Frost!

[Bruinwar]

It came as a surprise. Temps were not supposed to go lower than 39F. I was worried but I could not think of a way to cover 60+ plants without buying a stack of bedsheets, specially with no frost warnings.

This happened yesterday (Sun 5/30) morning, temps were reported to drop to 33F in Ann Arbor MI. Some plants, maybe a third, look totally wilted. Some are partially wilted & some look okay so far. It's not to late of course to replace them but I have no experience with this even though I've always planted early. This year was actually one of the latest I got mine in (5/22-23).

Any advice from those that have had this happen to them? It's unlikely that I can replace some of the varieties, like Aunt Ruby, Dr. Wyches, & Big Rainbow. I am unsure how long I should do the "wait & see". The plants were going like gangbusters & I had to put the baskets in & start pruning.

As I said, the good news is it's not too late to replace them so not all is lost. But no Dr. Wyche's tomato juice this year!

Regards,
-joe

[rxkeith]

joe,


having grown up in detroit, most years my plants would have been in the ground
by now. up in the keweenaw, we had frost three days last week. may is never a
safe month to plant tomatoes here.


the plants that are totally wilted are probably shot. look for any signs of life in the
growing tips. wait a few days if they are plants you can't replace. the partially wilted
plants will recover. they will be set back a bit, and take awhile to get going again, but
they should be fine. you have a long enough growing season there.
i had plants in the subaru one night a few years ago thinking the car would be enough
protection from a frost warning. turned out to be a bad idea. about eighty percent of
my plants were damaged or dead. many of the damaged ones did recover. some of
the severely damaged, but not dead plants clung to life, but never did come back.


i was mighty tempted by that 70s, and 80s weather we had a couple weeks ago to put a few plants in the ground just to see. its a good thing i didn't.




keith

[eyolf]

I'm watching a Nepal that looks pretty sad...but I think while the leaves are dead, I see a sucker forming right at the dirt where I pinched the bottom leaf-stem off. Green chlorophyll-containing tissue seems to remain in the stem.

While I have never had a tomato survive a freeze, I have managed to save tomatoes (and other "tenders" that were touched by frost by "washing it off" with a sprinkler can. A sprinkler on a hose works, too.

A friend employs that strategy: he believes he can combat temps down to 30deg with a sprinkler setup.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

[Bruinwar]

Thanks Keith & Eyolf,

The plants look much worst today. I've replaced 12 so far that I got from a local greenhouse. There are a couple heirloom providers that might have some good replacements. A friend told me he had some ARGGs (not sure how many) for me. No Dr. Wyche's yet so I will likely be replacing with another yellow.

Pics... (edit: Images fixed. They are kina large though)

[Bruinwar]

So here is an update as to what happened after that frost. I went on a quest to replace most of my plants. I could not get Dr. Wyches or Aunt Ruby's so I replaced them with Super Nova & St. Patrick's Day. As far as I know, these varieties are from one guy, Joematoe, in Southfield MI. Both have done very well. No problem finding Paul Robison & Black Krim.

It's been a rainy year so I am grateful to have any tomatoes. Those Super Nova's make an excellent juice!

-joe

[Labradors2]

Glad that you were able to replace most of them AND that you had a great harvest .

Linda

[Koala Doug]

Nice recovery yield!