Tomatoes (was RE: Windy weekend)
gardenchat@hort.net
  • Subject: Tomatoes (was RE: Windy weekend)
  • From: &* C* D* C* U* A* 9* C* <c*@edwards.af.mil>
  • Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:04:27 -0700
It could be the night temps here too, I'm not sure. The desert tends to
cool off pretty quickly as soon as the sun goes down and I haven't paid
that much attention to the lows in summer. This reference I found on
UNLV's website gives pretty much all the problems I have with tomatoes:

http://www.unce.unr.edu/publications/files/ho/other/fs8860.pdf

It says temps above 90F during the day are the main cause of blossom
drop, and temps of 104F for only a few hours causes aborted blossoms.
That's not uncommon here in the summer. Poor tomatoes...
It would be interesting to try the shade cloth and some misters. 

Cyndi 


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On
Behalf Of james singer
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 8:21 AM
To: gardenchat@hort.net
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Windy weekend

Doubtful, but try it... could be interesting.

In Florida, the summer shut down was associated with nighttime temps  
[above 50-something, as I recall] more than daytime.


On Apr 13, 2010, at 7:52 AM, Johnson, Cyndi D Civ USAF AFMC 95 CS/ 
SCOSI wrote:

> In my garden tomatoes shut down fruit production once we get into real
> summer (days over 95F) and don't start setting again until it cools
> down. Eggplants keep on going as do peppers.
> I've wondered if I would get more tomatoes if I set up shade cloth  
> over
> the tomato plants, maybe some kind of canopy so they'd be shaded in  
> the
> afternoon.
>
> Cyndi
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On
> Behalf Of james singer
> Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 4:38 PM
> To: gardenchat@hort.net
> Subject: Re: [CHAT] Windy weekend
>
> Potato's a relative, too, and as a native of the Andes, will likely
> tolerate more cold than and of the other Solanums. But more to the
> point, perhaps, there's also a Solanum that's a tropical fruit [I
> forget the name], which doesn't grow very well much north of Key West.
> The fruit occasionally shows up in upscale groceries; egg-shaped and
> sized, yellow-green, sweet, little flavor, usually over priced.
>
> On Apr 12, 2010, at 11:37 AM, BONNIE_HOLMES wrote:
>
>> Eggplant is so similar to tomato; seems they would both like the
>> same conditions. Comments from anyone?
>>
>> Bonnie
>> ETN Zone 7
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Cyndi D Civ USAF AFMC 95 CS/SCOSI Johnson"
> <cyndi.johnson@edwards.af.mil
>>>
>> To: gardenchat@hort.net
>> Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 12:39:49 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
>> Subject: RE: [CHAT] Windy weekend
>>
>> I should go out there with my thermometer and see what I get, I've
>> never
>> looked before. I am usually trying to push the season because we will
>> start getting above 90F by mid-June. A lot of my vegetable crops
>> have a
>> really short window between the time they set fruit until it's too  
>> hot
>> to pollinate. Melons, peppers, squash do fine in the heat but the
>> beans,
>> tomatoes, and corn have to be ready to start flowering by mid-May.
>> And I
>> never plan on having lettuce, spinach or peas past May.
>> Too bad we don't like okra. That and eggplant do pretty well in high
>> heat. I like eggplant in limited quantities but husband won't eat it
>> at
>> all.
>>
>> Cyndi
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On
>> Behalf Of BONNIE_HOLMES
>> Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 8:44 AM
>> To: gardenchat@hort.net
>> Subject: Re: [CHAT] Windy weekend
>>
>> I always wait until soil temperatures are 50B0+ before planting
>> outside.
>> Have
>> better crops and healthier plants than when early planting.
>>
>> Bonnie
>> ETN Zone 7
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Cyndi D Civ USAF AFMC 95 CS/SCOSI Johnson"
>> <cyndi.johnson@edwards.af.mil>
>> To: gardenchat@hort.net
>> Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 11:38:50 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
>> Subject: [CHAT] Windy weekend
>>
>> So once again, my little bit of California had decent weather most of
>> the work week which degraded into windy and cold for the weekend.
>> Argh.
>> I did plant some tomatoes, they are getting big enough I don't want  
>> to
>> hold them in the greenhouse much longer. Figured with enough mulch  
>> and
>> the wall-o-water protectors it would be okay as we are probably not
>> going to get more frost. So far so good although I didn't have enough
>> protectors. I swear I ordered more this winter but maybe I dreamed  
>> it.
>> Anyway there remains in the greenhouse six plants plus a few spares,
>> and
>> the peppers and the ornamentals are still in there as well. I moved
>> the
>> big pots out to the patio but I didn't realize how much the geraniums
>> had grown over the winter. I used a few words trying to maneuver them
>> out the door without breaking too much off. Then after I had wrestled
>> the first one out and finally got it positioned I looked down and
>> there
>> was a black widow spider the size of a half-dollar crawling out of  
>> the
>> pot!
>> I bought a flat of gazania for the area I cleared out front. It's
>> never
>> been my favorite plant but it's tough and drought tolerant, and  
>> with a
>> little water it blooms all summer, those are good qualities. It just
>> looks sort of untidy to me, but maybe that's because I usually see it
>> along the freeways and in parking lots. If I hate it I can rip it
>> out. I
>> am still trying to come up with stuff that will work in that half-
>> shady
>> but dry area. Fine Gardening had a couple pages of suggestions in
>> their
>> last issue and I'm trying to decide what to get.
>> What did you do over the weekend?
>>
>> Cyndi
>>
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>
> Inland Jim
> Willamette Valley
>
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Inland Jim
Willamette Valley

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