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Old April 21, 2011   #31
feldon30
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I'm a firm believer in starting earlier and BPTP (Be Prepared To Protect). I've had to wrap my plants with blankets, cloth, sheets, whatever was available to protect them from the cold. The soil is warm enough here to start early, and July turns most tomato plants to cinders, so we have to plant early, cross our fingers, and actually get out there on cold days and protect. It's usually 1-2 'panic' days per spring. And these near-freezes have consistently been in mid-April, far too late to wait to plant all but cherries.

After seeing the success in Suze's garden, I'm now a strong believer in planting large transplants (12-14" tall) in early March, going ahead and installing tomato cages, and immediately installing 40-60% row cover/cloth. It's a lot of work for one day. Suze actually installs her tomato cages days BEFORE planting.

Over the next few weeks, on warm days (70+), the top of the 'canopy' can be opened to let the hot air out. You still get a mild greenhouse effect which accelerates plant growth. On cold days, close them up with binder clips or clothespins to retain heat. Even leaving the row cover up from mid-March to mid-April, the row cover can be reused several years.

Waiting until late March or early April to plant tomatoes in Houston, New Orleans, etc. just seems to be really lowering your odds for success. You'll remember the great tomatoes you get from planting early long after you've forgotten the one afternoon you spent scrambling to apply blankets/sheets/what have you to protect your plants.


P.S. Never trust the weatherman on TV for gardening plans. He or she is not usually providing sufficiently accurate information for a gardener. Often the high and low given on a TV newscast are not the high and low for the day, but instead midnight to midnight. The coldest part of the day is right before the sun comes up, typically 5-6am. It's not uncommon to see television prediction of high 52/low 37 and it reaches 31 before the sun comes up.

A website like Weather Underground or NOAA will help you get a more realistic expectation of the temperatures and to help plan accordingly.
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Old April 24, 2011   #32
RadiantSeaRodent
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i took a chance and planted out Feb 22nd. Livin' just just west of Austin TX. Had to protect on quite a few cold nights. My plants are doing great- some are over 5 foot now. Have harvested some Stupice, Sungold, Golden nugget, and Rosella Purple. My Soldaki plant is humongous. But, I have had alot of blossom drop. Not sure whats causing it. The Zapotec, Paul Robeson and Golden Queen seem pretty hardest hit, but all my plants have lost alot of blooms. Im still a little new to gardening and not sure how much blossom drop is normal. It has been much hotter here much sooner than usual, could that be it?
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Old April 24, 2011   #33
Suze
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RadiantSeaRodent, I am glad to hear your early plant out date has worked fairly well for you. I recall you asking about that before, if protection might be necessary, what some options were, etc.

While I didn't plant quite as early as you did (except for a few containers), I did end up going about 5-6 days earlier than I did last year.

I always get a fair amount of blossom drop no matter what I do. Not every bloom is going to set a fruit anyway, no matter what climate you live in - there will always be some drop.

This year has been particularly extreme/tough in my area of Texas, and I am seeing a lot of blossom drop right now too. Unrelenting heat and wind! Luckily, a fair amount of fruit has already set on most of my plants.

This isn't an "I told you so" to you or anyone else really, but this is precisely why I always plant "early" (not in late March or early April like some sources recommend) and protect if necessary. The window of good fruit set here in Texas can be very short indeed.
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Old April 24, 2011   #34
Worth1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Suze View Post
The window of good fruit set here in Texas can be very short indeed.
Like about one week.
I am so glad I didn't go through all of the trouble this year.
But on a positive note my agave and cacti are doing grrrrrrrreat


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Old April 24, 2011   #35
duajones
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While I have always planted out pretty early, this year has proven the plant out early theory here in South Texas.

At one point I had more tomatoes on my early plant (Feb 18th) than I did on all of the other plants combined that went in on March 1st. My average per plant is way down this year compared to years past. Reasons are simple, laziness caused me to wait a couple of weeks because I didnt want to have to cover the plants. The other is lack of rainfall which in my opinon does have an effect on overall production regardless of how good you are with a hose.
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Old April 24, 2011   #36
tedln
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"The other is lack of rainfall which in my opinon does have an effect on overall production regardless of how good you are with a hose."

