Tomatoes are 100% OK. They actually look like they produce suckers and flowers.
Cucumbers are 90% OK - which is amazing.
possible freeze
A heads-up again:
The fellows at the weather site I belong to say another round of cold temps from up here will be heading down there next week.
A number of them are mets and all suggest looking at the NOAA site. They are darn good, most of the time, at reading the forecasting models and have often been more on the mark then professional sites re forecasting winter weather and hurricanes.
My province just broke historical record cold temps on Monday and more cold is forecasted to come our way (though we will first be warming up since we just shared with you folks). Sorry. :S
Mid April guys.Amarillo is blowin dust north and trees are tippin green. It sounds worse than what is actually hitting us. drthor- these ants do go into survivor mode- the rough winds and chill temps are coupled with sunshine that can NOW give you a sunburn! As well as a bit of wind burn.
I think we lost 3 or 4 tomatoes. :/
None lost but the zinnia and cosmos are ugly.
Don't pull your plants out, just cut the frozen part off. 2 out of 3 of mine came back after a freeze last year or in 2011 (don't remember which). The 3rd didn't but hey, a tomato plant is a tomato plant.
Thank you for the explanation, drthor. I have wintersowed annuals quite successfully so I can well believe that your tomatoes are quite sturdy.
i
You are very welcome.
I will try to take some pictures to show you soon ... tomorrow I will enjoy the "Dallas in Bloom" at the Dallas Arboretum.
This is the first time ive ever been glad I'm behind. Lol I had a funny feeling that we where going to stay cold later. I just told somebody today that I thought we had at least one more freeze to go.
Carrie-drthor has beautiful tomato plants and great yields but she plants out much earlier then many of us and puts a lot of time and expense into them. She really works hard to get the results she gets. I don't think there is anything I could put over mine that would keep the temps above freezing. We get colder here.
Stephanie- I hope they come back but I'm still sorry.
I think you meant a lot of: "time, passion and love" ... right ?
Thanks so much for the compliments. I do look forward to see pictures on how your tomato season will be this year starting so late and I wish you the best.
Every year right after I transplanted them outside ... and a front cold comes after a week ... I think: OMG I did plant to soon ... next year I will wait !! a freeze ... aah I will lose all my plants ... and so far all my timing and techniques and "tomato dance" did work, I never lost a plant to the cold weather.
I am the "fearless tomatoes gardener".
Now I am dreaming about trying all of the new varieties of tomatoes I did plant this year ...
I am sorry that i didnt remind steph to bank the dirt around her maters as well. Sometimes I can read posts but DG wont let me post anything. Steph. dont give up on the maters cuz they look frozen, i cant see,but try waiting and bank the dirt up more on them, esp if you planted deep. protect from winds and give em another week or so before you pull.
When we planted the tomatoes, we planted them very deep, about 18", so I'm hoping that's helped some with the roots and such. Here are a couple of pics of the damage.
#1 might make it if I baby it. I plan on trimming all the burned leaves and seeing if enough healthy ones remain to make it.
#2 Very little to no damage and blooms!
#3 No damage
#4 Most likely toast
Only time will tell. I hear there's potential for another cold snap next week. :/
Step,these all different varieties or all the same?
I see damages, but I think all will pull thru, ummm, not sure if I would trim yet or not, but the stems look like they are fine on all of em...protect from wind tho...
Just for the record drthor I'm not "starting so late". Actulally I'm right on time. I've been doing this for 15 yrs and with a job, kids, and living so rural where it gets extra cold I've learned that if I plant too early I have no way of keeping them above freezing. I guess Stephanie started late too? Lol Anyway, don't wait on pictures I don't post them, everybody knows what tomato plants look like.
Our microclimates are so different there is no way to compare. When Carrie brought up Winter Sowing that is usually when people start the seeds out side in milk jugs are something similar not starting under lights, like we do. Just don't want to confuse people into thinking they can put their plants outside, without protection, and they will survive a freeze. But Im not late, at least according to A&M, nobody around me has planted out either.
I just looked at the 10 day forecast and more freezing weather and rain is expected in the middle of next week. This, I have never seen.
