How's Your Weather in Texas?

[glypnirsgirl]

This is my first year to grow from seeds. I do not have plants in the ground yet --- my grandmother, the only other gardener in our family, used to claim that the best day to put in tomatoes was Good Friday. Using the 90% freeze date, it seemed to match, so I figured "go with Grams" - usually a good bet. But I have been sweating whether or not I will get any tomatoes because I am too late. ARGHH all around.

Elaine

[creister]

Where is Bedford?

[Suze]

Warning - long rambling tomato and weather nerd post ahead...

I was expecting actual freezing temps or darned close last night (33 to 31) but I have no idea exactly how cold it actually got here last night. The reason why is that there are two weather stations that report for Elgin to Weather Underground. One (KTXELGIN1) stopped reporting last night for some strange reason, and when I got up at 4:30am, I saw a notice in red saying "This weather station is not currently reporting!" or something to that effect, and the temp showed as 45F. The other station (KTXELGIN5 - which I have found to consistently run a few degrees high, to the point I think it is not accurate) was reporting 36F.

Now, what is really odd is that I went out and checked the temperature in my backyard for myself, and all three of my thermometers read at 45F or thereabouts! The one on my back porch was a degree or two higher, but since it is attached to my house, I've found it usually picks up a little radiant heat as is to be expected. Who knows, maybe I caught a lucky warm air mass in my backyard, and it has nothing to do with that first weather station not reporting.

When I went back and looked at the historicals, it says 31 at 7:00, but I doubt that was actually the temp it got down to in my backyard. No way did the temp drop from 45 to 31 in 2.5 hours, plus it was already way up into the 70's before noon.

Oh well, I guess I'll never know for sure if the row cover saved the day or if I just got lucky. Need to get a good personal weather station so I can accurately monitor this stuff for myself.

In any case, the plants seem to really like having everything tightly sealed up in reemay. I was a little concerned about doing this at first, but it seems to be working out well. The main reason I was concerned was getting enough UV transmission. What I use is 85% transmission, but it is doubled in a few spots to properly secure it. However, I realized the other day that a double layer does not cut the transmission in half, rather, it would be 85% of 85% (~72% - duh!!)

Some of my beds have been sealed up for a couple of weeks now, and I have noticed that the plants in them are growing like weeds - more so than beds that did not get sealed up until recently.

So, how did everyone else make out last night?

[glypnirsgirl]

Bedford is almost exactly midway between Dallas and Fort Worth - what is referred to around here as the "midcities."

I put my trays out about 3 to work on strenthening stems. I really hope that I am doing this right.

[sfmathews]

I know we didn't get down to 33 here in Mesquite. Our thermometer read 40 at 7:00 am this morning. It just didn't feel that cold. I uncovered the babies around 9:30, when it had warmed up sufficiently. They seem just fine, especially after such a beautiful day!

[Suze]

Originally Posted by glypnirsgirl

This is my first year to grow from seeds. I do not have plants in the ground yet --- my grandmother, the only other gardener in our family, used to claim that the best day to put in tomatoes was Good Friday. Using the 90% freeze date, it seemed to match, so I figured "go with Grams" - usually a good bet. But I have been sweating whether or not I will get any tomatoes because I am too late. ARGHH all around.

Hi, Elaine and welcome to the forum.

When I lived in the metroplex area, I planted out the bulk of my plants around the same time as I do here - early to mid March. Of course your early spring night temps are going to be a wee bit more unstable than mine, and it is highly likely you will have to protect if planting "early". But your spring and summer temps are every bit as hot as mine - both night and day - and frequently a few degrees hotter.

The potential problem you will tend to have if waiting to plant until April is that by the time the plants are at the size to start setting fruit, it may be too hot. I will say that some years are better than others, but it can frequently can be a problem. You may already know this, but most of the extension services in our general area (north central to south central) say you can plant until 4/15 or so. However, what I have found (both here and in the metroplex) is that planting in April doesn't always work out so well. You also indicated your grandmother waited until Good Friday. Do you know what varieties she grew? Some of the recommended heatsetter varieties can give you a little more leeway, as can smaller fruited or cherry types.

