North Carolina Tomatovillians

[flashback]

Is this weekend, April 4th to early to plant. The 15 day forcast looks good to me. What do you think?

Thanks, John

[barkeater]

I wouldn't trust the 8-15 day extended forecast at all. I depended on it once and it was nothing like the forecast. For grins I've checked it many times since, and find the numbers are meaningless.

5-7 days is about as far out as I would trust, and not even then if the forecast is showing lows below 45.

[cottonpicker]

Looked at a table on the Internet and found your last frost date is April 11. With a good 15 day forecast, looks like it might be safe to plant outside but what is your soil temperature??? Really need a soil temperature of 55 - 60 degrees to plant in-ground for tomatoes. I've taken a chance and planted out early when the weather surprised me and dropped into the high 30's but did not harm my seedlings which had been hardened-off for a week. It's your call. Good luck.

[gssgarden]

I'd wait. Best case would be next weekend. I'm planning on the following one myself.
Remeber two years ago? We hit 17 degrees here in the first week of April. Killed alot of new buds on the delicate trees.

Don't know how many plants you have and if you're able to protect them.

Greg

[cottonpicker]

think I'd listen to Greg............. better safe than sorry.

I am going to plant out "some" ....a dozen or so...under milk cartons tommorrow....Eastern NC.....I can't stand it! I wouldn't plant everything, but I have some neighbors who are cheating too. The weather is just too nice for too long to pass by. I have always planted 1 week before "Good Friday". This year that would be April 5. I have seen plant dates suggested by different folks from April 1 to April 15. I am taking the plunge!!!Good luck John!

Steve

[gssgarden]

Just check the 10 day forecast. Lows of 42 next week with highs only in the 60's.

Believe me, it's killing me too but I love them little guys too much to harm them. !!

Greg

[nctomatoman]

It's odd - each year I get a panic late frost, just before I take my seedlings to the market. This year things seem pretty safe...am madly transplanting right now. Still don't think I will get to planting my own warm weather veggies until mid to late April.

[Lee]

Welcome aboard John.

Since you're in Raleigh, I would wait a couple of weeks as the
soil temps probably are not quite where we want them for
the maters.
If you plant now, you may or may not get thorough a surprise
cold snap, but I can almost guarantee the plants won't grow
much with the soil temps the way they are.

Now if you want to plant in a cold frame of some kind, by all
means have at it. The cold frame would accelerate the
warming of the soil, but my experience of doing the frost
dance with plants in the ground too early taught me it just
isn't worth the effort.

Oh, and I hope you can make it to Tomatopalooza[tm] this
year. Should be another good one!

Lee

[flashback]

Thanks for all your thoughts and suggestions.
I grow all my plants in 18 gallon containers. With the comments on soil temp., would the soil in containers heat up sooner than the garden soil? Even so I think I may wait another week.

Thanks again, John

[Lee]

I grow all my plants in 18 gallon containers.

In that case, by all means go ahead and plant. The soil
will be warmer. (Probably because you will get it from Lowes and store it in the garage until ready....) And thus won't have the problem with needing to warm up as in the ground.

If you use black containers, even better as they will absorb
heat faster. (Of course this will cause problems later in June/July... which is why I believe some have seen better results with white grow bags...)

And of course, the containers are much easier to move to safety if the temps do drop to freezing.

Lee

[flashback]

Thanks Lee, but the only thing in my garage is a 1950 Ford pickup being rebuilt. This year I am blending my own soil ( 1/3 peat, 1/3 composted cow manure, 1/3 vermiculite ). You are right about the containers warming faster.

Have a great weekend, John