94 here in reno today-probably the same next ten days. oven drying and freezing a couple of gallons of tomatoes a day. night temps in the 50's but they almost always are. day and night variation is usually 40 or 50 degrees.

Today Monday the highest was 75' F.

YAY !!!

Well, looks like tonight, the lowest will be in upper 50s, so today I covered a few plants in a small hoop house.

I'm curious what temperature will be tomorrow morning, "outside" and "inside..."

I estimate that tomorrow at 7 am will be in lower 60s outside and lower 70s inside the hoop house.

Tomrow morning, I plan to leave the hoop house closed until the temperature will be inside in higher 80s then I will open a little bit. Otherwise, at midday, it could get to 100'+ F inside.

I'm also curious to see how FASTER they ripe in the closed hoop house.

Today I closed the hoop house 1 hour before the tree shade was above the hoop house. While outside was lower 70s, in about 1 hr. inside was 88' F.

This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Mon, Sep 15, 14 at 21:15

Fall is inevitable, Daniel.

Though our high today is 90F, tomorrow will be 79F and by Thursday it will go down to 67F and then again will bounce up to 86F then down again.

But it is not over until the fat lady sings :-)

Still nice today Tuesday: highest 71' F

Yesterday I covered a section of my garden in a small hoop house.

In the morning outside there were 60' F. Inside my hoop house 70' F.

During the day outside the highest was in lower 70s, in the hoop house was upper 80s. When it reached 90' F, I opened a little bit the cover.

The tomatoes in the hoop house are very happy. In 2 days covered, they ripe more than in one week at 70' F, uncovered.

I'm so happy that many large tomatoes inside the hoop house will ripe.

Wow. That is super, Daniel.
Good luck and please report back. Better yet, make another thread.

Wednesday September 17, 2014, at 6 am⦠temperature outside: 50â F

IâÂÂm sure the lowest last night was in upper (mid ?) 40s.

In the hoop house ONLY 55â F. I have to work a little bit and get a better insulation. Within some limits, because PLASTIC FOIL is not exactly a good thermal insulator.

The main purpose of the hoop house was for rain protection, but I took advantage to use these days, for cold protection too. I should have done this last week, when temperatures dropped, with highest in the 70s.

So, itâÂÂs getting colder, but the sun itâÂÂs shinning and it will be a gorgeous day, today.

Btw, I see some⦠SNOW in Ontario, Canada⦠A little too early, I would say.

While the tomatoes that are in the hoop house, ripe very, VERY fast, the ones outside ripe, much, MUCH slower. Obviously, they donâÂÂt like 50â F.

Clear plastic works similar to window glass. It can trap solar heat (greenhouse effect) during the day. And at night it prevent cooling by convection ( air mixing and moving). But it will loose heat by:

1) Conduction ( small amount)
2) Radiation to the space

It can be more advantageous if it gets windy/breezy at night, So then under the hoop will cool down at much slower rate than outside air.

Can someone explain why so many of you start covering your tomatoes when the overnight lows reach the 50's?

Really just curious because I never have, and through the whole summer we rarely ever see lows above 59, and usually lower. Not even weird weather really, it's been like that here in Denver for at least the past 25 years.

Anyways, I always figured in the 50's was pretty mild, and that tomatoes would be plenty happy with a night time low of around 55? At least, I've never seen any adverse affects from it. In fact, depending on variety, I can usually even pick ripe tomatoes by the end of July or mid August at the latest. So, just a little curious why 60F seems to be the lower limit for so many people.

Zack, I agree with you,

Most of Our night lows in July, August, September (so far) have been in 50s: That is, only 17 out of 80 nights lows stayed in 60F or higher ( that is 1 out of 5 ). and 63 nights were in 50s( 4 out of 5 nights).
I would start to worry when the lows drop to mid 40s and lower.

This post was edited by seysonn on Wed, Sep 17, 14 at 20:28

ZachS wrote:

> Can someone explain why so many of you start covering your tomatoes when the overnight lows reach the 50's?

I am one of those who started covering tomatoes. I was not aware that others covered their tomatoes too.

This Wednesday morning at 6 am it was 50â F. That means that the lowest last night was in mid 40s - probably 45â F.

> Really just curious because I never haveâ¦

To satisfy your curiosity, in my case, I think my tomatoes like - during the night - 65â F more than 45â F.

In the last two days since I started covering my tomatoes, over half of the tomatoes in the covered area, started ripening. In this rhythm, in few more days ALL the tomatoes in the covered area will have a blush or two.

