...Today, a little bit of smart-aleck talk on the topic of #tomatoes and heat: ...Tomato plants—and most other plants, too—have what are called #stomata (pores) on the green parts of the plant, including the unripe fruits! These openings are very important for the plants; they serve to ▪︎absorb CO₂ for photosynthesis, ▪︎release oxygen, ▪︎evaporate water (transpiration), which also helps cool the plant. The riper the tomato, the less it can cool itself (the stomata close!)—and the greater the risk of it literally “cooking on the vine” in extreme sunlight or heat buildup. 🌞🍅 ⚠️ So pay attention! If your tomatoes 🍅 are exposed to direct sunlight in this current heat and you have no way to shade them, then don’t wait until they’re fully ripe to harvest them (they’ll ripen just fine afterward and still taste better than those water bombs from the Netherlands and Belgium) 🤷 Interestingly, I’ve noticed heat damage on the “Yellow Russian” (they’re literally turning glassy! 🙄), but not on the “Pera Abruzzo” (photos), even though they’re right next to each other! 🤷 Spoiler: These very stomatal openings are also the entry points for harmful fungi, such as #brown rot. ...and the fungus doesn’t exactly say to the stomatode at the entrance: “Oh, you’re one of those that were fertilized with compost turned over during a full moon 🤔—well, I’d better move on 👋.” Nope, unfortunately, it doesn’t do that! 🙄...which means: whether it’s organic or not, the fungus couldn’t care less! 😳