Fall planting woes

b54red · August 4, 2010

Is anyone else running into a major problem getting their fall tomatoes into the garden?
I usually plant out most of my fall tomatoes in the last week of July and the first week of August; but this is turning out to be very difficult this year. We've been having temps hovering around 100 with humidity above 80 for the past couple of weeks with very warm nights. The only rain I've had was a quick shower that didn't do anything to cool my soil down.
I set out some plants two weeks ago and lost most of them despite planting late in the day and watering good. I have a bunch of seedlings ready to go if we can just get a little break in the heat. After the experience with the seedlings I put out last when it was a little cooler, I'm leaning toward waiting longer and taking my chances with an early freeze. The other big problem with waiting is keeping the seedlings alive in the heat; if I forget to water just one day they will all be dead.

August 4, 2010	#1
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	Fall planting woes Is anyone else running into a major problem getting their fall tomatoes into the garden? I usually plant out most of my fall tomatoes in the last week of July and the first week of August; but this is turning out to be very difficult this year. We've been having temps hovering around 100 with humidity above 80 for the past couple of weeks with very warm nights. The only rain I've had was a quick shower that didn't do anything to cool my soil down. I set out some plants two weeks ago and lost most of them despite planting late in the day and watering good. I have a bunch of seedlings ready to go if we can just get a little break in the heat. After the experience with the seedlings I put out last when it was a little cooler, I'm leaning toward waiting longer and taking my chances with an early freeze. The other big problem with waiting is keeping the seedlings alive in the heat; if I forget to water just one day they will all be dead.