WITHOUT covering, IâÂÂm sure it would take at least two weeks to get the same result as 4-5 days with the tomatoes covered. I donâÂÂt know what temperature will be in the next two days - no, I DON'T trust weather forecast - much less in the next⦠two weeks, so I simply didn't want to take the risk.

The other tomatoes that are not covered, ripe very VERY slow - compared to the ones that are covered.

> Anyways, I always figured in the 50's was pretty mild, and that tomatoes would be plenty happy with a night time low of around 55?

Would your tomatoes be happy at 45â F ? Would they be happier at 65â F at night in a covered environment ?

seysonn wrote:

> I would start to worry when the lows drop to mid 40s and lower.

Well, I HAD 45â F the lowest last night. Should I worry ? Yes, I worried, thatâÂÂs why I started covering my tomatoes.

By the way, today Wednesday September 17, 2014, the highest was⦠77â F !!!

What can I say ? Way to go, Indian Summer !

Right there with you Seysonn. Our LFD for this year was mid May and our first frost was sometime last week. Between those dates we've had about 20-25 nights above 59F. We had about the same number nights in that period that were below 50F. The only time I covered was one tomato last week when it was snow/sleet. (Surprisingly enough the summer snow and 33F only caused minor damage to a couple beans, but the peppers, uncovered tomatoes, basil, and cucumbers didn't show any sign of the cold).

Anyways, I'm not knocking you at all Daniel, whatever works best for you is how you absolutely should do things. Just curious like I said because covering my plants in July has never even occurred to me, even when the nights got down to 48F.

In spite of the two cold days last week, we're right back to the high 80's this week, so it may well turn out to be an Indian summer after all! We can always hope anyways.

I understand that Daniel's reason for making a hoop over his plants, is not so much to protect them but extend his growing season a bit longer. Tomato plants can survive down to freezing mark and only frost can kill them.

I know how to extend my season from the FRONT end, when the plants are small but with them over 7ft, I'll just let it go late in the season.

Anyway. Fall is just around the corner here. The next Thursday, our high is forecast @ 63F. But lows will still remain in 50s. That is good news.

Today Thursday at 6 am: 51' F.

The highest today... 79' F !!! Errr... WHAT ?

The forecast for the next 8 days is NICE, no rain at all.

THAT, I'm not so sure about. Rain can come out of the blue. We'll see.

Here is our 5Days. BUT the next 5Days not so good per forecast

Fall is inevitable !

Last night - Friday night - I went to sleep late. At 1 oâÂÂclock I checked the outside temperature: 59â F. I said to my self: âÂÂgood !âÂÂ

One hour later I checked the temperature again: 54â F. I said: âÂÂWHAT ?â 5 degrees drop in⦠ONE HOUR ???

I found that VERY strange, so I checked the map (please see map bellow.)

A cold, COLD air was coming from Canada. Getting close to Long Island and moving FAST ! Blue on the map, is bad news: 30-40â F. As you can see on the map, the "blue"
was only few miles away from Long Island.

I did the math: if 5 degrees in one hour, at around 6 am it would reach the freezing point.

So, at 2 am I went outside, and picked up 95% of my tomatoes - there were ripped, with blushes, and green. I left the cherries, because they were complicated. A flashlight, a plastic bag and in 15 minutes I picked up everything.

Went to bed, and in the morning the temperature was in lower 40s. It didnâÂÂt freeze.

Now, I donâÂÂt know what happens to a tomato at 40â F; most likely itâÂÂs ok. But I was not able to take the risk of freezing temperature.

Anyway, now I have a few ripped tomatoes, some with blushes and many green.

And they were doing sooooo good in the hoop houseâ¦With upper 80s / lower 90s.

My wife told me last night: âÂÂMaybe it will not go to the freezing point.âÂÂ

âÂÂMaybeâÂÂ, I replied. âÂÂBut, they better ripe inside, than throwing them frozen" I added.

Btw, today Saturday, September 20, 2014, the highest was⦠75â F.

Oh wellâ¦

This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Sat, Sep 20, 14 at 21:24

Today, Sunday, September 21, the highest could be...

Most Probably this will our LAST summer like weather for this year. Today's high of 87F, probably a record for the first day of fall season.

Starting tomorrow, temps are going to go south on the thermometer to 70s , followed by high 60s. We will see some night lows under 50F in a long time.

Fall is here.

Yesterday's - Sunday - highest 77' F.

The forecast for the next 10 days looks beautiful. But I'm not so sure it will be like that. Few hours of cold air - in the 40s - coming from Canada, and EVERYTHING will be changed, right away. And it will NOT come back to nice weather. Once the soil gets cold, the sun will not be strong enough to warm it again.

