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desertdance

Heat Wave!

10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago

It's not normal for June temps to be over 100 degrees. Today 104 degrees F. is predicted. I am going to shade my tomato plants with umbrellas until the wind comes up which is usually most of the afternoon. Hottest part of the day is usually around 5 PM.

Our temps average 91 degrees F. in June and around that all summer. But there are those record temp days.

Anything else I can do?

Comments (15)

  • 10 years ago

    We are getting the tail end of your heat wave too. Starting today, for 4 days our temperature will be in 80 to 90F range (for highs). That is 15 degrees above historical average here. But for us this kind of weather is a welcoming news when it comes to tomato gardening.

    Sey

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    We're supposed to get two days in a row of new heat records here, too. Only 100, but it feels so wrong for early June. I added some extra straw around the plants to thicken up the mulch and watered deeply early this morning. I was going to remove the Wall-O-Waters from the plants that still have them on but I think I'll leave them on as they help to shade the root zone from the afternoon sun. I will have to keep an eye on my container plants and maybe hit them with a little water early this evening if need be. You'd think that with the wind coming up it would cool things down a bit but it just turns the dial from oven to convection oven.

  • 10 years ago

    104 probably won't kill your plants. There's nothing you can really do about the heat other than water well at sunrise and plant in the shade. For pollination, pinch (NOT pinch off, I mean "lightly pinch the flowers closed from the back then let go") the flowers at the coolest time of the day. Your plants will be fine.

  • 10 years ago

    Give them a little shower. That will cool them down. As long as you do it early, the water will evaporate quickly. I'm presuming that you're in a low humidity area.

    David Goto, an heirloom grower here in SoCal once told a group of us that a nice shower is good for plants in our area. It cools the plant and washes off any airborne nasty disease spores. I've been doing that for many years now and have had no problems with disease.

    It's not advised to do this in humid areas though. It needs to be in hot, dry areas so the water will evaporate quickly.

  • 10 years ago

    June 4th we had another record breaking high temperature , over 90F. Today and tomorrow will continue the same. But on Wednesday the high is forecast is 76F. That is still above average for early June. My plants look droopy even though the soil is well moist. But as soon as they are shaded them perk right up.

    The amazing thing is that our low are no higher than low 50s and even in 40s.


    Sey

  • 10 years ago

    Another record high.

    Today we hit 96F. Even after watering my plants were wilting ; mostly the new growth.

    Two more days of the same to follow then we will be back to normal averages.

    Sey

  • 10 years ago

    Today and tomorrow a new heat wave with new highs. 110 today, 115 tomorrow. Then it drops back to 100-104. Trying to keep cool, and no expectations for fruit set.

  • 10 years ago

    Here in Central Texas we have a heat arvisory going until probably at the earliest Septemberish. I am just letting the fruit that has set ripen up. We had too many days of rain in a row with high heat and humidity to be able to use any fungicide. So fungal issues are happening.


    The plants were just about done setting fruit anyway so I will yank them one the fruit ripens up. I will plant more in late August for the fall.



    It was 102 with a heat index of over 112 when I took this picture.

  • 10 years ago

    It's already 102 in the shade of my back porch (I think they were only calling for 105 here today, think they're going to be on the low side). I didn't sign up for this, people!

  • 10 years ago

    "For pollination, pinch (NOT pinch off, I mean "lightly pinch the flowers
    closed from the back then let go") the flowers at the coolest time of
    the day."

    Um, what?? This is to achieve pollination when vibrating won't do it?? Never heard of that. Please elaborate.

  • 10 years ago

    It's 103 in the shade here. I've got an umbrella over my tomatoes, but the breeze is coming up, so I may have to crank the thing down. Evidently they won't be setting fruit if the night temps are above 70, which they will be. I've lost a few umbrellas in the wind, so the tomatoes might have to endure some sun. The figs will love this! It's a 40 percent chance of rain Tuesday. YIKES! Humid. Not used to that at all!

  • 10 years ago

    You folks in Texas are tougher than nails! In SoCal we start whining once it gets above 85 degrees! haha

  • 10 years ago

    Except I bet most people in (the hot parts of) Texas have air conditioning. A lot of my SoCal neighbors don't. 110 stinks even worse if you don't have AC.

  • 10 years ago

    After a few days of 118f, my tomato plants look crispy...


    Oh, you don't need to vibrate flowers to pollinate them. I just grab the flower from the back of move my fingers to gently close the flower, like roll all the petals back to close it and very lightly pinch. My grandmother taught me. Works great, I do it at the coolest time of day and get fruit set for much longer than I would otherwise.

    Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b thanked Pumpkin (zone 10A)