I love to cheat

[slugworth]

I bought a jet star plant today with a blossom on it already.
The rest in the batch at the greenhouse had none.
Last year I bought a 4th of july hybrid with blossoms and a small green tomato.
I planted it in the cement blocks may 8th and ate my 1st red tomato june 17th.
The cement blocks have an armored garden hose snaked through that I pump warm rain water.
The traditional planting in the ground time here is memorial day weekend.
I am trying a variety called glacier for the 1st time this year.

[Shule]

Glacier gets a small, semi-determinate, potato-leaf plant with red, salad-sized fruit. It's supposed to be early, and I've seen reports from the SE saying it does decently well in their heat.

[slugworth]

I am also cheating with the special effects lighting this year.
Since I am lazy,I planted in clumps in trays with clear covers and I am using survival of the fittest mode instead of thinning them out.
LED grow lights above the plants about 12 inches but I have an old xenon strobe light from the 1970's one flash per second in addition to the 14.5 hours for the grow lights.
I estimate 6500k for the strobe which is directly over 1 tray and partial over a second tray.
I will post a pic later.

[NMRuss]

I am surprised more people dont use the season extenders such as Wall o waters or Kozycoats. . Our last average freeze is May 15th. Ive had my tomatoes and peppers in the ground for 6 weeks already. Lots of root growth going on and when it finally warms up Ill have fruit WAY sooner than if I planted after frost. I CHEAT.

[Paulf]

Ahh, but then all you have is a Jetstar.

[Rockoe10]

I am surprised more people dont use the season extenders such as Wall o waters or Kozycoats. . Our last average freeze is May 15th. Ive had my tomatoes and peppers in the ground for 6 weeks already. Lots of root growth going on and when it finally warms up Ill have fruit WAY sooner than if I planted after frost. I CHEAT.

6 weeks already!!! Holy smokes! I have the same frost date, and I'm deathly afraid to put mine in the ground yet. Last year I had to start over because I cheated, and got caught.

Which of the "Season Extenders" do you use for such great success?

[slugworth]

In a pinch you could use soda bottles or milk bottles filled with water circled around the plants.
Then when the drought hits,like it usually does every year,the water is right there.
At one time I had the pink wall o waters but mice ate holes in them when they were in storage.

[NMRuss]

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Rockoe10.. I got a great deal on Kozycoats when Stokes was still selling to us peons. I picked up around 70 of the buggers. I do believe I jumped the gun by about 2 weeks as some of the vigorous tomatoes (Bobcat) are pushing out the top. Ive been pinching back the tops to retard the upward growth.

Slugworth.. I used milk jugs for years but I also planted way closer to the last freeze date. They dont help if it freezes but they do keep the plants warmer on cold nights and its better than nuthin'.

This chile was planted March 17th. Its about twice the size but I imagine it has alot of good root growth and when it does actually decide to warm up it WILL grow much faster than a recent transplant.

kk.jpg

[slugworth]

I was wondering about your ground temps?
I find that ground temps have a bigger effect on plants than the air temps.
One year I had plants I brought indoors for the winter that were infested with white fly.
I put them in an unheated porch where the temps went down into the 30's at night but
I had the plants on food warming trays to keep the roots toasty The pestilence was killed
without using any chemicals and the plants did fine.

[Rockoe10]

[mention]NMRuss[/mention] , I always thought those to be a gimmick. Boy was I wrong! I'm glad to see a TV advertised merchandise to be as good as they say. I know what I'll be looking into for next year!

[NMRuss]

They say theyre good down to 22f. The one in the pic has been down to 18f. I checked it on that morning and the kozycoat was frozen solid.
As far as ground temp.. I set them up about 10 days before I planted. Its supposed to heat up the ground and it does but soil temp about 6in down is in the 50's. I figure as long as the plants are hardened off to that temp all should go well.
This is the first season Ive used them on ALL my chiles and tomatoes. I had a few that I used in the 90's but until now I thought it was cost prohibitive.

[Barmaley]

I was wondering about your ground temps?
I find that ground temps have a bigger effect on plants than the air temps.

I bought 4 plants from HD which have 1 inch tomatoes in them and a lot of flowers. Obviously, they were grown in a greenhouse and they are keep growing. Every day I routinely bring them in and out to the sun and home for the night. What is the min temperature of the ground what they will not slow down growing? Is it average temperature or min temperature important?

[slugworth]

walk on the ground barefoot.
if it is comfortable for you, the plants will be fine.
I usually wait for 60 degrees ground temp.
I have just plopped down plants on the surface of the ground and hilled them up in the past.
I planted close to my stack of cement blocks for added heat.

[slugworth]

As the season progresses,I have the opposite problem.
Trying to keep the ground cool.
I have had episodes where the ground temp was 87f in containers or even 1 cement block on the ground.
way too hot.

[Barmaley]

In my area for the next 10 days low is going to be in the low to mid 40. Day time over 70-75. Should I carry them all every day back and forth?

[Sue_CT]

I used WOW years ago and gave up after I damaged too many plants trying to get them off when it warmed up.

[NMRuss]

I used WOW years ago and gave up after I damaged too many plants trying to get them off when it warmed up.

Theres an easy cheat for that. I made a ring by cutting out the bottom of a 5gal bucket and then cutting around the bucket about 4in up. ....Slip the ring inside and push down about half way then lift the whole mess up and off.

[Rockoe10]

In my area for the next 10 days low is going to be in the low to mid 40. Day time over 70-75. Should I carry them all every day back and forth?

I would keep bringing them in until it's no lower than 50f.

The plants can survive the 40s, but they could get sick easily. The cold weakens their defense and they become susceptible to disease.

Hope this helps

[Barmaley]

In my area for the next 10 days low is going to be in the low to mid 40. Day time over 70-75. Should I carry them all every day back and forth?

I would keep bringing them in until it's no lower than 50f.

The plants can survive the 40s, but they could get sick easily. The cold weakens their defense and they become susceptible to disease.

Hope this helps

It is good to know that I have to do it, however, I have another problem: I got 4 plants from HD in 2.5 gallon pots and they were sold in those pots for $19 each . They are about 2.5 ft tall and have Black cherry size tomatoes on them. It is time for me to re-pot them in large containers, but I would not be able to bring them back and forth then. According to broadcast the nights are going to be pretty cold for the next 10 days and very warm day time. Poor me

[slugworth]

The cold stunts their growth