Preparation for high temps???

[elkwc36]

Another six days of 100 degree days here they say. The humidity is 36% this morning. So that isn't so bad. The lows are still getting down into the low to mid 70's another help. My tomatoes are still looking good and having fruit set. Hopefully they will survive till the cool down. JD

[montanamato]

The heat hasn't been untolerable for us...mostly lower to mid 90''s, but the wind has been constant for the last 5 days. It is about 20-30 mph steady and alot of late afternoon gusts around 40-50....really sucks the moisture out of everything. Humidity is about 22 which is high for here and fruit set has been very good on all but 3 varieties.
I feel for the far west and now the fires too.

Jeanne

[jenn_sc]

It hit 100 yesterday here in SC, and I'll bet it's there already today, too. Add high humidity to that and it's just miserable outside. I water my tomato plants extra to keep them from wilting, but otherwise they're just having to suffer it out, like everything else.

Barb, I hear ya about the "gonna cost me" thing....our power bill was almost $200 this month
What's to be done, though? It's HOT! The other night my husband and I cranked up the A/C, closed the blinds, ate ice cream, and watched "Fargo" 8) Nothing like a movie full of ice and snow in July!

Jennifer

[SelfSufficient1]

My electric bill was $279 this month and that is normal this time of year.What hurt was when it jumped from $129 to $229 last month! I have turned the air up but the house temp just hit 85 so that air had to go back down, sigh.
Tomatoes are still looking good some are still setting fruit anyway and I am trying to take note of which ones are. Tiny sprinkle last night and a nice shower the evening before. Still having to water every day.

[QAGuy]

Just for the heck of it, I just checked AccuWeather for
Glendora, CA where I live.

Current temp at 1:30PM on Sun Jul 16 is 95 degrees.

Wind chill takes it down to a mere 93 degrees!

36% Relative Humidity.

High yesterday was 104 degrees, low last night was 75 degrees.

Is there any wonder that I'm not getting any fruit set?
In fact, it looks like the plants haven't grown much at
all in the last few days.

[angelique]

I just got done watering. I had out of town family visiting. We decided to have a big pool party at my brother's house yesterday. I was too lazy to drive home at 1am so, I spent the night, went out to breakfast and hit a couple of specialty cooking shops on my bro's side of town...When I got home an hour ago, all of my plants look limp, especially my cukes. I wanted to wait until later to avoid the heat...but I wasn't sure my plants would make it that long.

I nearly passed out with the heat. Per AccuWeather, it is currently 104F in Roseville.

[feldon30]

Maybe this is the right topic for this.

I gave my first 6 big transplants (3/4 gallon pots) 4 hours of full shade yesterday and 8 hours today. I'm thinking for day #3, all day shade. Day #4, a couple of hours of dappled shade, day #5, 45 min of direct morning sun, day #5, 2 hours of direct morning sun, etc.?

It's HOT out there.

[Suze]

Originally Posted by feldon27

Maybe this is the right topic for this.

I gave my first 6 big transplants (3/4 gallon pots) 4 hours of full shade yesterday and 8 hours today. I'm thinking for day #3, all day shade. Day #4, a couple of hours of dappled shade, day #5, 45 min of direct morning sun, day #5, 2 hours of direct morning sun, etc.?

It's HOT out there.

I suggest you take at least two weeks to harden off. You're in no hurry, as they've been potted up and have plenty of room to grow.

Day 3 - 15 min morning sun/10 min afternoon, remainder shade
Day 4 - see above
Day 5 - 30 min morn sun/15 min afternoon, rest shade
Day 6 - 45 min morn sun/30 afternoon, rest shade
Day 7 - 1.5 hours morn, one hour afternoon
Day 8 - start pushing them. Four hours of full sun, preferably split, and a couple of hours dapple like under the canopy of a well limbed up tree.
... and so on, you get the idea (days 6-7 I suppose you could work some dappled shade in as well)

Don't forget to take wind into account.

