I know that a nice dry hot spell followed by heavy rain will cause almost all varieties of tomato to split. The ones with thicker skins tend to do better but they will also split with enough water. The only tomato that I think has never split is Lumpy Red, so that means this year it will split badly.:lol:

Thanks for all the responses! I can't wait to try some of the varieties you have suggested! It's going to take years to trial, haha!....I only have spots for 15 or so right now.

Gary, the seeds came in the mail today! Big thank you! I'll let you know how they do this year hopefully if all goes well and I can get it together!
~Caroline

Fingers still crossed that nctomatoman might post some suggestions, as I am nearby in his area. But I'd love to hear from any Carolinians or Southerners. I'm about an hour north of Raleigh in central North Carolina.
:):):)

The first pictures I ever saw of Black from Tula were large split
beefsteaks, so I would guess that it cracks about the same as
Black Krim. I grew it last year, and it did not have much problem
with splitting, but then it was not an up-and-down year with regards
to water and temperature (consistently cold and wet up until
mid-July, and then consistently dry and sunny for the next six
weeks).

edit:
The late Dan and Val McMurray's Coastal Pride Red
had the toughest skin I have ever seen on a tomato.
(I felt that it should have been named Rhino Hide after
growing it one time.)
[url]http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Coastal_Pride_Red[/url]

It was mid-late season for me. I have also grown Coastal
Pride Orange, and it did not have that characteristic
(extremely tough skin).

Carbon, for me is in that category of almost perfect tomato. Must warn you, its shape vary. The taste is similar to CP, but it grow much taller and more productive. I am surprised that not that many people are raving about it.

I had really good luck with Carbon this past fall; but it is usually one of the few black tomatoes that always seems to get fusarium early in the summer. I'm hoping I can get some grafts of Carbon onto a more fusarium resistant rootstock this year. I would rank Carbon somehere between Indian Stripe and JD's Special C Tex. It makes larger tomatoes than IS and generally produces much better than JD's.