my poor seedlings

[feldon30]

I have to acquire some gallon pots for cheap somewhere and pot up at least a dozen of my plants. And there's no room for that under the lights, so a sunny windowsill will have to do.

Frustrated in Houston.

[kwselke]

Feldon,

You may check one of the better local nurseries, especially those that do landscaping, for gallon pots. Four or five years ago Cornelius nursery gave me about 3 dozen 5" plastic pots when I was overrun by a native Chilpetine planting. I offered to buy them, they just pulled them out of the trash and gave them to me. Also, my Galleria area plant out date is based more on when I know I'll start to get direct sunlight on my growing area. I doubt the foul weather will continue much longer. It may be better for you to make more room under your lights by planting out a couple of plants at a time and providing the in ground plants with cover if we get one last cold snap.

[feldon30]

* 31 tonight.
* 27 Friday 4AM.
* Overnight lows of 35-40 through Monday.

Sorry, I am not that confident.

[duajones]

I guess I cant complain too much as it gets a little colder there in Houston in the winter and the inferno is even hotter in the summer. Oh well.......if it aint one thing its another...to complain about that is

[duajones]

I noticed this morning that a couple of the plants have buds starting to form on them. Come on spring, I need to get these babies in the ground!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kwselke]

Duane,

I just checked the weather forecast for Houston for the next seven days. Yours cannot be much different. My guess is the cold and gloomy days are ending. And my guess is when they end the weather pattern will shift to the warmer and drier fast. I'd start thinking about sticking some plants in the ground this weekend or early next week. You should be prepared to protect them from high winds, heavy rains, and a possible light freeze, but that's what gardening along the TX coast is all about. Do not plant out everything, only the ones that really need to be outside.

Good luck!

[feldon30]

I bought some gallon pots at a dollar store to pot up the biggest of my tomato plants which are 12-14" and starting to get rootbound. I thought I had timed them perfectly but the cold weather has set me back some.

duajones,

When did you start your plants again?

[duajones]

Feldon, I started most of them on christmas day and have a few that I started second week of january, and even a couple real small seedlings that I started a week ago.

Kwselke, The forecast for the next week is definitely improved but shouldnt I wait until the ground temp is 60 or better?

[kwselke]

Yes, it would be better to wait for warm soil temperatures, but I believe all of us down here are rapidly running out of space under the lights. Keeping the plants in pots allows you to move them in and out of protected areas, but my plants are doubling in size each week at this stage. I just do not have much space with good light. Next weekend I'm delivering four plants to a friend who lives one block off Galveston Bay and I just hope I have time to harden them off before planting down there. I loose young plants here and there, but the window of good weather around these parts is very limited and impossible to predict. If you plant in ground early you may loose a plant or get a spectacular harvest. My backup is staged starts of extra seedlings and if all my starts go bad there is always the nursery.

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by duajones

Feldon, I started most of them on christmas day and have a few that I started second week of january, and even a couple real small seedlings that I started a week ago.

Kwselke, The forecast for the next week is definitely improved but shouldnt I wait until the ground temp is 60 or better?

Hmm. that sounds like the right time. Not sure why your plants are so big. I will be potting up today into gallon pots.

Evening temps should be 45+ when you plant out with no 30's predicted for the next week. Row covers (sometimes called seed blankets) are helpful to keep your plants safe. You want to plant on a cloudy day, non-windy day so the plants get time to acclimate. I know non-windy days is not something you have a lot of in Corpus though. So maybe set up some kind of block or plywood to block the wind.

[duajones]

soil temp was 60 degrees at 5pm today and night time temps look like they may be cooperating soon. I guess I should re-harden the plants a few days and hopefully will have them in the ground soon. Edited this to add that I found some type of foliage issue with my lone brandywine that I started on thanksgiving. several leaves have shriveled and dried up and there is also yellowing on most of the lower leaves. should I put this one out of its misery or go ahead and plant it removing the bad foliage and giving it a dose of daconil. I last sprayed it around 2 weeks ago but it really hasnt looked all that healthy for awhile now.

[Suze]

Originally Posted by duajones

Edited this to add that I found some type of foliage issue with my lone brandywine that I started on thanksgiving. several leaves have shriveled and dried up and there is also yellowing on most of the lower leaves. should I put this one out of its misery or go ahead and plant it removing the bad foliage and giving it a dose of daconil. I last sprayed it around 2 weeks ago but it really hasnt looked all that healthy for awhile now.

Duane, sometimes seedlings that stay in a pot for an extended period of time just start to yellow on the lower leaves when they get older. Daconil doesn't have anything to do with it; what you're describing likely isn't fungal.

If the roots and upper foliage of the plant still look good, strip the bottom leaves and plant it deep.

I really do like to get the plants out from under the lights as soon as possible -- I know it's been tough to do that this year.

I hope I can finally get some of mine out tomorrow.

[feldon30]

Yellowing of seedling leaves can also be due to cool temperatures (40's). They will bounce back from that, though.

[feldon30]

WUnderground.com, which is always more pessimistic, is predicting 35°F Sunday morning and 38°F Monday morning for Corpus Christi, TX.

Weather.com is predicting the much less dire 44-48°F Sunday morning (both numbers are given depending upon the view) for Corpus Christi, TX. Let's hope Weather.com is right.

I have NOT planted out and now I am thinking I will delay until at least Wednesday. I've come down with some kind of Rotavirus (like the epidemics that break out on cruise ships) which basically keeps you chained to the commode for 48 hours.

I've brought all my plants in as the weather predictions are both more dire and more consistent between WU and WC websites. 35°F Sunday, 37°F Monday.

[duajones]

Thats just my luck darnit!