[coronabarb]

Jennifer, I gotta say, that fire in the avatar does NOT look inviting!

Jeanne, temps in the '90's with that kind of wind? That will suck the life out of most anything. Is it usually windy where you're at? I'm considering planting some hedges around part of the yard for wind breaks. (the yard is about 2/3 acre of uninterrupted space) It gets very breezy in the afternoon. I should plant more trees too.

It was 108 yesterday, probably around 95 last night at 10:30. Yuck! It feels much better today. But more fires started in the mts.

[nancysil]

Here in Massachusetts we went from weeks of rain to a week or so of partly sunny and now we're in a humid heatwave. This means the 90's for us and I can't even imagine it hotter or more humid.

Considering the conditions which are much more severe for other forum members, please don't take my comments as intended advice, since your heat is a much different problem. However for those who's conditions are similar to mine I wanted to mention that ever since the heat wave (and actually during the rain) I've kept up going out and buzzing the blossoms with my makeshift toothbrush pollinator. I particularly try to hit the just emerging blossoms, and I try to be sure to do this in the cooler early morning. If I have time I continue to do this periodically during the day because, of course, the flowers keep on emerging.

I notice during the heat of the past 4 or 5 days that on some flowers the pollon does appear less like dust and a bit more like flakes or clumps which I assume is no longer fertile. However not all the blossoms do this and I see plenty of dry powdery pollen if I buzz at the right stage.

I am seeing very good fruit set in the newest blossom clusters so I'm guessing this helps - or at the very least it doesn't HURT. And it's fun.

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by Suze

I suggest you take at least two weeks to harden off. You're in no hurry, as they've been potted up and have plenty of room to grow.

Day 7 - 1.5 hours morn, one hour afternoon
Day 8 - start pushing them. Four hours of full sun, preferably split, and a couple of hours dapple like under the canopy of a well limbed up tree.

Based on that, they'll be up to 10 hours of sun on day 11. I made up a little calendar and printed it out. Going to check off the days.

I'm going to start hardening off my 8" tall transplants which are still in 4" pots as well.

[melody]

We hit 100 a couple hours ago...and it got there yesterday too...humidity is close to that too...so it feels like a steam sauna. Got to water this afternoon...got a new cuke crop and some young melons that are in need...tomatoes look great though. They'll get water...and checking for cucumber beetles...(dasterdly little varmints)

[jenn_sc]

Barb, the avatar was a mistake. I meant to click on a picture of a new bird, to replace my customary owl.

After seeing it, I decided what the heck. That's what it feels like in my backyard right now!

It was 100 degrees on the dot according to a roadside thermometer this afternoon. I'm hiding out in the a/c again!

Jenn

[JabulaZa]

Hi Jenn,
If you where in the far South ( read Southern Hemisphere), like me, the fire do look enticing. I can't currently imagine those high temps, but come mid summer that would be closer to the norm.

KC,
With shadecloth directly over the plants, I do agree with you. However how we've used it though was in properly constructed shadehouses with 10 - 30% cloth. The temps inside the shadehouse where about 10 degrees lower than outside. I know the humidity where also quit a bit higher inside the shadehouse, a boon here because we usually have a very dry heat.

One more point in soil I'll definately follow KC's watering regime, but with an open hidroponic system or in buckets I'll up the watering frequency.
Let the plants tell you.

[spyfferoni]

Thanks kctomato for your advice. It makes sense what you said. I can't imagine going two weeks without water here though. I try not to water too frequently, except when the temps are sooo high and we have wind that dries everything up too. I am still working on my soil so it retains more moisture, but have a ways to go. What is your opinion on using black plastic for mulch? That is what I am doing because I have tons of weed seed in my soil and it is the only way to keep the weeds somewhat managable. We seem to get too much wind for newspaper and straw to work that great. Last year I used both weed block and black plastic, and the tomatoes planted with the plastic actually did better than those with the breathable weed block. I am hand watering with the hose right now, but hope to get soaker hoses for next year.

Thanks,
Tyffanie