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  • From: Jay Sleichter <jaysleichter AT yahoo.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Fruit Set Temperatures
  • Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2012 23:21:02 -0700 (PDT)

We have been running spinner misters for evaporation cooling on our tomatoes since late June.  It has been 95 to 110 for, what seems like all summer.  They are on a timer and are set to start at around 11 am and run until 6 to 7 pm.  They run for 2 minutes out of every 10 minutes during that time frame. By the time the 10 minutes are up, most to all of the water has evaporated and the foliage is dry.  This has only been running on the big tomatoes, not cherry tomatoes.  The cherry tomatoes don't seem to be bothered with the heat.  This is only on the days it gets above 95 degrees. 

It is working very well.  On the hottests days it was dropping the temperature in the high tunnels 10-15 almost 20 degrees (if the wind was blowing good) 10 to 15 degrees was very common.  I wish we had  shade cloth too, but we don't.  The tomatoes have been blooming and setting this whole time. My later plantings are looking really good and are starting to really set fruit despite drought and heat stress.  I have seen no signs of leaf mold or foliar diseases.

The only down side is our water is very hard and it is leaving white residue on all the plants, tomatoes and plastic.  It washes off the tomatoes, but I don't always have time to wash all of them by hand. I try to wipe the biggest ones off.

Jay
 
Jay's Jellies, Produce and More
Clay Center, Kansas
www.jaysjellies.com
http://rvp.locallygrown.net/

From: Allan Balliett <allan.balliett AT gmail.com>
To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 5, 2012 3:02 PM
Subject: [Market-farming] Fruit Set Temperatures

Howdy -

Here in the mid-atlantic our daytime temps have been staying pretty
much up in the 90s the last 3 weeks or so.

While I got pretty good harvests of tomatoes, eggplants and sweet
peppers last week, I don't see much fruit out there this week on the
peppers or egg plants (tomatoes are, fortunately, loaded)

I don't see many blossoms, either.

I have some bush beans that are full of blossoms but are taking their
sweet time to make any beans.

Mr. Google has let me down for locating a precise and authorative
explanation of reduced fruit set in peppers and eggplants and beans
due to high heat that  I can pass along to my CSA members this week.

I'm wondering if anyone reading this list can point me to such a
document (like from a University, or something)

Or, am I kidding myself and my peppers and eggplants have just quit
after one fruit set?

It's raining outside right now. Praise the Lord! I don't think it's
getting cooler any time soon, though.

Thanks

-Allan
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