Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old March 31, 2009   #1
flashback
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 25
Default North Carolina Tomatovillians

Is this weekend, April 4th to early to plant. The 15 day forcast looks good to me. What do you think?

Thanks, John
flashback is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 31, 2009   #2
barkeater
Tomatovillian™
 
barkeater's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: NE Kingdom, VT - Zone 3b
Posts: 1,439
Default

I wouldn't trust the 8-15 day extended forecast at all. I depended on it once and it was nothing like the forecast. For grins I've checked it many times since, and find the numbers are meaningless.

5-7 days is about as far out as I would trust, and not even then if the forecast is showing lows below 45.
barkeater is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 31, 2009   #3
cottonpicker
Tomatovillian™
 
cottonpicker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: SE PA..near Valley Forge
Posts: 839
Default

Looked at a table on the Internet and found your last frost date is April 11. With a good 15 day forecast, looks like it might be safe to plant outside but what is your soil temperature??? Really need a soil temperature of 55 - 60 degrees to plant in-ground for tomatoes. I've taken a chance and planted out early when the weather surprised me and dropped into the high 30's but did not harm my seedlings which had been hardened-off for a week. It's your call. Good luck.
__________________
"Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause".
Victor Hugo
cottonpicker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 31, 2009   #4
gssgarden
Tomatovillian™
 
gssgarden's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: N.C.
Posts: 1,818
Default

I'd wait. Best case would be next weekend. I'm planning on the following one myself.
Remeber two years ago? We hit 17 degrees here in the first week of April. Killed alot of new buds on the delicate trees.

Don't know how many plants you have and if you're able to protect them.

Greg
gssgarden is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 31, 2009   #5
cottonpicker
Tomatovillian™
 
cottonpicker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: SE PA..near Valley Forge
Posts: 839
Default

think I'd listen to Greg............. better safe than sorry.
__________________
"Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause".
Victor Hugo
cottonpicker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 31, 2009   #6
red
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I am going to plant out "some" ....a dozen or so...under milk cartons tommorrow....Eastern NC.....I can't stand it! I wouldn't plant everything, but I have some neighbors who are cheating too. The weather is just too nice for too long to pass by. I have always planted 1 week before "Good Friday". This year that would be April 5. I have seen plant dates suggested by different folks from April 1 to April 15. I am taking the plunge!!!Good luck John!

Steve
  Reply With Quote
Old March 31, 2009   #7
gssgarden
Tomatovillian™
 
gssgarden's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: N.C.
Posts: 1,818
Default

Just check the 10 day forecast. Lows of 42 next week with highs only in the 60's.

Believe me, it's killing me too but I love them little guys too much to harm them. !!

Greg
gssgarden is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 31, 2009   #8
nctomatoman
Tomatoville® Moderator
 
nctomatoman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7
Posts: 10,385
Default

It's odd - each year I get a panic late frost, just before I take my seedlings to the market. This year things seem pretty safe...am madly transplanting right now. Still don't think I will get to planting my own warm weather veggies until mid to late April.
__________________
Craig
nctomatoman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 31, 2009   #9
Lee
Tomatopalooza™ Moderator
 
Lee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: NC-Zone 7
Posts: 2,185
Default

Welcome aboard John.

Since you're in Raleigh, I would wait a couple of weeks as the
soil temps probably are not quite where we want them for
the maters.
If you plant now, you may or may not get thorough a surprise
cold snap, but I can almost guarantee the plants won't grow
much with the soil temps the way they are.

Now if you want to plant in a cold frame of some kind, by all
means have at it. The cold frame would accelerate the
warming of the soil, but my experience of doing the frost
dance with plants in the ground too early taught me it just
isn't worth the effort.

Oh, and I hope you can make it to Tomatopalooza[tm] this
year. Should be another good one!

Lee
__________________
Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is knowing not to put one in a fruit salad.

Cuostralee - The best thing on sliced bread.
Lee is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 1, 2009   #10
flashback
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 25
Default

Thanks for all your thoughts and suggestions.
I grow all my plants in 18 gallon containers. With the comments on soil temp., would the soil in containers heat up sooner than the garden soil? Even so I think I may wait another week.

Thanks again, John
flashback is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 1, 2009   #11
Lee
Tomatopalooza™ Moderator
 
Lee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: NC-Zone 7
Posts: 2,185
Default

Quote:
I grow all my plants in 18 gallon containers.
In that case, by all means go ahead and plant. The soil
will be warmer. (Probably because you will get it from Lowes and store it in the garage until ready....) And thus won't have the problem with needing to warm up as in the ground.

If you use black containers, even better as they will absorb
heat faster. (Of course this will cause problems later in June/July... which is why I believe some have seen better results with white grow bags...)

And of course, the containers are much easier to move to safety if the temps do drop to freezing.

Lee
__________________
Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is knowing not to put one in a fruit salad.

Cuostralee - The best thing on sliced bread.
Lee is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 3, 2009   #12
flashback
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 25
Default

Thanks Lee, but the only thing in my garage is a 1950 Ford pickup being rebuilt. This year I am blending my own soil ( 1/3 peat, 1/3 composted cow manure, 1/3 vermiculite ). You are right about the containers warming faster.

Have a great weekend, John
flashback is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:18 PM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★