure that you do not pull or twist off the tomato. To minimise the danger of the fruit splitting, the individual tomatoes should be gently snapped off their stem at the first knuckle joint above the fruit, leaving the green calyx and about a cm of stalk attached to the tomato.

Sungold are very thin skinned and do split easily but if, as has been suggested, you pick before they are over ripe and leave the stalk on them, they do keep for a day or two. Remember, they don't go red, just golden when ripe.

However, it has to be said the Sungold are best eaten straight from the plant and the taste makes up for any shortcomings elsewhere

I was going to say that I have never had this problem with Sungold. However reading the other replies, I wonder if the issue is less to do with watering and more with how long you're leaving them on the plants.

Sungold can end up quite sweet, which I think doesn't show it at it's best. I prefer to pick mine when they are yellow, rather than when they have turned orange. At the earlier stage, there's still a little acidity to balance with the sweetness and I think the flavour really comes out. Later on they are ok, but a little bland.

The other benefit of this is that you may stimulate more flowering & fruiting by earlier picking.

I've only got one Sungold plant this year for the first time and have been a little unsure what to make of it, partly because I've found it difficult to judge exactly when they are right enough to pick, possibly because of my inexperience with growing yellow tomatoes. I suspect I'm probably leaving them on the plant too long as I'm not getting that touch of acidity which Colin mentions, which is what I like in a tomato. I've also found that those I've picked don't seem to stay in good condition for as long as Gardeners Delight, again possibly because they were slightly over-ripe when picked.

As a follow up to Primrose's comment, yes I'd probably agree.

I've got Sungold 3 plants and have had a steady succession of fruit for the last month or so. In my view, Sungold are definitley best used straight from the plant (good for a snack on your way back to the kitchen) and certainly within 2-3 days of picking. Like any tomato, they'll continue to ripen after picking and reach the "orange coloured, bland state" that I mentioned previously. Of course, in other varieties, that final ripening is needed to bring out the full colour & flavour.

Horses for courses I guess. In my family, I'm the only one who likes Sungold - the rest prefer traditional red standard sized ones.

As for my favourite? The beefsteak-sized, knobbly continental varieties that are ready to eat whilst they still have some yellow or green colour (see the pair at the top here, alongside some standard Moneymakers:)

I do the GENTLE squeeze between finger and thumb to tell if Sungold is ripe. A slight "give" means that it is fully ripe.
Actually, I use this method for all tomatoes.

Unfortunatley all my Sungold have been attacked by Potato blight, fruits have turned black, stems e.t.c, i will at some point this week, once the weather stops raining have to destory the entire crop.