So sorry for your plants stephanietx.
I think you should wait and see what will happen. I did have a Sapho tomato plant that has been decapitated the day after I transplanted it outside ... I mean it was left only 1" of the stem ... it came back !
Good luck !
Here are some of my tomatoes after these cold days.
My thermometer outside went down to 35F the lowest.
The plants are very strong and they developed a thick stem.
In the picture #5 you can even see new bright green growth ... so now I can sleep tonight.
These are cucumber heroes !
A few frost bitten spots on the leaves ... but they are ok.
Tropic, they are different varieties. The Pantano Romanescos seem to have suffered the most and those are the ones I most wanted to have this year. :/ I still have a couple that I've not given away, so we'll see if I need to replant.
Looks like everything in my yard pulled through OK except one tomato that took some damage but will probably survive, and the new growth on my lantana isn't looking too good. Whew!
My seedlings all got damping off disease. Luckily I have more seeds.
I've heard of people who get tomato plants sprouting in their compost. Hardly the fabulous treatment drthor gives, but it augers well for people like me. I may yet be a successful tomato grower. Of course, those plants growing in compost may not actually produce fruit.
Carrie-what did you use to start your seeds in? Just bc they grow in a compost pile is no reason they shouldn't put on fruit. Except they may not have time. My volunteers come up in late April or May, I prefer to get an earlier start. Lol but the ones I've left have grown and produced.
Carrie, I've had tomatoes sprout from my compost--not in the compost itself, but in the soil where the compost got spread. They're just from leftover kitchen scraps, no idea what variety they were. One bore little cherry toms a couple of years ago. Another came up in my pavonia bed in the alley, where it got NO care, and grew up to about 4 feet.
And that's why I try to avoid weeds in my compost--I figure they'll do the same thing!
Hahaha no, it was not I. I heard of it happening to someone else. If it were my tomatoes, that would imply that I was a.successfully growing tomatoes and b.successfully composting. Both of which were hard with our short, cold season. I think composting out here would be much easier.
Tanks Step,weatherman says hard freeze Monday thru wednesday,lows down to 27*,so here we go again!
Still we go again. lovely Ok rain tho
It's raining in louisiana to. The freeze burned my colocasia back and killed my wisterias flowers. I hope the colocasias come back. I don't think you could kill the wisteria with a nuke. My Amsonia ludoviciana is made of sturner stuff. It didn't even faze it.
Believe it or not, but I did know a lady that could kill every wisteria she planted. I think they hated her and she loved em so much. chuckl
LOL!
My Wisteria is just starting to get leaves, it seems so late....supposed to get cold again next week. But it was beautiful today.
I'm up heare in north west arkansas and last week they really got hammered by a 23 degree freeze.
wisteria doesn't like to be overwatered I think. I killed my 15 ft tall one. It had yellow leaves in june 2008, first year it bloomed, so I soaked it good. All the leaves fell off 10 days later. A big storm moved it for me in Feb 2009, along with the pergola it had grown through and around.
Doesn't look like it will freeze here.
This message was edited Mar 31, 2013 12:01 AM
Wisteria grows really well in Padova, Italy where I grew up.
The one by the castle wall must been so old ...
My neighbor has one in her front yard. One year, her husband cut it down and I thought she was going to cry! They never tend it and it blooms faithfully every year.
I don't do anything to this Wisteria. It is on it's own. It's just funny how the cool weather this late in the season, has pushed everything back.
Having a hard time trying to decipher who may be right.....weather forecaster or Mother Nature? All my long life I have told that the Pecan Tree doesn't bud until AFTER THE LAST FREEZE. Well, all 6 of mine are covered in buds. Haven't opened up the greenhouse yet as the weather forecast is not all that good for this coming week. Comments?
Hmmm, what I always heard was winter was over until the sage was blooming
I've always been told winter is over when we have our last cold front. Lol
I'm afraid my chinaberry tree may not bloom this year. It was budding out when the freeze hit. Waiting and watching, that's where most of my honey comes from I think
What can you put in to give them flowers if it doesnt bloom? Had heard on the news the almond crop is goin to suffer since enough bees cant be found this year