Anyone planting yet?

[karpes]

The coldest night in my 10 day forecast is 38 degrees. Most of my tomatoes are two feet tall and starting to flower. Would this temp do any lasting damage? I am anxious but still cautious. I have never planted this early so I am wondering if any of you have taken the risk.
Feldon, we are in the same climate so what are you doing?

[feldon30]

I've had 3 plants in the ground for approximately 1 week now that I bought at a store. They're already starting to grow and look very good.

My other plants (I've got ~100 seedlings) are almost hardened off and could be planted any time in the next few days depending on weather. They range in size from 2 inches to 10 inches and some look anxious to go in the ground. So I may plant some this weekend, I don't know.

Please note that I am able to protect my plants with blankets, row cover, upside-down pots, etc. I also check accurate weather websites such as Weather Underground and/or NOAA. The TV weather is notoriously inaccurate.

I don't know which part of Louisiana you are in, but I looked up Alexandria, LA and Sunday and Monday mornings both are expected to dip down to 36-38, so you should definitely be prepared to protect them with sheets, blankets, row cover, etc. if you decide to plant them now.

I am concerned that your plants are "2 feet tall and already have flowers". With 2 foot tall plants, I think you probably need to get them planted soon. You'll just have to be willing to protect them. You'll want to pick off any flowers you see to allow the plant to focus on vegetative growth. Hopefully the plants are not too rootbound.

[karpes]

Feldon
I live in New Iberia which is on the coast but even here the prediction for Sunday and Monday morning is 38 degrees. About half of these tomatoes are in 5 gallon grow bags to be moved out under the overhanging wires. It complicates covering them when trained to a single stem. The others are in 1 gallon nursery pots and all are tied to stakes. I will take another look at the weather Saturday morning and decide then. Most likely I will risk planting a few but not the heirlooms.

[feldon30]

Ah, so you already have plants in large or very large pots. Fantastic. You will really be ahead of the game.

You might look at if any local nurseries sell row cover. It's usually in 25 foot or longer and can be cut and clipped to shapes so you can just drop it on each plant without having to apply and remove it every day. And with the 50% light penetration, you can leave it on for a day without hurting anything.

[karpes]

Thanks Feldon
I just peaked at the forecast and the local weather stations are calling for 36/35 degrees so I am going to hold off until the middle of next week. These weather guys get it right once and a while.
I have frost blankets that I use on citrus but waiting three or four more days seems to be the smart thing to do.
One more question. Have you had any luck growing Brandywine in Houston? I don’t know of anyone here that can successfully produce more than three or four tomatoes per plant. A group of master gardeners here tried various heirlooms and came to the conclusion that Brandywines were just a waste of time here. The same article in the Louisiana Gardener magazine stated that Cherokee purple did fairly well in the local gardens.

[geeboss]

A little early for zone 7a yet I feel spring coming early this year and will have to protect plant for those cold nights that will surely pop up.



George

[Mojo]

AWP!!! Wednesday the weekend outlook had low 40s. Good think mine are still short enough to do sheets. Still gonna be a pain in the tuckus.

[veggie babe]

Hey Boss,
I can’t tell by looking at your pictures. What size pots are you using in box 1 and 3? Are the plants in box 2 planted temporarily or will you transplant after last frost date into another container or the ground? This I a great idea for protecting your small plants. When you all post your pictures I learn so much.
Thanks for the info,
Neva

[geeboss]

veggie babe

The two containers on either side of the center container have 3" x 3" cell tray 18 plants each. The center container hold 6 plants which will be moved to SWC later in March, 2 to a container. Will be also doing the same for my in ground plants around March 15th. They may or may not make it since the went out to play and had a sleep over in the garden and mother nature decided to go from 50 degrees to 28 that night. They're limping along and my back up resow are emerging just in case they don't develop.

When its nice out I'll move the two outside trays on top of the containers during the day but at night they drop back into the tainer and the lid goes on for old man frost and the xmas bulbs provide needed warmth.

Learning through my mistakes as I push for an early spring. Just need the ground to warm up hope the black plastic does the trick...... been 3 wks shooting for 6 wks ...time will tell later this season.

George