DOES ASANA OR GENETICS CAUSE GOLD FLECKING ON TOMATOES?
by Jeanine M. Davis Over the past seven to eight years, growers and researchers have noticed an increase in the condition called `gold fleck’ which can develop on the surface of ripe tomato fruit. As the name implies, it looks like a light sprinkling of gold flecks in the top layers of the skin of the fruit. The condition is only noticeable on mature, red fruit. Usually, the amount of gold fleck is barely noticeable and does not affect the marketability of the fruit. In 1998, however, the incidence of gold fleck was severe in several areas of the country. Some loads of tomatoes shipped into western North Carolina from western states had up to 42% of the fruit affected. On some of the fruit, up to 75% of the surface area of the individual fruit was covered with gold fleck. The more severely affected loads were rejected due to poor fruit quality. Reports were obtained from some Florida growers attending the 1998 field day at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research Station that they qui
