Frost/Ice

[greenthumbomaha]

Try and resist the urge to pull. I've had tomato seedlings look like wilted spinach after a frost. Pulled most of them and replaced with backups. The plants that were spared the trash came back and bushed out and produced as well or better than the replacements. Basically the same scenario with the hailed plants last year, as long as here was an undamaged leaf below the hail damage.
My plants are pretty well established, about a foot tall and trenched going in , so ymmv.

- Lisa

[JRinPA]

Plants looked okay again this morning. It was 34F at 1:30am. Tonight is 43, then down to 35 for two nights. 59/40 on Wednesday, then it will warm up to 60/70s day and 50s at night. After that the 8-14 says hotter than avg and slightly wetter for PA. The 3-4 weeks says equal chance of both. Overall it sounds like Monday and Tuesday nights will be it for the 30s. Early this week I will be getting lots of plants out for their first sun under double row cover, then, probably leave them out after Wed night. I've got four full pickup loads of good finished compost piled up from this weekend and last...time to make some beds.

[elight]

We got down to 34 on Saturday and 36 yesterday. Since yesterday was sunny and in the 60s, I put away the covers and replaced all the cages.

Now, I see lows for the next three days of 34, 37 and 36. I really don't want to pull all of the cages again (and now I have twice as many because I finished building the rest yesterday).

The saving grace might be that the temps always seem to end up a couple degrees higher than the forecast. I think it was supposed to be 30 or 31 the day it was 34.

The plants have been out for about 3 weeks now and seem healthy and established. Would you risk it?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

[SQWIBB]

Another night of 35 (6am actually), cantaloupe doesn't look good but never did, direct sowed some seeds again. Watermelon don't look good, but never did. Everything else looks good, I got more damage from the wind than the cold.


Moms Eggplants looked near death with small buds still on the main stem, I pulled them and replanted a couple healthy ones, decided to try and save the two I pulled as a test.


My brothers plants took a big hit, I gave him some of my extras.
I also have a bunch of peppers, honeydew, patio tomatoes and eggplants on the grow table.

[bakerhardwoods]

Saturday morning it was 29 or lower in my garden. I had my tomatoes covered and I sprayed water every hour or less starting at 4 a.m. There were ice droplets on the re-wire cages when the sun came up. About 20% of my 52 tomato plants look like they will live the rest are on the ground. I don't have enough replacement plants to replace them all, and I don't think I want to pay $2.50 per plant for replacements (remember the day when you could buy 6-packs?). I seem to recall in the past having tomatoes grow from the base after being frozen down, but maybe this is wishful thinking. Is there any reasonable chance of that happening?

[SQWIBB]

Originally Posted by bakerhardwoods

Saturday morning it was 29 or lower in my garden. I had my tomatoes covered and I sprayed water every hour or less starting at 4 a.m. There were ice droplets on the re-wire cages when the sun came up. About 20% of my 52 tomato plants look like they will live the rest are on the ground. I don't have enough replacement plants to replace them all, and I don't think I want to pay $2.50 per plant for replacements (remember the day when you could buy 6-packs?). I seem to recall in the past having tomatoes grow from the base after being frozen down, but maybe this is wishful thinking. Is there any reasonable chance of that happening?

Pull some clones from the Lateral branches, you would be surprised how fast they'll grow.

[tryno12]

For a lateral branch close to ground, what method is best for speed and success to clone?

[SQWIBB]

Originally Posted by tryno12

For a lateral branch close to ground, what method is best for speed and success to clone?

I stick lateral branches in a glass of water.
I recently had a tomato plant snap right above a lateral branch so I just stuck that in the moist soil, we will see what happens

[tryno12]

Thanks SQWIBB, is that in water of inside temperature and light or outside? I hope I don't frost some but if I do I want to be prepared.
Pete

[taboule]

We had some hail here yesterday, small bits but enough to coat everything and cause some trouble. I haven't gone out yet to see how the garden fared.

Forecast for tonight is 35 degF, probably the last night in the 30s until fall.

[zipcode]

I haven't seen such late cold as now, since I started gardening. We had an official -1 (30F), luckily in the city it's higher (I'm not really sure where they measure), I'm sure it wasn't below freezing, but close. Tomatoes look fine, the peppers I covered in bags, and look ok. The eggplants I took them inside (don't have much space inside), and I think it was a good decision

[SQWIBB]

Originally Posted by tryno12

Thanks SQWIBB, is that in water of inside temperature and light or outside? I hope I don't frost some but if I do I want to be prepared.
Pete

Inside on a sunny window sill if low temps are 50 and under, if over 50 outside.

[SQWIBB]

Moms Black Beauty eggplant, I replaced her eggplant plants Sunday and took these home to nurse back to health, they had healthy looking buds and root system so I trimmed off all the leaves but a few on top.

[tryno12]

Thanks SQWIBB, good luck with your injured
Pete

[JRinPA]

Originally Posted by bakerhardwoods

Saturday morning it was 29 or lower in my garden. I had my tomatoes covered and I sprayed water every hour or less starting at 4 a.m. There were ice droplets on the re-wire cages when the sun came up. About 20% of my 52 tomato plants look like they will live the rest are on the ground. I don't have enough replacement plants to replace them all, and I don't think I want to pay $2.50 per plant for replacements (remember the day when you could buy 6-packs?). I seem to recall in the past having tomatoes grow from the base after being frozen down, but maybe this is wishful thinking. Is there any reasonable chance of that happening?

Personally I think it would re-grow, tomatoes acting as they do throwing new stems, since the root is still alive and full of energy. I'd expect it should throw up a leader relatively quickly. But no, I don't put plants out early enough to have ever tested that theory. Maybe when it is past this cold, pull back the soil some to let those root hairs feel the sun and turn into leaders?

My aunt had her tomatoes out early last year, cages wrapped in plastic. I was over to bring her compost in early May and saw her tomatoes looked terrible, leaves and stems blackened. I asked if she wanted me to bring her seedlings to replace, but she thought it would come back, and she had paid for it already and wanted those particular varieties. I think I heard "$4 a plant, nice big plants"... She said later that they did recover, but I have no idea on the production damage.