Well my hardening off attempts failed miserably. All but one has been reduced to stems with little chance of reviving them, although I have not given up on them yet. I am hoping that my attempt to harden off my peppers will be more successful but it is not looking good there either. Both the Flexum Hybrid and the sweet pickle and looking pretty bad although new growth might have a chance to survive since I put them outside in the greenhouse. I haven't even tried the others as they are supposed to be 60F or higher and we aren't even close to that yet. I have restarted all of my tomatoes and peppers. The idea this time is to put them outside as soon as they peek through the surface. I have already put 3 of them out even though it is cold here. they are in my make shift green house so I hope they survive the cold. Is this going to work at all? The highs are back down to the low 50's and lows in the upper 40's so it is not the ideal circumstances but keeping them inside in 72 and trying to harden them off has been a terrible failure. Is there anything else I can try to do make the transition easier or is it best to just let them grow outside in the greenhouse and then transplant them to full outside when they are large enough? Also, I have been seeing a lot of toms and peppers in the local nurseries and they have such huge stems. How do you get them to grow really thick stems and not the thin sickly ones I got? WIll the cold and direct sun do this for me? Is there something else I can do to get them to grow stronger? I have either started all of these or will be doing so soon and moving them outside as soon as I see the first signs of them peaking through the soil. I hope it will work because it is still supposed to be colder than 55f for the next week or more.Sometimes I hate living near the coast. Here Are my varieties: Toms: New Big dwarf Legend Ceylon 100's Early wonder Brandy wine Peppers: Sweet banana Sweet Pickling Flexum Hybrid Corni Di toro Cubanella Please help, last year was a miserable disaster and this year has started out as a frustrating one. Only thing I have been able to grow is herbs, sugar snap peas and radishes. I want big fresh toms and nice sweet peppers to have some nice salads and lose some weight this summer.
When looking at those luscious plants for sale in stores, you must remember they are grown under ultimate COMMERCIAL conditions: regulated lighting; fertilizers; water; controlled temperatures,etc. and if plants start becoming too "leggy", they're treated with growth retardants to halt that but keep them bushing out instead. THIS the home gardener really can't duplicate on our small scales of growing, so just do your best, hope for the best! Next year, why not try matching plants to your specific growing conditions? With tomatoes, look for some of the new varieties perfected in cooler climes, such as Oregon, Michigan or Southern Canada, that are shorter season types and can withstand cooler temps. Peppers need the heat regardless: try, when putting them out, placing cages around them then wrapping with heavy clear plastic held on with good, old-fashioned clothes pins (for easy removal). Will help retain heat at night, also acts as a wind barrier..can do the same with tomatoes. Is a cheap, economical way to help your plants along in the cooler zones such as 4. Another alternative is using Walls O Water (which have come way down in price), but they are rather hard to remove when time comes, I prefer the plastic-wrapped cages myself. Gardening's trial and error no matter where you live, best advice I can give you is just keep plugging away til you find what works in your area. Contact Washington State University Extension Service for hints and help..information's all FREE and is invaluable!
I have 2 varieties that are cold tolerant, or at least are supposed to be; New Big Dwarf and Early Wonder. My peppers are actually doing better than my toms so far. Of course the two varieties doing well are also supposed to cooler weather varieties. I wish I had my Gypsy hybrid pepper as they were the highest recomended variety for cooler climates. Sucks they are a hybrid but at least they might have had a chance. It sounds like I am really waistng my time trying to even start them right now. If there is no real way to grow them either in a greenhouse or cold frame to grow them outside now then it will be mid June early July before I can put them out and then it is hit and miss if I will get any fruit before before it gets too cold. I was hoping that my greenhouse would double as a cold frame that I have read so much about. Just something to keep them warm enough to survive but remove the need to really harden them off when the right time came. I just wanted to try getting them outside right away so they were acclimating right off the bat with any new growth. I have contacted the UW and WSU without a reply for months so no help there.
If it were me I would purchase the plants instead of starting them yourself. Most garden centers carry plants that are for your zone. If 40 is the lowest your temp gets I would start the seeds or plants in the garden. I have taken a gallon milk jug and cut the bottom out to use over mine when small and remove it during the day. That way no hardening off is necessary. Tomatoes are OK at 40 degrees although they don`t grow till it warms up. They just sit there. I have some growing in my garden that have been through cold, wind, storms or whatever the weather throws at us and are fine. Are you feeding the tomatoes after they are started well? That will also contribute to skinny stunted plants.
Fish_4_all: please try this: look in your phone book for the nearest University of Washington EXTENSION SERVICE office (I know there's one in Snohomish), ask to speak to the Master Gardeners and explain what you'd like in the way of information. They'll send whatever to you muy pronto. IF you have a Master Gardeners office near you, pay them a visit: they have all kinds of info on hand for the public, free of charge. The Universities are busy, BUT the Extension Service(s)/Master Gardeners are there for immediate help.
I will try that weeds n seeds, Nothing in the phone book but it not beyond me to spend an hour on the hpone to find whomever I am looking for. I have a number for a master composter but he doesn't even have a local Master gardener number. Sometimes it sucks to live out in the middle of nowhere even though you think it is somewhere. Mart, how would you set it up so you can bury the toms deeper? Or maybe I just a little confused. I have thought baout starting the seeds in my buckets and maybe I will set a couple up and do that to see how it goes. Can't hurt with my success rate so far. There are a ton of plants in the garden centers and they are all dying from the cold. Local markets have sold so many that they are having a hard time keeping them in stock. 2 of the larger places told me it over 75% return buyers who's plants have all died in the cold and rain. Good for sales, not good for sandwiches and salads.
sorry to hear about the toms failing m8. i've started hardening mine off by taking them outside and putting them in the shade on the porch for a few hours a day. reckon 2 weeks and i can plant them outside.
To bury them deep just dig a hole about twice the depth of the tomato stem or a bit deeper. Then plant them in the bottom. As they grow fill in the hole til the tops are above the soil line. Our garden center loses a few plants as well but not from the cold. It is usually from lack of care later in the season. I have bought a few late plants here that were totally dry, tall and spindly but even they did fairly well after putting them in the garden. Of course I am in Texas and our weather is different from yours. I have had tomatoes that produced under an early snowfall. It seems that the snow blankets them somewhat like a greenhouse. Only thing it hurt was the outermost leaves. Tomatoes were still red and juicy underneath.
