Managing the heat

[Kikaida]

Just wondering how those in hot areas are managing the heat. I took down my 50% shade cloth last night and put up the 70%. Still plenty of light comes through, can't look at the sun without being blinded but it sure helps against that piercing , burning effect. Fabric pots are getting light water daily and a soaking every 3-4 days with ferts every other soaking. The bugs exploded but now I'm on a rotation of spinosad, insecticidal soap and neem. Bugs are thinning out and I go on worm patrol nightly. Just hope that those on the vine ripen at some point. They're barely starting to lighten up. Got one control plant in direct sun and no pesticides...funny how its my biggest one. Not a lot of fruit, but still a giant.

So, how are you managing?

[nctomatoman]

The heat is managing me! We are in the second week of a solid stretch of 96-101 temps with high humidity. Somehow, my tomatoes are setting fruit - I suspect because I am watering them mid morning and mid afternoon (bottom watering of course) and keeping the plants from wilting. One third are in straw bales, the rest in 5 gallon containers. I am just doing what I can to keep them alive until this heat breaks! I am starting to see signs of stress too - a bit of Fusarium, a bit of Early Blight. But only one death so far, Tomato Spotted Wilt.

[AlittleSalt]

I put oak leaves across the garden trying to keep the sun from heating the soil too much. I think of it as, if the soil burns your bare feet - it's doing the same thing to the tomato roots.

When I plant the fall garden, I will use shade cloth. (Old bed sheets because that's what I have.) I just dug up potatoes and the soil is moist a foot down at least, so no watering yet.

Another thing to do is to plant fall tomatoes in part sun. If you can find a place that gets shade from 3pm - dusk - that works well where I live.

[Kikaida]

I'm hoping to hold-over my current crop for fall production, I'm out of space! The sun was so piercing a few weeks back that it burned some leaves to a crisp. Ever since the shade cloth as been up that hasn't happened.

[Chapinz8]

I'm probably worse the NCTomatoman here in the center of South Carolina. I don't think the high has been less than 93 in about 3 weeks, and absolutely no rain. I'm watering about every 4 days, which is a lot for me in raised beds. But, fruit set is still taking place which is surprising.

My main problem is mockingbirds which are attacking the first sign of blush. It's early pulling from now on.

[Tracydr]

Hubby gets a front loader today!!!!! He's going to scoop up a bunch of leaves/composted pine straw and drop it off at each row of my tomatoes. I have 6 rows of 15, I think. I've mulched a little but not nearly enough.
I am really tired of this three weeks of hot/humid weather. But, looks like it will break on sunday. Thankfully, we've gotten about an inch of rain or more each week which helps, since I don't have running water to the garden/barn yet. Sure hope the rest of the summer doesn't stay this bad. This is my first full summer here. It's still not as bad as AZ was this past week.
It might be dry heat in AZ (except in monsoon season it's not) but 115 actual temperature is still a lot hotter than heat index of 105/actual temp 95.

[BigVanVader]

I work outside then come home and manage the garden. Heat like we have here with high humidity is quite dangerous. Like Craig said it manages me at this point. I got busy with life and never got my drip irrigation system installed and man do I regret that. It was very rainy here the last few summers so I convinced myself I didn't need to worry.....wrong. So now I have been watering every few days and I have my beds covered with many layers of leaves/straw/mulch. The bad part is it is so dang hot now that installing the drip system would be torture. I'm actually considering setting up my work lights and doing it in the dark since I cant bring myself to do manual labor in the heat once I get home. So far the plants still setting are I. Stripe PL, Wes, and Bear Creek. Plus all the cherries ofc.

[b54red]

I used to use a drip irrigation system but had too many headaches with it from stopped up hoses to burst hoses and over watering in spots. I found the perfect mulch that does so much to preserve moisture but it is a bit expensive but no more so than buying hay which doesn't do nearly the job in this heat. I use cypress mulch and put down a thick layer over the entire raised bed and then just part the mulch and plant. The mulch does such a good job of keeping the soil cooler and retaining moisture that watering is not required too often. I use a moisture probe and check the soil moisture every few days and it is usually very moist and the weekly application of TTF at the recommended rate is enough to keep the soil moist most of the time. The past two weeks of extremely hot weather have forced me to water a couple of times but by using the moisture probe before starting I know where the water is needed and where it is not. This has helped me prevent splitting which used to be a major problem with my drip irrigation.

If you want fruit set in the heat of summer you must maintain soil moisture because at the first sign of too little water the tomatoes will start dropping blossoms and refuse to set. I have found that the weekly TTF feedings along with the heavy cypress mulch has made mid and late summer production so much better so I don't have that long gap from July through October with little or no fresh tomatoes. I have also found that having that layer of mulch makes setting out fall plants so much more successful. I no longer use any shade cloth and the only downside to that is an occasional fruit that gets sun scald when it doesn't have sufficient leaf cover.

