Optimum Sunlight

Our raised beds are oriented East-West on the long sides, the east-short-side has our 4 Parks' Whoppers and 4 Beefsteaks on the 90* corner running west. The beds get sun from about 1 hour after sunrise to about 2 hours before sunset, figure during mid-summer about 10 hours sunlight.

Our beds have no shade except for the clouds. The question is am I getting TOO much sun?? We've got drip irrigation and are putting pine straw mulch down as soon as we get some dry days.

Last year big maters ran east-west and did crummy, cherry tomatoes ran north-south and did great.

With the drought and heat we had last year, we had very low production from what did survive.

Opinions will be greatly appreciated...

Kevin

I was wondering if the cherry tomatoes were planted in rows and shaded theirselves during the hotter part of the day.As being some distance away from you all I can say to you my better crops of cherry tomatoes came when they were partly shaded in hot summer years.I lived a while in Mesquite near Dallas and while it is nowhere near as hot here as texas it does get that way some summers,Grandma grows some rainbow beefsteak tomatoes from time to time,5 to 7 pounds (makes me a little envious). and all ,
she ever says is "GROW THEM BIG ONES WITH PLENTY OF ROOM ALL BY THERESELF" I doubt this was much help but it could be something to add to your reflections as you continue your experience.By the way, my yellow tomato plants cooked to ground and returned as the weather cooled no matter what I did to cool them.

Last summer was so hot so early and we also got a late start. Also, the drought didn't help any. I'm sure we planted the Big Boys and Beefsteaks too close together.

I think we had the Sweet 100's, and we would pick 3/4's of a large Cool Whip container about every 4-5 days, from just 4 plants. They did great and we okra right next to them, they also did fantastic.

Hope with the early start, much more rain, and hopefully cooler temps, we'll have a better year. Also am going to try some 5 gallon bucket tomatoes on the patio, just to see if they do any better.

Only time will tell....

I'll be putting up 50% shade cloth around May to give the beds some shade. Here's a pic of the setup. The beds are 4' wide, the pvc piping is 10' long and we just pushed the ends of the pvc into the soil to anchor it. HTH.

We have a fence around our beds that uses 5' light duty posts and I have a plan for a set-up like yours. I've bought some 1 1/4" thin-wall PVC and will use 45's to attach the pipe to the posts. My biggest problem is trying to find the shade cloth. I used to see it at Lowe's, but can't find it anymore.

I'll try to get some pics up this weekend, just trying to get a couple other projects done.

Got another 1 7/8" of rain last night. Since Jan. 1 we've gotten almost 16 1/2" of rain, we didn't get that much the whole year of 2011. I think this year the garden will do a lot better.

Deleted 'cause I double posted.

This message was edited Mar 30, 2012 7:04 AM

We live about and hour's drive from MaryMcP - same amount of sun, but the elevation here is about 1400 feet higher and the temperature consistently 8 or so degrees cooler than the Phoenix area.

Her tomatoes need sun protection, while ours do well in direct all day sunlight. I infer from this difference in experience that the need for shade protection may be a combination of maximum temperature and hours of sunlight. In a similar vein, I''ve seen in posts of DG members who live in more humid areas that their 'maters stop setting fruit at temp that's lower than when the plants in our patch stop. I've wondered if pollination failure is a combination of the effect of tempreature and relative humidity. Or maybe it's also a factor of how high the overnight low is?




This message was edited Mar 30, 2012 7:05 AM

Well, it's official now, our area is down into the lowest drought index, just DRY!!! YEAH, BABY... Part of far east Texas, and around Dallas are totally back to normal...

Maybe this will be a decent year for our Texas gardens....

Last year was so hot so early and the plants were under stress most of the summer. Our larger tomatoes put out one set of fruit and that was it. The cherries were great putting out until Oct/Nov...

Yes, humidity definitely has an effect on fruit set, as does night time lows or highs. In my part of Texas, which is 2 regions lower then San Antonio and one from Austin, according to how Texas growing regions are set up, (Cant find the article ATM)and we are far less humid. They grow grapes here, I think its much like the Central Valley in CA. and my tomato set fruit all season long. Excluding last year.

My top garden, up by the house, gets more shade then the one below and I get higher production from it too. I think a lot comes into play that we may not even think about but humidity is a definate.

This message was edited Mar 30, 2012 6:59 PM

Kev....I dont believe east west/north south makes much difference I my opinion. I have two tomato gardens.....in my back garden most of my plants run n/s, and one bed e/....see pic below.....the plants seem to do equally well. I do give them some space between plants...I live in hutto just up the road from you, and last year was the best mater year production wise in 7 years. I have a son close to driftwood just down the street from you, and we built a u shaped garden, and he did well also. How early did you plant?.....what amendments did you put in your beds?...it all starts in the dirt in my opinion...did you add compost?....I am not an expert, but I know your climate, and soil conditions....answer above, and I will get back

Nice looking 'maters hornstrider....good job!

My thoughts are: plant out early and protect from late freezes and late frosts, full sun is best, plant out early, try to maintain a moist buy not wet soil.

Big robust tomato plants loaded with fruit have big appetites for a steady supply of plant food..... but don't burn the roots. A big deep root system means large plants which in turn means greater potential for more fruit.

Horn... we did the big raised bed last year with Top Garden Soil from Gardenville. It's supposed to contain compost, composted topsoil, orange sand, and rice hulls. We had good drainage, and I think it retained water fairly well. I think our biggest problem last year was the late start, and the drought with the heat we had so early and for so long.

Was wanting to expand the smaller bed from landscape timber to railroad timber stock but haven't had the time with knee surgery rehab and such. I was able to amend the one end of the big bed where the tomato plants are with some Black Kow Compost from Lowe's and some Peat Moss. The maters have been in there for about 2 weeks now, and they have grown to almost a foot tall.

Last year the wife was wanting to go more organic, but this year I think I'm going to use different remedies for whatever happens to befall the garden. Maybe with the rain we've had this winter and spring we can have a decent gardening season, with some decent production.

kevcarr59...when I built my raised beds I used the Hill Country Garden soil from the Natural Gardener. While I was bagging my soil I got to talking w/ a fellow bagger who had built his raised beds a couple of years earlier, and said to be sure to amend the soil because the Hill Country soil was not real fertile by itself. It has compost it it but not very rich in nutrients. When I built my beds I added extra turkey compost (five bags of soil to 2 bags of turkey compost). I also added alfalfa pellets, green sand, Azomite, cotton seed meal, tomato tone, and epsom salt. I mulch w/ shreded oak leaves, and reg leaves, and top that with pine straw.

Now when I start a growing season I fork up my beds, and see lots, and lots of worms. In fact I have to fork my beds, and pull the worms out, and put into a bucket, and then I till the bed so I don't kill the worms. I then put the worms back into the bed. I believe worms are the most important part of my eco-system in my garden, They fertilize, and aerate my soil so my plants can grow, and produce lots of fruit.

How long does chicken poop have to set before it's not hot? I'm not sure why I'm asking it's been yrs since the coop has been cleaned out and I only have 2 chickens ATM.

hornstrider said:

I'm reading "Teaming with Microbrobes" by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis (it's at my local library), and the chapter I just finished talked alot about what the worms, and all other micro-organisms, give back to the soil. And that tilling so seriously breaks up this symbiotic relationship, it actually thwarts happy soil more than it helps. It amazes me that you would go to the trouble to remove, keep them happy, then move them back. Good on you.

I do lasagna gardening or no till. It's easier on the worms and my back!