Q-Why are my healthy tomato plants producing cracked tomatoes?
-Palos Hills
A-If your tomatoes have concentric ring cracks, it’s an indication of a water-related problem. When water sits on the fruit for more than six hours, these cracks can form.
Deep, radial cracking, however, is a result of fast growth spurts due to extreme fluctuations in soil moisture. Mulching your tomato bed and watering from a drip hose can help prevent either type of future cracking.
Q-When is the best time to divide my ferns?
-Evanston
A-Ferns can be divided almost any time, but the best choice would be in spring, right before the new growth starts.
Dig up the plant, shake off the dirt and gently separate the rhizomes so that each clump contains several roots and fronds. Replant these divisions in your garden and water well.
Another method would be to dig up the tiny ferns that have germinated from spores right around the parent plant. They, too, can be easily transplanted to another part of your garden.
Q-The pachysandra plants in my front bed appear to be dying from the stem up.
The stems and lower leaves are brown and wilted and the upper leaves are splotched brown and yellow. The stems are covered with small brown bumps. Can you tell what is happening?
-Chicago
A-Your description matches that of scale damage to pachysandra. Right now, you can make an application of a summer oil (follow directions), and follow up with malathion or acephate in early June when the crawlers are active.
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Lee Randhava is the Plant Information Writer for the Chicago Botanic Garden. Send your gardening concerns to Questions, Plant Information, Chicago Botanic Garden, Box 400, Glencoe, Ill. 60022.
Letters cannot be answered individually, but those of general interest will appear in this space.
