It's been a strange growing season so far

[SteveP]

Early spring was nice and warm and thinking it may continue, I bought and planted a couple of Early Girl plants in containers on April 2nd. A good 3 weeks before the usual safe planting time of April 20-25th in my area. If all worked out, I should have some early ripe tomatoes before late June-early July.

We had another cold snap (25f) so I had to bring them indoors for a couple of days and then decided to plant them in my raised bed. All this didn't seem to bother them much. They were 12-14" tall when planting.

I picked my first ripe Early Girl tomato on June 30th, about the same time I normally start getting some ripen. Planting early gained me nothing in an earlier harvest. I hardly ever plant Early Girls because their flavor is one of my favorites. I thought a decent sized plant of a 55 DTR would work. I guess I was just hoping. I actually picked a Nice Cherokee Purple 2 days before the Early Girl. The Cherokee Purple was planted on April 24th, a full 3 weeks later than EG.

I also planted for the first time 3 Tsar's Royal Gift and something suddenly killed them in 2 days at the end of June. They must have near zero resistance to whatever got them. Cherokee Purple and Celebrity have has as much as a yellow leaf so far and have set a good amount of fruit.

Anyway, enough rambling from me. I just thought I would share what has been what seems to me to be different experience this year.

[slugworth]

I bought plants early and had them outdoors to take advantage of the sunlight.
Many of them got diseased due to fluctuating temps so I gained nothing.
I had to rely on plants bought later on and ones I started myself indoors.
I should have kept the precious ones indoors somehow.

[rxkeith]

it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. it was may weather.
the first part of may was very pleasant, even had some days in the 80s.
i brought the plants outside to harden off. i thought about planting a few
tomatoes with protection if needed. plants were looking good raised from seed.
then the weather turned. we had some gale force winds blow through for a few days.
the wind just never stopped. last week of may, we had frost three days in a row.
plants got pulled into the enclosed porch for a few days. by plant out time in june,
the plants were looking pretty beat up. i planted them, and they have since recovered. one plant inzhir rozovyi (pink fig) damped off at the soil line. i was able to
root the tip, but that plant is still small. now it is july, and the heat is on. everything
is growing, and bulking up. weed, water, and wait time.






keith

[SteveP]

I think I am just going to plant out around May 1st from now on. I am also going to stick with growing Celebrity and Cherokee Purple, which always do well for me. I love heirlooms, but they seem to have less production and they get diseased and die too early for me. I seem to get so impatient every spring and it gains me nothing. Hahaha let's see what happens next spring!

[slugworth]

Cold weather stunts the plants but I like to use sunlight vs. paying the electric bill.
Even in containers.
In the past april was cold frame month here and plant in the ground memorial day weekend.

[Canehdian]

Yeah, tell me about it. Up here on the Canadian high prairies we had the record breaking heat wave with extremely high UV levels. Most blossoms got pretty fried. It finally ended, but with a big old hailstorm. Quite a few just snapped in half, complete carnage, but there may be enough time left for something to come of it. It's why I call it commando growing. Or maybe Forest Gump growing, you just don't know what to expect. Last year was the best ever.

[slugworth]

The transition from indoor-outdoor-indoor on potted plants I noticed aphids on the plants.
Some outdoor plants had whitefly.

[eyolf]

Originally Posted by rxkeith

it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. it was may weather.
the first part of may was very pleasant, even had some days in the 80s.
i brought the plants outside to harden off. i thought about planting a few
tomatoes with protection if needed. plants were looking good raised from seed.
then the weather turned. we had some gale force winds blow through for a few days.
the wind just never stopped. last week of may, we had frost three days in a row.
plants got pulled into the enclosed porch for a few days. by plant out time in june,
the plants were looking pretty beat up. i planted them, and they have since recovered. one plant inzhir rozovyi (pink fig) damped off at the soil line. i was able to
root the tip, but that plant is still small. now it is july, and the heat is on. everything
is growing, and bulking up. weed, water, and wait time.






keith

You must be in the Midwest.
This Nepal looked like this on 5/28:

It had been under cover, but 22° was just too cold.
Experience suggests that sometimes the stem near the soil survives:

Soon:

14 days later: ago:

Never give up (but never plant all your babies until the weather settles)!

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

[Oliver]

Sounds like my season. The plants I put out after May 14 seem to be much larger than the ones I planted early and covered. I've decided I'm going to force myself to wait next year.

[Milan HP]

Hello Oliver,
patience is a virtue, but not all the time. Sometimes it pays off to take the risks. It's good to have plan B.

The season here has been similar to what's going on in the USA. Temps falling and rising in an unpredictable way. My plants out didn't get any frost, but suffered from a spell of really cold weather (and two hailstorms). They looked terrible after that. And then the weather turned for the better. They look fine now, but they are about 3 weeks behind, compared to the previous years. I didn't plant them out in one go, so the ones planted out almost 3 weeks later look pretty much the same. Plan B has worked for me.

Milan HP

[paradajky]

Originally Posted by Milan HP

patience is a virtue, but not all the time.

It's also another word for getting old