Anyway (for future reference), it pays to get an early start, and also to stagger your plantings a bit. Mitigates the risk a bit and also extends your window of harvest. Start with the ones you have the most backups for, maybe put a couple out in containers initially, so you can put them in a shed or garage at night if you have to. Just a few plants at first, whatever you think you are willing to mess around with hauling in or protecting on the small handful of cold nights where it is required. Really, you can have a few out in containers catching sun and growing as soon as late Feb.

Then, put a few more out the first wk of March. Second wk of March, plant a few more. Third wk of March, try to wrap most of your planting up. (I found in the metroplex, past the 23rd or so, it starts to get iffy). Hold onto and pot up any backups until mid-April. Maybe plant a few more last minute things late March - early April.

Good luck with your garden this year. What varieties are you growing and when do you think the seedlings will be large enough to plant out?

[newatthiskat]

OK SO far reports from some of the people that I gave plants out to have stated theirs have mostly made the weather. I will replace 1 plant each to 2 people. Mine actually survived both nights out without a single bit of protection. All 46 are healthy and somewhat happy. I guess they know that I only have a week to get it all put together and don't have any time to replant
Kat

[fourtgn]

I don't think it got down to 31 here, either. The lowest report that I saw said it got to 34 here in town, but I don't know. It is always at least 2-3 degrees warmer in my yard than the weather reports print. My thermometer is on the back porch, so maybe some ambient heat there. I did cover all of my plants, but with boxes, containers, empty pots, etc. Anyway, no frozen plants last night. Glad to hear that others did not have frozen plants, either.

Fulenn

[Dewayne mater]

Wunderground shows DFW airport reached 34 on Friday night and 32 on Saturday night. It appears my contraption of lying tomato cages longways over the plants (ranging from 6 inches and just planted to about a foot high), covering with thick plastic and weighing down with bricks provided a safe, warm and happy home, PHEW! One Cherokee purple and one Brandywine have clusters of large flowers, a couple of which I'm watching as they appear to possibly be the first to set this year. We shall see. Hopefully, this was the last freeze scare this year, as life throws enough worries without worrying about your babies freezing!

[newgardener_tx]

Plants are doing well. No freeze over the weekend. Is this the last possible cold front?

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by newatthiskat

Mine actually survived both nights out without a single bit of protection.

I know these are tough economic times. Maybe as a treat to yourself on your birthday or as a Christmas present you can ask for 50 feet of row cover. There are several different weights which protect from different temperatures.

I was in Los Angeles over the weekend so I could not protect my plants. I think it got down to 42 Saturday night. No hail that I'm aware of so I guess I got lucky.

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by newgardener_tx

Plants are doing well. No freeze over the weekend. Is this the last possible cold front?

We always have one annoyingly late frost or near-frost in late March or even early April. That is why I just plant in early March and be ready to cover them. Most of the tomato varieties I grow will give zero fruit if I wait until mid-April to plant. It just gets too hot too fast.

[Polar_Lace]

So far all of my plants are doing better. I bought the reemay (garden fabric) (2 pieces at 61 inches wide by 55 feet long) just to ensure that they could be covered in case of an emergency; next time. I bought them from Gurney's when they were having $25 off a $50 purchase. At least the purchase had some "fabric" to it! LOL!

And Gurney's is having the same deal again right now!

SPECIAL OFFER: Save $25.00 When You Buy Product Totaling $50.00 or More! Limit One Offer Per Customer

You can't beat a fabric deal like that!

~* Robin

[newatthiskat]

Feldon I am going to put the row cover on my nexr Christmas list. These plants have given me too many heart attacks the past few days
Kat

[creister]

I leave row cover on for about the first 6 weeks to protect from frost, wind, and hail. If you do it right, each piece to cover a cage will last 3-4 years.