When it Rains too Much?
 

It has rained way too much here. When a container grown plant is grown in a container outdoors and the plant and container isn't too big/heavy - we can move them out of the rain. However, tomato plants grow to be large and unmovable. What is the way you use or your idea of how to divert the rain and still provide enough sunlight for them to grow outside? (Not in a green/hot house - I don't have one.)

The only idea I have is to build a structure like a pole barn with thick clear plastic as the roof and no sides. But that can cost a couple hundred dollars, and I can buy a lot of cherry tomatoes for that price at the grocery store.

It has rained so much here since September that it seriously looks like we should be growing rice and raising crayfish.

Can you wrap some plastic around the soil to keep the pots from getting too wet?

[IMG]https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4823/31045132947_7c702a5944_b.jpg[/IMG]

That is what I do...like above. Diverters.

Re: "pole barn", this is the sort of structure that really works for us here. I've experimented with several 'tomato bus shelter' type structures, and they have really done the best even with a solid roof (not transparent) as long as you have them lined up at the edge to get as much sun as they can. Even a west facing structure that got no morning sun has been fine for them. Roof just a narrow 1.5 or 2 ft strip 6-7 ft above ground with open front back and sides. And that is something you can build from scrap lumber if you have any = free. :)
It is way easier than trying to make a plastic roof, which is costly not only the plastic itself but also more demanding of structural support to make it tight enough.
My old wood stacker which I've used for tomatoes has a little roof on it made of a few pieces of clapboard. Works fine for a tomato!

Last year I slung a tarp over a clothesline to create a roof over tomato plants. Tied to trees and fencing it worked well. Also used a couple of metal bed frame rails to give it weight to keep it from flapping too much in the wind. Cost was only for the tarp. Simple and cheap.
(I'd show a picture but Imgur is being funny again today.)

What's a crayfish?:?:))

You can build a lean-to, clothesline or ropes from trees to hang cheap plastic to get you by but I think you would be better to use shade-cloth since the temps will be so high in summer time and the SC will stop most of the rain while providing a break from the sun.

I am hoping for a less rainy growing season next year. This is the 2nd wettest year on record for us and right now I can hardly walk in the yard because the temperatures are warmer than usual and the soil is just squishy!

Covering the soil of the pot with plastic sounds like a good solution to me although the foliage will still possibly get more disease with all of the moisture. Even if you had a tent, there will still be more moisture in the air leading to the possibility of disease.

I'm hoping for a dry season too. It seems like it's been raining for a month.

Thank you everyone. I have thought of the diseases too - that can be caused by it staying so wet. Sqwibb, I like that, but I want to be able to remove it ... and then there would be a cage in the way. I need to give it more thought.

Rajun, Crayfish:

cray·fish
/ˈkrāˌfiSH/
[I]noun[/I]
noun: [B]crayfish[/B]; plural noun: [B]crayfish[/B]; plural noun: [B]crayfishes[/B]; noun: [B]freshwater crayfish[/B]; plural noun: [B]freshwater crayfish[/B]; plural noun: [B]freshwater crayfishes[/B]

[LIST=1] [*]a nocturnal freshwater crustacean that resembles a small lobster and inhabits streams and rivers.[/LIST]
Mudbug, Crawdad, or as I grew up calling them "Crawdeads." Craw deads :P
lol, as a child, I fished for them with a line and salt pork. I even used a Zebco 202 on a short fishing pole to fish them out of a railroad bridge. That took skill :)

salt, I caught them(we call them crawfish in this part of the south) with my bare hands in the creek growing up.

6 mil greenhouse plastic is about 2-3 cents per square foot, at least in larger quantities. If you knew anyone with a greenhouse, they often give away their old plastic.

I thought that us Northerners called them crayfish and you Southerners called them crawdads.

In any case I only ever ate them one time and I thought that they were too tiny to bother with. They were for sale in one of our seafood markets.

Seems like the tent/tarp idea might be OK. Maybe something retractable like a shower curtain set up with aircraft (dog-run) wire to give you a roof-top during predicted all-day rains, which could be easily moved out of the way otherwise.

I dont post lightly for the most part.
In my opinion dont complain about the rain in this part of Texas.
What little difficulty it may put upon us it will surely benefit the ground water for us later on.
For years now we have been in a dry spell I enjoy seeing the ditches full of water.
Water is life in Texas.
What little inconvenience to me means nothing in the big picture.
I/we are of not of any concern to the world around us we live in.
As for the containers use your head and adapt. :):):)

Worth