Podster no I had no idea this was even available, this is great! Thank you for sharing. I think it is supposed to get warmer according to the weather channel, so I will just focus this week on hardening all my plants for a week and then will plant them out, unless the weather goes nuts.
planting tomatoes early or not?
Looking at that info, I think I wouldn't be scared to plant them out after I toughen them up a bit.
Good looking plants you got there. You make me feel way behind times here. Lol
Podster just wodering what are the lowest temps tomatoes can take without getting hurt?
That I couldn't answer as some cultivars are more cold hardy. Also conditioning to cold will make them be able to stand lower temps.
I am sure you know when you do set them out to plant them deeply and for that reason, the soil temp is as important. If the soil temperature is cold, they sometimes sit and sulk. The above ground foliage can be protected on frost nights with row cover or sheets.
I generaly plant 6 tomato plants out around the 15th of March. I keep milk jugs with cut out bottoms ready in case of freeze. Last year we had a light freeze around April 7th and I did not cover....they made it fine. Might have something to do with micro climates or the length of time involved. Like Podster said, they just sit and sulk till the soil warms up. This year I am going to try the Kozy Coats with 6 Early Girl plants.
Some folks warm the soil by black plastic or black (dark) mulches to get them in the ground and growing faster. Going to check on my meager sprouts ~ y'all are making me feel bad.
I was going to try the red tomato mulch but, read somewhere that it was not recommended for southern climates. Figured black trash bags would be worse.
carminator1, just curious - when did you start your tomato seeds? They look wonderful.
The big pots I started 8 weeks ago, the others about 6 weeks ago, the ones that I started 8 weeks ago are from seeds that had since 2005 and was not sure if they were still any good at all that is why I wanted to plant them a little earlier than usual.
I was thinking of covering my beds with the clear plastic that I got before planting day just so I warm the soil up, I think this might make the transition a little easier.
I potted up half (47) of my WSed mater seedlings yesterday and put them outside this morning. Since they've been outside all along, I'm not going to do anything special except 2 throw a sheet over the cups if the temps dip below 35 degrees.
I should hope you don't have any nights that cold until next winter - lol...
A couple years ago it Froze on Easter Sunday in April!
In 1985 there was patchy frost here on April 17. Another year not long after, winter ended the first week in February. Thanksgiving day and the next had single digits down to 5 degrees in 1984. The weather is and always has been capable of outrageous bouts of insanity but never has it been so cold so long. It has me so paranoid that I really think this 10 day forecast for warm temps is only to trick me into letting it get my maters. If it doesn't freeze again I'll be so mad at myself for wasting time.
Rain is supposed to set in tomorrow night and that's the first time in 8 months that I've gone a whole week without rain. Maybe it's a signal that things are changing back to normal.
The Earth is tilting back towards the sun. So, it will have to warm up in the next month or so. Last year, it was a cold winter here. I use to have to keep reminding myself of this and that it is impossible for winter to last into July. Guess what! We had a below average February and March but a way above average April. We had our first 100 degree day in mid-April. This is the earliest it had ever been by a good three weeks, ever. So, be careful for what you wish for you just might get it smack in your face LOL. Before you know it, it will be 90. Mother nature has a strange sense of humour.
We have had more rain this winter than I can ever remember for Phoenix. Crazy! No winter to speak of except two cold days (by cold I mean hovering around 30° or a bit below) in early December. And now all this rain... I planted many many things in the garden Saturday ahead of the rain adn so far except a few brolen leaves on the peppers all seems well.
And all that rain and damp is gonna let the mealy bugs and slugs out...
Well I decided to go ahead and just plant 2 of my biggest tomato plants outside, I did cover the bed with plastic though, I am hoping that the day sun will heat the plastic and will release its heat during night temps, since I've planted more tomatoes I can alway transplant some more in those spots if I see that these maters don't make it. One of the tomatoes that I've planted out is Galina, it looks healthy but it was just too big and it kept bending over, the other is called bull's heart, talk about a weird tomato plant, this one was very leggy but also the leaves were a little droppy even though I have been watering it and taking care of it like the rest, so I am not sure if it will make it or not. The rest of the plants seem to be O.K so I'll just keep hardening them off until maybe the 15th or so.
I have seen people on you tube planting their maters 2 weeks before planting date using row covers or even wall o water and they seem to make it so we will see.
As far as the weather I guess we'll just have to be prepared for anything, at this point who knows maybe it can even snow tomorrow or maybe get into the 90's, who knows it has been so extremely umpredictable, I just hope this summer does not rain as much as it did last year, it was just too much!
C - I've planted maters and peppers very early and made cloches out of gallon milk jugs. Offers a lot of protection and serves the purpose well for me. You can also throw a sheet over them easily if needed. Just keep the cap off during the day if it's sunny so you don't fry the plants - lol...
Gymgirl, I did end up WS'ing some of my tomato seeds and I just potted them up in the red "party" cups--around 30 of them. I found some of the milky clear plastic storage bins w/lids on sale at the Dollar General and bought a few. So the cups went into the bins and they went out on the screen porch and then I'll just put the lid on if the weather turns foul. I can use those bins over again for WS'in and store supplies in them during the summer so it wasn't a bad investment. I have more tomato seedlings in the house I started under lights. Those have already been potted up into the red cups and are on window sills now. I'll probably move them outside sometime this week. If all survive to fruit I should be swimming in tomatoes this summer! But DH did say I did not plant enough tomatoes last year ;~)!
I probably won't plant these for a bit. More towards the end of March at least. I'll probably find some of that drain tile mentioned above and use that on at least some of the tomatoes to see how it works for me. I'm really ready to spring to be here for sure, but having the seedlings to smell is keeping me happy for the moment. And I WS'ed 12 eggplants and 24 peppers and they a comming up and just about ready to be potted up. So I finally have some "green things" to mess with.
Gosh I'm glad everything is on the screen porch as it just started to hail here--not big pieces but still enought to do damage. Phewww!
Carmen the heart shaped tomatoes and many of the paste types have that frail looking foliage naturally. They never look right compared to the other kinds we're used to. I don't know how they manage to be productive. So relax. I've seen a lot of discussion about this and this year I'm mostly growing those kind. They also tend to prefer cooler weather so it's good you are getting it out early. Some are vigorous and some act like they don't even want to live. It's all part of the fun of trying different ones.