Little help please. Can plants become sterile if Temps are HIGH

GardenRookie · May 11, 2012

Forgive if this shows up twice. I posted it and don't see it anywhere.... I started seeds indoor on April 9th. I moved them outdoors under a hoop house that’s about 3x3x5ft. On days in the 60s the inside thermometer reads 120degrees! The plants look GREAT for being a month along. I keep them watered because the potting soil drys out quickly. The thermometer sits on the grass and I am sure it affects its reading. So my questions are... Is this to hot? and Will such temps cause the plants to some how be sterile once planted outdoors? Thanks for the help.

casserole · May 11, 2012

That is too hot ,they will not set fruit that hot

Doug9345 · May 11, 2012

I think they will be all right once planted out if they live that long. At 120°F miss watering them by a half an hour and they are dead. I forgot some small plants in the back window of a car and an hour was long enough to kill some and force others to have to recover.

RebelRidin · May 11, 2012

Based on your location it seems like you ought to be able to move them out of there. At least remove them during the day. As folks noted, the high temps hasn't made your plants sterile but with temps like that you could quickly loose all your plants and then your whole season will be sterile!

GardenRookie · May 11, 2012

Thanks. few people have said they aren't going to be sterile and a few have. I do say I feel better reading the ones that say they wont be. LOL I have opened the shelter today.

desertlzbn · May 11, 2012

I too have had this happen, but once the plants are set out, they seem to do fine. I think you should try to vent the greenhouse earlier, but I don't think the plants become sterile from exposure to high temps, after they blossom they cannot take the high heat.

GardenRookie · May 11, 2012

I want to thank eveyone for replying to my questions so quickly. I woke up early today and couldn't get back to sleep because worrying if I had killed my chances of haveing tomatoes this summer. Last night my thermometer outside here in Northern OH. read 40. Not 100% sure what it was inside my tunnel but I kept a heat lamp on all night at the one end away from the flats. A few weeks back it kept it at about 60 degrees, or at least that what the thermometer in the middle of the flats read. I don't trust the thermometer, and need to go buy a new one. I set the plants out from under the tunnel today and gave them a good watering.

Doug9345 · May 11, 2012

I recommend a cooking thermometer. Mine goes from below freezing to 450° F. it reads half a degree high at freezing and half a degree low at boiling which is good enough for me. Besides cooking, I use it to test soil temperature. It's easy to check it's accuracy.

rockhound · May 20, 2012

I don't think any mis-treatment in early life will make your tomatoes permanently sterile, unless of course it kills them. Put them in a cooler location and maybe shade them a little at the peak day temps. NIGHTIME temps is what makes tomatoes fail to set fruit when they are blooming. Daytime temps of 95 or so go along with nighttimes of 70+ so it's easy to confuse the two. But it's the high temp at night that interferes with pollination, all other things being equal.

meadowyck · May 26, 2012

Hope yall don't mind me asking a question, as I'm in southwest florida, and a local gal here told me that when our night time temps are high you can forget tomatoes, and since I tried last year and this year with no success, so I'm beginning to believe her.

I use to grow them in Kentucky and never had a problem other than frost killing them at the end of the summer.

Do you think if I was to bring my one lone plant in at night it would start to bloom again?

I only purchase one plant this year, as I so wanted some homegrown tomatoes, it was a beefstake and the 8 tomatoes came off the size of golf balls.

thanks all.
Jan

Fusion_power · May 26, 2012

Tomatoes don't become sterile, they become unable to set fruit when the temperature is too high. The cutoff temp is about 92 degrees so if you are consistently getting 92 or higher daytime temps and staying 75 of higher at night, then you will not set fruit on most common tomato varieties. The problem has to do with pollination, at high temps pollen clumps and does not spread to the stigma. If it does manage to reach the stigma, it does not form a normal pollen tube which would allow the ovule to be fertilized and therefore the fruit to begin to develop.

DarJones

ginger2778 · May 26, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by meadowyck

Hope yall don't mind me asking a question, as I'm in southwest florida, and a local gal here told me that when our night time temps are high you can forget tomatoes, and since I tried last year and this year with no success, so I'm beginning to believe her.

I use to grow them in Kentucky and never had a problem other than frost killing them at the end of the summer.

Do you think if I was to bring my one lone plant in at night it would start to bloom again?

I only purchase one plant this year, as I so wanted some homegrown tomatoes, it was a beefstake and the 8 tomatoes came off the size of golf balls.

thanks all.
Jan

The tomatoes need a nighttime temp of less than 70 degrees( in general) to set fruit. That's why south Floridians have their winter as growing season ( from fall to spring). By summer it is too late, unless you grow one of the varieties that sets fruit in the heat.( But most of those are bland and fairly tasteless in my opinion.)
If you keep the indoors below 70 at night then you may have a fighting chance for your tomato plant to set some fruit.We start our seeds in late August to be able to plant out by about mid to late October, and we usually get fruit all the way to end of April, this year it went to last week. So you have a good long growing season if you time it right for south Florida weather. Some people start 2 sets, one in fall and one in spring, which you could try.