Anyway, I have very few tomatoes left outside. The cherries and some tomatoes that had flowers in mid August to see if they ripe in September. They look nice right now, about 4-5 oz.

Incredibly, many of my tomatoes have.new...FLOWERS, right now. Especially the cherries, but some mid / late-season, have flowers too.

And a lot of new leaves coming out. In the hoop house the leaves grow so fast, that in 2-3 days some branches bended. I stopped using those plastic clips because I thought they are done for the season. They grow like 2 in. / day !

Meantime, the tomatoes I picked up a few days ago, ripe very nice in the basement.

Today I'll make some fried green tomatoes.

This is our TYPICAL forecast for the remainder of September.

Just our normal/average fall weather. There is no way around it.

Highest today Monday, 71' F. Nice.

Pretty cold last night in Northeast - in the 40s.

Yeah, it was 44 when I woke up at 3:30AM, still 44 at 6:30AM when everyone else got up. FELT cold! But I think the tomatoes will be OK, it's gotten that cold before and it's supposed to be 84 on Sat so I'm leaving them. Picked 23 gal on Sat (they're slowing down, I hadn't picked since Monday) and have filled every available container. I'm taking some (plus Asian greens) to the soup kitchen today and I've got market tomorrow so will clear some containers out (also will be doing more canning, maybe not today, but Thursday for sure).

Daniel - if you like sweet pickles you can try the pickled green tomatoes with brown sugar - we like them (except for DH who doesn't like sweet pickles). NCHFP also has recipes for Dilled Green Tomatoes and Green Tomato Relish if you don't like sweet.

I have to look at my notes but I do remember that there didn't seem to be enough liquid in the sweet tomato pickle recipe - I think I made another 1/2 batch of brine (vinegar, sugar, spices) to do the 16C of tomatoes.

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP sweet tomato pickles

We are experiencing a bit of a heat wave here...temperatures around 30C, or 86F. Wished I had not picked all my tomatoes a couple of weeks ago (when we had a day or two of frost), but the plants were too big to cover.

Beautiful weather in my neck of the woods.

Haha. East beats the west.
Currently in Sammamish , WA, raining gently and it is 64F. High will be 68F, Low 58F.

We will never see temps higher than 70F again this fall.

Today Wednesday the highest in Long Island (NY) was 72' F.

Good.

Today pretty cold, some rain, but the next few daysâ¦

I picked before rain yesterday - only about 10 gal (and I filled the thermos jug again - running out of containers). And then it didn't rain. Highs in the 80's this weekend but the cherries are about done, so are the field tomatoes (Rose de Berne, etc.) but I still have green tomatoes in the tunnel. Not going to cover it this year - last market is Oct 1 and it's supposed to rain so I might not even go. I've got to deal with the tomatoes I already have before I pick more. I had to throw away about 40lbs of heirlooms that had spots/splits I'd sorted out but never got to before they started rotting. All I did yesterday was pick (3 trips out back with buckets), do laundry, take DD shopping for band pants, and make dinner. Oh, and sort out 2lbs of Green Drs, 2 lbs of SS100, and 1 lb of Camp Joy for an order DH took into work today. I hope he gets another order next week before the cherry tomatoes I picked yesterday are too ripe.

Oh lÃÂ lÃÂ !

AWESOME WEEKEND !!!

Better than the forecast.

Today Saturday, highest temperature... 87' F.

WOW !

Sunday... 82' F

RE: How's the weather ?

-------------------
Up here in the PNW, there is nothing to write home about. Basically, our summer growing season is over, short of a frost. Our highs are in 64F to 69F range a lows are dropping to 40s. On top of that , more rain.clouds, less sun. We need a miracle to change the trend.
The East coast is surprisingly nice and warm. Enjoy it !

Yesterday Monday... 79' F.

Everything is going very, VERY well.

Yesterday, Tuesday, the highest 72' F. Not bad...

Wednesday, getting cooler, 65' F.

Auv Wite. This is the best I can do. Let the Sun shine !
Long Island seems to be normalizing and the Indian summer is prolly ending. Hahaha

I have been pinching all buds, new growth as of early September. So I don't have a lot of green marbles out there, but still aplenty to go around for pickling, relishing and throwing :-)

Here we go: cold is coming...

Blue means cold - deeper blue, colder.

Some rain today Saturday, but now in the afternoon, it's sunny.

68' F the highest, pretty nice !