My garden and yard always react better to a little rain than lots of water from the hose. I don't know why, but it does. I've often read and heard the theory that rain carries nitrogen from the atmosphere but I don't really know.

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Old April 25, 2011   #37
Worth1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tedln View Post
"The other is lack of rainfall which in my opinon does have an effect on overall production regardless of how good you are with a hose."

My garden and yard always react better to a little rain than lots of water from the hose. I don't know why, but it does. I've often read and heard the theory that rain carries nitrogen from the atmosphere but I don't really know.

Ted
I think it may be the chlorine in city water that puts a damper on the micro organisms in the soil.
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Old April 25, 2011   #38
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I think it may be the chlorine in city water that puts a damper on the micro organisms in the soil.
Worth,

You are probably right in most cases, but I am on well water and I have had the water tested many times. It has no bad minerals or chemicals in it. It is the softest water I have seen. I hate to shower when we travel because water in most places is much harder than mine.

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Old April 25, 2011   #39
suburbangreen
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Some great advice in this thread. I have had to use all of those tips to have good crops in Texas (thanks Suze and others).

Glad to hear someone has had success with the super-soak method because I was planning on trying it this year. I grow mainly on raised beds. They dry out so quickly once temps start averaging in the high 80's and 90's. This year, once the weather gets consistently hot and dry, I'm going to use my soakers 3 times a week and hand water from the top to make sure all parts of the soil are moistened. By the time the hot weather hits my plants they are very large and must get pretty thirsty. I don't expect fruit-set in July, but maybe I can squeeze a few more fruit out of June? On the other hand, maybe I'll just end up with more disease and insects?

As far as varieties for the heat, I like Super Sioux, Indian Stripe, Marianna's Peace, Giant Belgium, and all the cherries and grapes.

Pete
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Old April 26, 2011   #40
b54red
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I'm a big proponent of staggered plantings but this year it seems that all of my later plantings are really suffering due to the high winds and earlier than usual high temperatures. The plants I set out in mid March look good despite the weather so they will probably be the most productive plants for me this year as they were last year. I'm still setting out new seedlings every week or two but some are being burned up by the high winds and temps so I am already having to replace a few of them.
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Old April 26, 2011   #41
BlackestKrim
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So far I've had a great time with Green Zebra, Cherokee Purple, and especially Indian Stripe in the summer. Nyagos did really well for me last year in the heat, but I haven't gown it enough to verify that it is reliable. Black Krim is known to be one of the good tomatoes for southern climates.

Has anyone ever tried parthenocarpic plants, timed to produce during the dog days of summer when the other toms are taking a break? Oregon Spring and Oregon Star are parthenocarpic, and Golden Nugget (det.) is said to have some amount of parthenocarpic blossoms.
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Old April 26, 2011   #42
creister
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The most productive years are the years I start early as well. This year is no exception, probably have equalled last years fruit set all ready. Last year, it was cold for so long, really couldn't plant out early, and was the worst year in a long time.

I also believe in the large transplants, they always seem to get going faster. Fortunately, we are still getting some good night time cooling with our abnormal high's, which I think helps with fruit set.

I have never seen so much wind. I would bet our average wind speed for March and April was well over 20 mph a day. We had a monster storm pass through here Sunday with tennis ball size hail. No casualties due to row cover. Most have holes in it though.
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Old April 26, 2011   #43
creister
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Forgot to mention that I always start some back ups a week or two later than early transplants, just in case.
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Old April 26, 2011   #44
tedln
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Parthenocarpic! I need to do some research. I don't want to grow tomatoes that are tasteless simply to have some tomatoes. I'm not at all familiar with the varieties mentioned.

I also need to start some seed for replacements when some of my plants die in the heat.

Ted
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Old April 26, 2011   #45
tedln
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Okay, I did my research on parthenocarpic tomatoes. The plants may or may not perform any better in the high heat. Parthenocarpic only means the blossoms do not require pollination to produce fruit. A parthenocarpic variety may still suffer from high heat enough to not produce blooms. They should produce more fruit in normally productive climates because "insufficient pollination" will not matter.

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