- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
- Messages
- 2,422
You'll be fine with that setup. Depending on how hardened they are they should be fine down to about 40-45 degrees without any damage. Tomatoes prefer nights above 55 for optimal growth and these sudden cold spells will stunt their growth but as soon as it warms up they will take off. The micro climates of the Bay Area are perfect for growing tomatoes and since you have them under an overhang against a building the temp shouldn't get too low. Its 43 here right now with a low forecast of 38. I brought all my tomatoes (17) inside since they are in 1gallons and I haven't planted them yet.
Last year I had 29 heirloom varieties that I grew. The 3 largest reached 12'. About half way into the season I noticed the lower part of my tomatoes were dying. After alot of research I found out that I was the lucky enough to have tomato russet mite on all of plants. They are an invisible (need 20X to see) and suck the life from the plants. Normally by the time you figure what is going on it is too late. It is always misdiagnosed. A sulphur spray will kill them but it is hard to spray every little spot and your plants are 1/2 dead by the time you figure out whats wrong. I still got a lot of tomatoes but nothing like what I would have. Later we found out that the place (Love Apple Farm) we bought all our tomatoes from was responsible for this outbreak.
This year I plan I combating this foe early on by implementing the following strategy.
- Spray sulphur in any cracks or crevices that the mites might have overwintered.
- Enlist the help of a predatory mite known as Galendromus occidentalis. These guys hunt for russet mites and can withstand hot weather. You can get about 1,000 of these for $30. I plan on releasing these guys all over my plants at least 2 times this growing season.
Ill keep you posted on how it works.
My cherries, pears, asian pears and citrus are blooming. My pluots, plums and apricots have set fruit. A lot of the apricots were damaged during the big hale storm. The mulberries are just starting to bud break. The blueberries, raspberries and boysenberries are blooming like crazy. Figs are leafing out. Nectarines and peaches look like they wont have any peach leaf curl this year since I sprayed for it. And I just scored a cherimoya tree. You guys gotta try one if you haven't already. I'll bring one to the next meet. Mark Twain was quoted saying this about cherimoyas... "the most delicious fruit known to men."
Last year I had 29 heirloom varieties that I grew. The 3 largest reached 12'. About half way into the season I noticed the lower part of my tomatoes were dying. After alot of research I found out that I was the lucky enough to have tomato russet mite on all of plants. They are an invisible (need 20X to see) and suck the life from the plants. Normally by the time you figure what is going on it is too late. It is always misdiagnosed. A sulphur spray will kill them but it is hard to spray every little spot and your plants are 1/2 dead by the time you figure out whats wrong. I still got a lot of tomatoes but nothing like what I would have. Later we found out that the place (Love Apple Farm) we bought all our tomatoes from was responsible for this outbreak.
This year I plan I combating this foe early on by implementing the following strategy.
- Spray sulphur in any cracks or crevices that the mites might have overwintered.
- Enlist the help of a predatory mite known as Galendromus occidentalis. These guys hunt for russet mites and can withstand hot weather. You can get about 1,000 of these for $30. I plan on releasing these guys all over my plants at least 2 times this growing season.
Ill keep you posted on how it works.
My cherries, pears, asian pears and citrus are blooming. My pluots, plums and apricots have set fruit. A lot of the apricots were damaged during the big hale storm. The mulberries are just starting to bud break. The blueberries, raspberries and boysenberries are blooming like crazy. Figs are leafing out. Nectarines and peaches look like they wont have any peach leaf curl this year since I sprayed for it. And I just scored a cherimoya tree. You guys gotta try one if you haven't already. I'll bring one to the next meet. Mark Twain was quoted saying this about cherimoyas... "the most delicious fruit known to men."
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