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| I am in WA, just north of Seattle, in Sammamish, Issaquah area. I started my hardening off on/about March 26 and subsequently planted out starting April 4, 5 and some later. So it has been 2 months since then. It has been a long and challenging 2 months. with lows going down to as low as 38F, without any protection. Now, I have already fruits setting on my tomatoes. What I want to share is how slow moving PNW weather is. Per attached image , this coming night our low will be 47F. No kidding here. That happens all the time. Somebody, while back provided a link in which somebody else said that night lows under 50F can seriously damage and even kill tomato plants !! Hmmm really? Come visit my tomato garden. I also while back read a comment that a poster quoting a German gardener saying that they consider tomato plants a semi shade plants (NOT full sun). That was also interesting because I am getting about 4 -5 hours of full sun ( depending on the spots) on top of cool PNW weather. So this is my real garden experience and story and it is not base on any fiction or opinion and speculation. |
This post was edited by seysonn on Thu, Jun 5, 14 at 9:48
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by johns.coastal.patio USDA 10b, Sunset 24 (My Page) on Thu, Jun 5, 14 at 9:50
| I am in similar straights down here. I am starting to get some fungus spots on my tomato leaves but, like the the caterpillars I've been hunting, I'm treating them as survivable for the plant. I might have to get serious if it stays too damp. |
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| I see, John, You are in USDA zone 10b but have similar coastal Pacific weather slightly better than ours up further north. USDA zone numbers have very little meaning when it comes to summer gardening. There are zone 6 and even 5s in IA and UT that are having much warmer weather right now than your zone 10b. |
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- Posted by johns.coastal.patio USDA 10b, Sunset 24 (My Page) on Thu, Jun 5, 14 at 10:09
| June Gloom has a pretty good Wikipedia page. It says that you have "June-uary" as well ;-) What's really impressive is when you've had a sunny day inland, and you drive back to the coast. There is just this wall of clouds starting at a few thousand feet and going way way up. You drive under that wall to get home. (link fixed) |
This post was edited by johns.coastal.patio on Thu, Jun 5, 14 at 10:34
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| Here are links to some articles and other info sources you may want to explore. I'm not saying they are definitive, just informative. 10 Tips for Growing Tomatoes in the Northwest Tips for growing Tomatoes in the Pacific Northwest MEN: Best Varieties for Pacific northwest Tips for growing organic tomatoes in the Northwest Growing: Tomatoes in the Pacific Northwest Tomato and pepper growing in the Pacific Northwest Thene there are all the resources offered by the Washington State University extension services for home gardeners. Gardening in Eastern, Western or Inland Pacific Northwest Dave |
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| Thanks Dave, Lots of good reading stuff. |
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| Last night the temps went down to 47F. At this very moment it is 49F. Today is going to be nice and sunny reaching 75F. We have more lows around 49F - 47F in the next 10 days. I am a believer that, although tomato plants like warmer temps but they can take cool weather. It is no wonder we have so many tomatoes coming to us from Russia, Check republic, Germany and elsewhere. I am growing 3 of them : --- Japanese trifle black (Russia) They are all loaded with buds and blossoms right now and some have small fruits. Any Western WA, NW OR grower around here? I would like to know how you are doing. Have a nice weekend ! |
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| Likely several over on the Northwestern Gardening forum. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Nwest Gardening
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| Regional Gardening Groups cover too many things (that does not interest me) and very little summer vegetable gardening once in a while. |
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| Yeah that can be a problem sometimes but the search there pulls up over 200 discussions about growing tomatoes in that region including lots of 'best varieties' for the region, planting and harvesting times, regional disease issues, season extending tips, and much more. Dave |
Here is a link that might be useful: NW tomato growing discussions
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| I have read some of the materials in those links. They tend to describe the problems more than offering a solution. I think I already know all about it. The problem: COOL SUMMER TEMPS. If you get warmer , dryer summer that will do it. But if you get a rainy , wet, cool summer, tough luck. About the varieties selection, I am ahead of many of those discussions: Season Extension: So , really there are no secrets. You have to find ways to cope with the cool weather and I have been doing just that AND this year I will be harvesting some ripe tomatoes on or before The Fourth of July, from my own starts. That should be a record here, since most gardeners plant out in the last half of May. They cannot get any thing ripe until mid August. So in reality I am the source of best information myself. |
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| I had this " brilliant" idea about trying loads of new tomatoes and coming up with some "guide" which varities do better for this area only to realize that results do vary so badly even it is my own seedlings I have distributed...so much depends what people did with their soil and how they take care of them. |
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| Yes, Lind That is true. But here we assume that the soil is perfect (pH, Nutrients, texture, drainage ..) and we are not even considering diseases, pests, insects. Even then we face a big challenge. |
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| Sigh. It is 102 today. |
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