at 9PM last night it was 86f here. I feel your pain. got 12" of rain last friday (not an exaggeration) and my plants in 5-1-1 were bone dry and drooping at night by monday. it's gonna be a long summer.

I know :-(

All we can do is baby them as best we can.

Stoney

Yep, they're predicting 100F in Sacramento...which means 90F's for the foothills. I'm not looking forward to it. It's good for the soil-temps, though.

Josh

Stoney: your best bet is to get the container ones under a patio during the hottest days of the Santa Ana. Even completely shaded is fine. It won't hurt them not to get sun for a few days. The key number is 95. Keep the soil under that and you'll be fine. They'll survive no matter what... but extended periods over 95 will affect flowe/pod production.

For in ground, rig up some shade cloth or old sheets for those few hours of the day that the temps may be over 95F. A good 2-3 inches of mulch helps tremendously. Mine shrug off these heat waves with no problems whatsoever.

Kevin

Thanks Kevin!

95..ok. I'll move all my potted ones to shade.
Might have to be the front porch because our back yard deck (which provides us shade) is not built yet.
I'll make sure to blanket the in-grounds too.
My container trinidad congo has some nice pods and flowers on it soi don't want to chance anything.
Thanks man!

We are going to get the tail end of your heat wave.
Our highs will be (per forecast) in 69 to 80F range. Just perfect here in PNW. No complaints here. hehe

It's no where near that hot here in FL, but I've still had to water mine quite a bit! I end up hitting the w the hose every other day now for a bit just to keep them perked up. I'm still looking into a drip, bc this is getting to be quite the pain! I have some more mulch now too, so I'll add another layer soon in hopes to retain added moisture as well.

Jay

Jay,
A drip is easy if you don't bury the 1/2" trunk line. Biggest PITA is keeping the 1/2" flat. Unroll what you need and let it sit out in the sun weighed down with boards or rocks for a few hours.
Make a sketch of how many emitters you're gonna need, and how much 1/4" you'll need. From that you can figure out how many straight connectors you'll need.
Get the Orbit unit for the faucet, and a brass vacuum breaker. Forget the pressure regulator. Just regulate it with the faucet handle. Put a "Y" on the faucet so you can still use a hose when you need. DIG tubing and 1-10 gallon adjustable emitters.
I've built so many of these for myself and others that it takes me about an hour to set up one for a couple dozen plants.

I may need to look into an irrigation system. my 2 gal 511 pots are bone dry 3" down after 2 days. and I have 60 plants to water. at least 15 of them are in 5 gal buckets, so they're good for 3 days.

99 tomorrow followed by over 100 next four days.
Put some plywood angled against the house in place with brick at base to prevent slipping.
Behind that are my containered plants home for the next few days :-)

Stoney

96-100 here is the Santa Clara for the next few days. Gave them a good watering so they wouldn't wilt to much from the sun. I probably will move them to the side of the house for partial sun tomorrow.

This is just the beginning for us Ronny.

Stoney

We are getting the most favorable up here in PNW. The highs mostly in 77 F to 82F. (lows around 50F)for about 8 days. My peppers an d tomatoes are having field day . But then it will return to normal pattern ( L 46 to H 68F) til almost to the end of May. So this heat way (up here) is a good boost. I have been sticking match sticks into the pots and foliar spraying with light Epsom salt.

Wishing You a Clement weather.

I agree Stoney. It will be a long hot Calif summer. Kind of sucks with the drought though.

I wish it rained for days like the El Nino we had years ago..remember that? Awesome!

seysonn, I bought a black cherry tomato plant 3 weeks ago and it was only 6" tall. Now it's about 3 feet! I can't believe how fast tomato plants grow! It has yellow flowers all over it!

Stoney

Stoney, my tomatoes are growing very slowly. I planted them out on about 5th of April and the tallest one is about 18". But with this warm weather they are picking up speed. But despite the small size, most of them have buds and flowers. I have couple of Sungold cherry. They are the tallest
But my peppers are not moving much yet. Today i fertilized them with 1/2 strength. The soil (511) already has some crf.
I was surprised to see my Manzano having pretty purple flowers.It is not even 12' tall.
By coming Friday our party is over. The weather will return to normal with highs around 68F, clouds and some rain.

Yeah, I think by Saturday, it should return to the 80's down here.

My peppers are also growing very slowly..especially the super hots. My Fatali has grown twice as tall since I bought it a month ago and my Scorpions are the same height but have gotten bushier.
Hopefully they will kick in and we will have some nice pods in a couple of Months :-)

Stoney