Chilly Nights Ahead, Should I Hold Off Planting? - Page 2

greenthumbomaha · May 7, 2020

That is a very nice garden! That straw should do the trick with seeds, but to be sure I would cover peppers. Multiple chilly nights are reported to limit production. I leave tomatoes out overnight when hardening off, but I had much better results after I brought peppers inside at night to keep them above 50 before planting.

Curious as to your straw source. I used the decorative fall bales and it is a nightmare even years later.

- Lisa

JRinPA · May 7, 2020

Fri night 32F rain and snow. Breeze Saturday then 33F that night. Not seeing today's 66 again until next Friday. I wanted to get sweet corn in this week but I guess I'll check soil temp before deciding. PaulF, looking good.

ScottinAtlanta · May 7, 2020

I was just thinking - what is those yellow pine straw? Then I realized regional differences - if it's Nebraska, must be hay!

PaulF · May 7, 2020

The straw used on my garden is wheat straw or oat straw which is basically weed free. Hay is very weedy and more trouble than it is worth. A Nebraska City (30 miles away) hardware store has bales of straw. I try to get it from a local farm but not every year do they grow wheat or oats.

oldman · May 8, 2020

Saturday morning around 6am our low is supposed to be 35. I've put out 60 tomato plants and am optimistic they will cope with close to freezing temps for a few hours. Some of them have been in the ground a week and all are still adjusting to their new digs. Most of them are out of four packs so there are multiples, although a few are singletons that may get a milk jug or 2 liter bottle to keep them safer. I'm holding off on beans and melons because I don't have as much experience with them or as many backups. If I lose any of the tomatoes I still have cherries, dwarfs, odds&ends, wildcards, and stragglers to plant and can fill in gaps from those. I'd prefer to get lucky and have it be warmer than forecast though.

greenthumbomaha · May 10, 2020

We have a frost warning tomorrow morning, and whatever I had planted has been hiding under a bucket for the past 3 nights. Soil temp is down to 53 degrees at 4 inches. Nothing is really growing despite sunny weather.
I'm again tempted to plant out after the frost Monday or Tuesday despite the cool soil temps. It's supposed to rain all week Wed - Sat, which will again set back planting to into next week. Transplants are too big for lights now, probably getting rootbound. I've had miserable results planting "bargain" plants when they get marked down June 1. They struggle in the June heat and drought we have experienced the past few years. Maybe it will be a nice moderate year, although nothing else is!
Plant or wait again until , no clear path!

greenthumbomaha · May 10, 2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulF

The straw used on my garden is wheat straw or oat straw which is basically weed free. Hay is very weedy and more trouble than it is worth. A Nebraska City (30 miles away) hardware store has bales of straw. I try to get it from a local farm but not every year do they grow wheat or oats.

I've been advised against oat straw because of weeds. Paradigm Gardens in Omaha carried it , and it looked weedy to me. Does the cutting make a difference, or is that distinction just for hay or use as nutrition for animals?

- Lisa

oldman · May 10, 2020

The tomatoes are doing fine this morning. We're forecast to have rain this week with Temps warming up to more seasonal weather Thursday. I'm probably going to work on herb beds today and catch up on weeding. Weeding may take a few days :-(. The lowest that the temps got over the weekend was 33F. Not enough to be harmful bdcause it didn't last long. Although I was concerned enough that I put 5qt ice cream buckets over the smaller tomatoes I didn't have many plants of like Lucky Cross and Polaris.

Melons and more tomatoes will go out Thursday, followed by beans and peppers weather permitting. The rows aren't all straight and I've let volunteer pumpkins and watermelon pick their own spots in a few places so it's not a photoshoot worthy garden, but it's off to a good start.

oldman · May 10, 2020

Hay is a pretty generic term. It covers everything from clover, alfalfa, and timothy to prairie hay. Prairie cut early in the season can be weedy if it has wildflowers and plants that aren't grass mixed in. Cows will eat it horses are picker. From a mulch perspective first cut hay is okay to use because it won't have seed in it.

Hay from later in the season can introduce plants you don't want growing in your garden. Oat and wheat straw have had the seed (mostly) removed, but weeds will be a problem if present because straw is always cut after the grain crop has matured and been harvested so the weeds will be mature too.

greenthumbomaha · May 13, 2020

The 4 tomatoes I planted haven't grown an inch , and neither has the cucumber. The pots inside are almost 1-2 feet tall, but stressed and setting blossoms. Soil temp has been steady at 55 degrees. Glad I waited, I think.