Bill

[BigVanVader]

Yes mulch solves most of my issues as well and I only use my drip in weather like this or for certain crops like lettuce. I have never had issues with it but I use a pressure regulator and spaghetti tubing to put the water exactly where I want it. I also use a 4 zone timer so I can be selective with where I want to water. I do landscaping for a living so I am fairly honed in on best materials/practices when it comes to irrigation. You mentioned a moisture meter though and that is something I have not ever used. Could you link me the one you use Bill? I normally only water if I see wilting but precision never hurts and a man can never have to many gadgets

[feldon30]

I'm having the same problems as Craig L. We had a wet Carolinas spring which pushed our planting date back over a month, but now we are having a worse-than-Houston summer. Not really sure what to do with weeks and weeks of 100°F and high humidity with barely a break. I'm on track to once again get only 7-10 tomatoes per plant. If this is going to be the standard rate, then I need to go up to 50 tomato plants to get the harvest I'm wanting for canning and giving to friends.

[Kikaida]

Heat seems to be a very common struggle for most on this board...Let's see if we can get a sticky for heat tolerant varieties. Seems like many would directly benefit from the pioneers that have it figured out. Aside from bugs and disease, heat seems to be up there as a 'party pooper'. What do you all think?

[feldon30]

I feel that most heat tolerant varieties have a flavor indistinguishable from styrofoam, but that might be because I'm a tomato snob.

In Houston, I started and planted tomatoes 2 weeks before it was generally considered safe to do so, and then covered them with blankets and took other herculean efforts as needed. I felt the result was worth the required efforts though.

My plan for next year is to start tomatoes the first week of February, plant them the last week of March, and then protect them from cold using cold frames, sheets, and row cover. Worst case scenario? They struggle through a cold wet spring and get lots of fungus. Best case scenario? They're loading up with fruit in the cool months of April and May and even if we have another miserably hot June, I'll still have more tomatoes than I know what to do with.

[Salsacharley]

I'm using 70% shade cloth. I'm dealing with 95 - 105 degree heat and humidity crushing me at 12%! The spider mites love the heat and low humidity. I'm watering 104 plants in raised beds daily with drip irrigation...20 minutes per day at 1 gal/hr drip emitters. I'm hand watering another 180 plants and I'm having to do that almost daily. The lack of humidity really causes rapid transpiration and the plants look pretty sad in the desolate dryness. I spend so much time watering that I'm too tired to prune, weed and do support work at the rate I should be. The good news it this effort has caused me to lose about 20 lbs.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by feldon30

I feel that most heat tolerant varieties have a flavor indistinguishable from styrofoam, but that might be because I'm a tomato snob.

In Houston, I started and planted tomatoes 2 weeks before it was generally considered safe to do so, and then covered them with blankets and took other herculean efforts as needed. I felt the result was worth the required efforts though.

My plan for next year is to start tomatoes the first week of February, plant them the last week of March, and then protect them from cold using cold frames, sheets, and row cover. Worst case scenario? They struggle through a cold wet spring and get lots of fungus. Best case scenario? They're loading up with fruit in the cool months of April and May and even if we have another miserably hot June, I'll still have more tomatoes than I know what to do with.

A lot of those so called heat tolerant varieties are just hybrids that don't taste good and neither do they perform that well in the heat. I found if you want a heat tolerant hybrid red tomato just plant Big Beef it usually beats out all the heat tolerant varieties in the summer heat and it has a decent flavor which they don't.

Some of the black tomatoes like Indian Stripe are very heat tolerant and will set in very hot weather but the tomatoes will be somewhat smaller and fewer during those trying times. Pruden's Purple will set in the hottest weather and even Limbaugh's Legacy will do pretty good and pinks are not known for their ability to set in the heat. Neves Azorean Red, Red Brandywine (from TGS), Druzba, Couilles de Taureau, Terhune and Frank's Large Red are all heat tolerant and do well through the late summer heat. I even get fruit set on Brandywine Sudduth's and Cowlick's along with nearly every other variety that I grow during the high heat and humidity but the numbers and size are greatly diminished.

A trick that is very effective in getting good fruit set during the summer heat is staggered planting. I try to set out at least a dozen new seedlings every month or so right through June and if possible into early August. Younger plants just set better than older plants so as the numbers are dropping off with one bed they start picking up with another that was planted a month latter. The other musts for getting good fruit set in the summer is weekly feedings of TTF, heavy cypress mulch, fungicide use, keeping them well watered during blooming stage and keeping pests under control. I also believe keeping the number of stems limited helps so that all the energy is not going to new growth tips during that time of the year when it is much harder to get good fruit set.

Bill

[Chapinz8]

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

I'm using 70% shade cloth. I'm dealing with 95 - 105 degree heat and humidity crushing me at 12%! The spider mites love the heat and low humidity. I'm watering 104 plants in raised beds daily with drip irrigation...20 minutes per day at 1 gal/hr drip emitters. I'm hand watering another 180 plants and I'm having to do that almost daily. The lack of humidity really causes rapid transpiration and the plants look pretty sad in the desolate dryness. I spend so much time watering that I'm too tired to prune, weed and do support work at the rate I should be. The good news it this effort has caused me to lose about 20 lbs.

I take great offense at someone mentioning 12% humidity. I have someone working in my yard today building my wife a small deck. It was 91 degrees when they started with 77% humidity and wind speed per the weather channel was 1 mph. I cannot verify the 1 mph.

Humidity is the elephant in the room here, regardless of how optimistic you are. But that's what makes a nice complex juicy one all the better. In any event, FedEx some of that 12% over here.