By the way, we are setting up a plant swap group for Florida which will be held in Broward cty in November, and it is free, just several of us want to do a plant exchange. Then we'll meet again in the spring to do a tasting event, also free, so please join us, since you live in the area

Heres the thread telling about it; http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=22819

Keger · May 26, 2012

Dar... Time to start looking at getting summer and fall stuff going in SE Texas. My regular stuff is producing, all good. I set out a bunch of Atkinson's a month ago, they are going well and I hope they set fruit in the summer, or try to. They came reccomended for down here. Are there other you like for this climate? Thanks!

May 11, 2012	#1
GardenRookie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: OHIO Posts: 5	Little help please. Can plants become sterile if Temps are HIGH Forgive if this shows up twice. I posted it and don't see it anywhere.... I started seeds indoor on April 9th. I moved them outdoors under a hoop house that’s about 3x3x5ft. On days in the 60s the inside thermometer reads 120degrees! The plants look GREAT for being a month along. I keep them watered because the potting soil drys out quickly. The thermometer sits on the grass and I am sure it affects its reading. So my questions are... Is this to hot? and Will such temps cause the plants to some how be sterile once planted outdoors? Thanks for the help.

May 11, 2012	#4
RebelRidin Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Maryland's Eastern Shore Posts: 993	Based on your location it seems like you ought to be able to move them out of there. At least remove them during the day. As folks noted, the high temps hasn't made your plants sterile but with temps like that you could quickly loose all your plants and then your whole season will be sterile! __________________ George _____________________________ "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure." Thomas Jefferson, 1787

May 11, 2012	#7
GardenRookie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: OHIO Posts: 5	Thanks I want to thank eveyone for replying to my questions so quickly. I woke up early today and couldn't get back to sleep because worrying if I had killed my chances of haveing tomatoes this summer. Last night my thermometer outside here in Northern OH. read 40. Not 100% sure what it was inside my tunnel but I kept a heat lamp on all night at the one end away from the flats. A few weeks back it kept it at about 60 degrees, or at least that what the thermometer in the middle of the flats read. I don't trust the thermometer, and need to go buy a new one. I set the plants out from under the tunnel today and gave them a good watering.

May 11, 2012	#2
casserole Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Dousman, WI Z5 Posts: 95	That is too hot ,they will not set fruit that hot

May 11, 2012	#3
Doug9345 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Durhamville,NY Posts: 2,706	I think they will be all right once planted out if they live that long. At 120°F miss watering them by a half an hour and they are dead. I forgot some small plants in the back window of a car and an hour was long enough to kill some and force others to have to recover.

May 11, 2012	#6
desertlzbn Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Tucson Posts: 659	I too have had this happen, but once the plants are set out, they seem to do fine. I think you should try to vent the greenhouse earlier, but I don't think the plants become sterile from exposure to high temps, after they blossom they cannot take the high heat.

May 20, 2012	#9
rockhound Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Tennessee Posts: 285	I don't think any mis-treatment in early life will make your tomatoes permanently sterile, unless of course it kills them. Put them in a cooler location and maybe shade them a little at the peak day temps. NIGHTIME temps is what makes tomatoes fail to set fruit when they are blooming. Daytime temps of 95 or so go along with nighttimes of 70+ so it's easy to confuse the two. But it's the high temp at night that interferes with pollination, all other things being equal.

May 26, 2012	#10
meadowyck Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Brooksville, FL Posts: 1,001	Hope yall don't mind me asking a question, as I'm in southwest florida, and a local gal here told me that when our night time temps are high you can forget tomatoes, and since I tried last year and this year with no success, so I'm beginning to believe her. I use to grow them in Kentucky and never had a problem other than frost killing them at the end of the summer. Do you think if I was to bring my one lone plant in at night it would start to bloom again? I only purchase one plant this year, as I so wanted some homegrown tomatoes, it was a beefstake and the 8 tomatoes came off the size of golf balls. thanks all. Jan

May 26, 2012	#11
Fusion_power Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,251	Tomatoes don't become sterile, they become unable to set fruit when the temperature is too high. The cutoff temp is about 92 degrees so if you are consistently getting 92 or higher daytime temps and staying 75 of higher at night, then you will not set fruit on most common tomato varieties. The problem has to do with pollination, at high temps pollen clumps and does not spread to the stigma. If it does manage to reach the stigma, it does not form a normal pollen tube which would allow the ovule to be fertilized and therefore the fruit to begin to develop. DarJones

May 26, 2012	#13
Keger Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Richmond, TX Posts: 327	Dar... Time to start looking at getting summer and fall stuff going in SE Texas. My regular stuff is producing, all good. I set out a bunch of Atkinson's a month ago, they are going well and I hope they set fruit in the summer, or try to. They came reccomended for down here. Are there other you like for this climate? Thanks!