Record Heat Endangering My Fall Tomatoes, You?

[Keiththibodeaux]

It is HOT out there. Mercury says 102 and I am guessing we broke another all time record, like we did yesterday. Many of my fall plantings, including some tomatoes are failing. Replanting tomatoes this late is a real dice shoot.

Anyone else facing fall crop failure?

[chalstonsc]

Keith,
Put my spindly last resort cuttings out yesterday and am not holding out much hope for them. Transplanted others from seed earlier in July and cut back healthiest plants from Spring then too to nurse through and then something fungus, insect or other disease defoliated all of them 100%, I mean fried every leaf to a brown crisp on 30 or so plants....only one big beef has three small resprouts now....never had it happen before...only good news is that I have frozen and dehydrated probably more than enough....but I was hoping to be eating fresh the last of a Fall planting around the first of the year as in past years....not at all sure it's fgoing to happen this year!

[cgs]

I'm losing about one a day in this heat. I'm not sure if it is heat, damping off, or overly moist soil. I have them in the shade now for most of the day and that does seem to be helping - thinking if they can just make it another week. I have plenty of extras for now... I guess I'll hope growing season last into January, like last year. 105+ here today

106 north of Dallas today. More of the same tomorrow and through the weekend. It may drop one degree per day through labor day.

My hold overs from my spring garden are hanging on behind shade cloths. I expect them to be fine once the weather cools and I can remove the shade cloths. I have been hardening off my grown from seed plants and grown from cuttings plants which have been under lights. They are doing fine in the morning sun, but I don't have the guts to leave them out under the withering sun in the afternoon. The plants are getting really large and some are ready to bloom. Hopefully, it will be cool enough after labor day. Most of the largest plants are in 1/2 gallon pots and can probably hang on for awhile before being planted in the soil.

Ted

[Keiththibodeaux]

Big storm coming through. Rain, lightening, and wind gust to 50mph. That ought to finish them off. What a year?

Update: Never mind. That was much ado about nothing. I'll still have to water the garden tomorrow.

[Ken4230]

Keith...your ado wound up about 500 miles north of you. Bad storms with lots of purple and white in the radar brought heavy rains and cooler weather, which I am loving.

[b54red]

I'm not losing near as many to bacterial wilt and fusarium as I usually so this time of the year. Most of my transplants have been badly sun scalded the first week after setting them out even after hardening them off for over a month in the sun. I'm sure more will fall to the wilts that inhabit my garden soil. I can say that the fall plants are about as skinny and frail as I have ever had. Spider mites are a major problem in this dry heat and they really take a toll on the plants ability to survive the really hot days. Diseases haven't taken a holiday either. Despite all that I am still getting a few tomatoes every day or two from the seedlings set out in May and June. Some of the ones set out in July are starting to bloom some but most are falling off in this intense heat. I'm just hoping we can get a few showers to take the temps down and give the plants a drink of much needed rain water.

I'm still setting out a few plants with little hope of them making before the weather freezes; but down here you never know. I have had tomatoes on the vine past Christmas more than once. I've also had them killed in October.

b54red,

I found some gray mold on my potted dwarf plants which are putting out nice secondary growth in the heat and blooming. I mixed up some of your bleach solution and gave them a bath. I will wait and see how much the bleach helps stop the mold.

I also found one of my cucumber seedlings covered in aphids and I washed them off with water which usually helps some. I was wondering if you have ever tried your bleach solution on any plant disease or pest like aphids.

Ted

[duajones]

I only have a few plants but all are doing well at this point. High 90's here lately and the sun is very strong. I have a shade setup for mine so that they are only getting 2-3 hours of morning sun right now. As the roots get better established I will add to the amount of sun they get.
My neighbor planted at the same time and all of his are dead

[Direct Sunlight]

Over half of the fall tomatoes I've planted have died. I've also got 7 (used to be 9) on the porch, was going to set them out a few weeks ago but when we had the week of record heat I decided to pull them to where they got shade in the afternoon instead. Whether it's on the porch or already planted, riesentraubes seemed to handle the heat better than anything else, at least as far as survival's concerned. Out of the spring stuff, great white survived the best. The only thing I've got producing now is a mystery cherry tomato that happened to be in the same pot with a tomatillo I bought last may.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by tedln

b54red,

I found some gray mold on my potted dwarf plants which are putting out nice secondary growth in the heat and blooming. I mixed up some of your bleach solution and gave them a bath. I will wait and see how much the bleach helps stop the mold.

I also found one of my cucumber seedlings covered in aphids and I washed them off with water which usually helps some. I was wondering if you have ever tried your bleach solution on any plant disease or pest like aphids.

Ted

Ted, I hope you only gave them a misty shower.

The bleach spray doesn't seem to have any negative effect on any pests and I have been spraying it for years. After I spray the bleach solution I will sometimes wait 30 minutes or so and follow with something for the bugs.

[Structure]

Spoiled her on the Central Coast. It's been mid-70s day after day. The only negative is the morning fog has been strong for this late in the year which has meant a constant struggle with gray mold, but nothing like what others face.

Of course for us, a little more heat would help a lot. Tomatoes ripen so slowly at this temperature and are never really "happy."

[b54red]

After my last post I decided to take some action and see if it would help. I have gone out almost every evening and given the tomatoes and peppers a good watering. I also have them a healthy dose of liquid fertilizer twice in the last week and all of a sudden I have blooms staying on and some more fruit setting even though the temps have remained around 100 every day with no rain. I'm beginning to think that the fall plants need more fertilizer to do well than they do in the spring. Last year I had good results from over watering during the really hot dry weather and giving them a little extra fertilizer and it seems to be paying off again. Now if I can just keep up the regimen til we get a break in the heat.

The fall tomatoes that have set fruit the best so far this year are Indian Stripe, Cherokee Purple, Dr. Wyches Yellow, KBX, and Lumpy Red; but others are starting to show signs of picking up. Many of my plants are still too small because they were set out just in the last couple of weeks. I started setting out my fall tomatoes on June 5 and have been setting them all along right up til yesterday. I know the ones set out in the last few weeks probably won't have time to make but you never know. I have had mild enough winters in the past that some plants have produced when set out as late as early September.

[huntsman]

Man!

You guys are having a torrid time of things this season!

I wish you all of the best, and am holding thumbs for good weather, though it seems anything you get is in excess....

b54red -

As an aside: Are you saying that you planted a new crop for Fall in June? Is this a common practice?

[Keiththibodeaux]

Yes, we are having a tough one. My fall planting is hanging in there, but is not growing or looking too healthy.

Yes, here we plant a fall crop. We generally make our spring ground planting in late February to early March. By late June the planted are pretty much done. You can keep them going, but by then folks have a fill of tomatoes, the plants are shabby, and they just take them down. We make another planting in early August and these plants will bear from late September till frost, which is usually late November.