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Plant diseases
Split fruit and roots
Also called fruit cracking (USA), growth cracks (tomatoes).
Illustration
Tomatoes and carrots that crack or split open, usually when heavy rain or a big watering follows a dry spell. Keeping the soil evenly moist, with steady watering and mulch, prevents it.
How to spot it
- Tomatoes: cracks running out from the stalk like spokes, or rings of cracks around the shoulders.
- Cracks appear as the fruit ripens, often soon after rain or a heavy watering ends a dry spell.
- Deep cracks can let rot in, and the fruit then spoils.
- Carrots: roots found split open when they're lifted.
- Melons, capsicums and cabbage heads can split the same way.
Easily confused with
Catfacing (tomatoes)
Misshapen fruit with scars at the flower end, from cold weather while the fruit was setting, not fresh cracks on ripening fruit.
Forked roots
Carrots that grew two or more legs, rather than cracking open.
Carrot fly
Small holes and tunnels in the root made by maggots, not an open split.
Where it's a problem
- Worldwide: Common everywhere, especially when heavy rain follows a dry spell. Not regulated.
What to do
- Water deeply and regularly so the soil stays evenly moist, rather than letting it dry out and then soaking it.
- Mulch to keep the soil moisture even, and grow in well-drained soil, not low spots that stay wet.
- Don't give mature plants a heavy feed of high-nitrogen fertiliser.
- Keep tomato plants leafy, so the fruit is shaded.
- When heavy rain is forecast, pick tomatoes before they're fully ripe.
- Use split fruit soon, before rot gets in through the cracks.
- If it happens every year, try other kinds: big beefsteak tomatoes are prone to it, and kinds differ a lot.
Spraying won't help: splitting comes from uneven water, not an infection. Official guides prevent it with steady watering and mulch.
Vegetables it affects
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Sources
- RHS: How to grow tomatoes
- RHS: How to grow carrots
- Clemson University HGIC: Tomato diseases and disorders
- Penn State Extension: Tomato diseases and disorders in the home garden
- University of Maryland Extension: Cracking of vegetables
- Utah State University Extension: Carrots in the garden
Facts checked Wednesday 21 October 2026. General guidance only: follow your local council, agency and product label.