Blue All Over (almost). We are protected by The PO, here , for now.

I'm usually obsessive about checking the weather, and I was all day Friday checking on rain for Sat (outdoor event). But I didn't see that the low tomorrow morning is supposed to be 39! Oh well, I picked about 15 gal of heirloom tomatoes today to ripen in the garage, still some small red ones out there, I picked a couple gallons of peppers too. We'll just have to see how the plants look in the AM - I might have to pick ALL the peppers and use them ASAP (even just to freeze). I won't expect any more ripe tomatoes, but I'll go pick the ones out there. Most have LB anyway. Might be time to make green tomato pickles. Wouldn't you know it's supposed to warm up next week.

TWC is showing last night's low as 56, but DD saw 51 when she woke up late this morning so the low was probably in the 40's, if they're predicting 39 it could even be a freeze tonight/tomorrow morning. Oh well, at least I never put the winter coats in storage this summer, they're still in the mudroom closet.

It was nice today Sunday: blue sky and 63' F the highest.

Looks nice for the next few days.

Today Monday, 69' F and beautiful blue sky.

Well...

Howdy weathermen
Last night and the night before I had a lower low than Seattle and Long Island. seysonn's map shows Maine was one of the hot spots on the 5th ... go figure ;-( My plants just began first cluster blooming and have a lot of growing still they need to do. At 49 F two consecutive nights it is all over the map.

Cheated out of a decent summer here ... and now with dips like this maybe cheated out of an autumn season. How does it happen a couple of weeks ago we were coming down from 80 F nighttime lows ... to this? Well at least the next 10 days look deceptively wonderful. The Sun is going to disappear behind a tree for half of it's day gradually from now till October's end unless I do something.

But the next ten days after this cold front have a rebound to highs in the upper 80's and lows around 70 F. It is going to be a fight to get fall production.

I'm thinking of renting a 26 foot ladder to trim the big boughs of the tree and get more light up front, but they are 18-22 feet high. I think it is the only thing that will give me results for a good fall and not one off the ladder!

PC

PC, I also have a tree that IâÂÂd like to remove a few branches, so my tomatoes can have light earlier.

I plan to use this Rope-and-Chain Saw.

This is how a Rope Chain Saw works.

You think you could use this tool ?

This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Mon, Oct 6, 14 at 22:27

We have been having a heat wave by PNW standard.
Today was as warm as August 20th: High 77, low 54F. Go figure.hehe
But starting this weekend things will back to sort of normal : Highs dropping under 60 and lows under 50 (58/48). This is per forecast.
example :
Tues. Oct 14: High 56 , low 44, 60% chance of rain : Winds : S @ 7 mph ( no frost though. But just damp and cold)

IS THERE A HOPE ?

Hey Daniel, thanks much for your thoughts and video link.

I know all about rope saws, and your 48" one on Amazon. In theory at least, and have been thinking about one for this job for over 6 months. Here's the problem and need for the ladder. in my case. The tree is on my neighbor's property. You got to love the marketing blurb on your saw: "cut the neighbor's tree limbs to get more sun in your garden". She was testy when I asked permission, and denied it with a "Don't touch my tree, end of story" comment. Here we own out airspace so that's my right, but the rope saw can't saw the underside of a high branch. The lady in the video had a low brancch and it was pine which is pretty easy. Mine is oak. That means after you cut most of it, it will crack off at the end before you are through, and pull the bark back off as it does probably to the trunk (on her yard) or further down it. That's a liability for me since bark strip damage, even if on my side is considered improper cutting and as the cutter I'd be open to problems, not to mention changing a peaceful standoff existence (she hates gardens) to a dispute.

That's a nice video you have btw. I can't find any tool at Harbor Freight except the manual, mentioned in the video, and since she said it was $17 in 2011, that's too bad. My deluxe plan was actually to get the ladder to cut the undersides of the limb and grove to place a rope saw and get down and saw then. I haven't bought the rope saw yet though. Maybe we ought to collaborate on the saw LOL.

If I don't act quick, though I'm loosing the best valuble light of this short season, which nothing will pay back. I even checked on lights, and they would cost minimum around $450 for my set up plus power. Can't do it on the cheap ;-(

PC

PC, as they say: IT'S COMPLICATED !

Well, good luck !

seysonn, nice weather.

Regarding how long this warm weather will last, I would say in ANY moment, things can change. Only one night of cold air from Canada - even 30s - and everything will be gone. No matter what blue sky we will have after that, it will be (very) cold.

Meantime everything looks good here:

The cherries LOOOOVE being in the small hoop house...