- Lisa

PaulF · May 13, 2020

Next week both soil temp and air temp will be at better levels for our area. Even with the coolness everything here survived but like you say, not much growth. It is all on standby waiting for normal temperatures. I did notice some new growth on several tomatoes, so they are trying to do their thing.

taboule · May 14, 2020

I took the plunge today, after work. 16x plants in a 20x6 bed, a bit tighter than I originally wanted. But DW insisted I only use one bed for tomatoes this year, and grow a bigger variety of other veggies in the other beds. But this is for the new garden, and a couple of nights ago she gently suggested that given the virus situation, it may not be a bad idea to grow the old garden this year, to augment our food supply. So there is hope.

Forecast is for rain tomorrow and much warmer, high 60s, to 70s days, and 45+ to 50+ nights for the next 2 weeks, no more 30s. A couple of the plants have flowers already. The race is on.

May 7, 2020	#17
JRinPA Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: SE PA Posts: 972	Fri night 32F rain and snow. Breeze Saturday then 33F that night. Not seeing today's 66 again until next Friday. I wanted to get sweet corn in this week but I guess I'll check soil temp before deciding. PaulF, looking good. Last edited by JRinPA; May 7, 2020 at 12:55 PM.

May 7, 2020	#19
PaulF Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Brownville, Ne Posts: 3,296	The straw used on my garden is wheat straw or oat straw which is basically weed free. Hay is very weedy and more trouble than it is worth. A Nebraska City (30 miles away) hardware store has bales of straw. I try to get it from a local farm but not every year do they grow wheat or oats. __________________ there's two things money can't buy; true love and home grown tomatoes.

May 13, 2020	#26
PaulF Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Brownville, Ne Posts: 3,296	Next week both soil temp and air temp will be at better levels for our area. Even with the coolness everything here survived but like you say, not much growth. It is all on standby waiting for normal temperatures. I did notice some new growth on several tomatoes, so they are trying to do their thing. __________________ there's two things money can't buy; true love and home grown tomatoes.

May 7, 2020	#16
greenthumbomaha Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Omaha Zone 5 Posts: 2,514	That is a very nice garden! That straw should do the trick with seeds, but to be sure I would cover peppers. Multiple chilly nights are reported to limit production. I leave tomatoes out overnight when hardening off, but I had much better results after I brought peppers inside at night to keep them above 50 before planting. Curious as to your straw source. I used the decorative fall bales and it is a nightmare even years later. - Lisa

May 7, 2020	#18
ScottinAtlanta Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Atlanta, Georgia Posts: 2,593	I was just thinking - what is those yellow pine straw? Then I realized regional differences - if it's Nebraska, must be hay!

May 8, 2020	#20
oldman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Kansas 5b Posts: 198	Saturday morning around 6am our low is supposed to be 35. I've put out 60 tomato plants and am optimistic they will cope with close to freezing temps for a few hours. Some of them have been in the ground a week and all are still adjusting to their new digs. Most of them are out of four packs so there are multiples, although a few are singletons that may get a milk jug or 2 liter bottle to keep them safer. I'm holding off on beans and melons because I don't have as much experience with them or as many backups. If I lose any of the tomatoes I still have cherries, dwarfs, odds&ends, wildcards, and stragglers to plant and can fill in gaps from those. I'd prefer to get lucky and have it be warmer than forecast though.

May 10, 2020	#21
greenthumbomaha Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Omaha Zone 5 Posts: 2,514	We have a frost warning tomorrow morning, and whatever I had planted has been hiding under a bucket for the past 3 nights. Soil temp is down to 53 degrees at 4 inches. Nothing is really growing despite sunny weather. I'm again tempted to plant out after the frost Monday or Tuesday despite the cool soil temps. It's supposed to rain all week Wed - Sat, which will again set back planting to into next week. Transplants are too big for lights now, probably getting rootbound. I've had miserable results planting "bargain" plants when they get marked down June 1. They struggle in the June heat and drought we have experienced the past few years. Maybe it will be a nice moderate year, although nothing else is! Plant or wait again until , no clear path!

May 14, 2020	#27
taboule Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: MA Posts: 903	I took the plunge today, after work. 16x plants in a 20x6 bed, a bit tighter than I originally wanted. But DW insisted I only use one bed for tomatoes this year, and grow a bigger variety of other veggies in the other beds. But this is for the new garden, and a couple of nights ago she gently suggested that given the virus situation, it may not be a bad idea to grow the old garden this year, to augment our food supply. So there is hope. Forecast is for rain tomorrow and much warmer, high 60s, to 70s days, and 45+ to 50+ nights for the next 2 weeks, no more 30s. A couple of the plants have flowers already. The race is on.