Using hoop houses in the summer?

[intheflow]

My SO as it in his head that the reason the tomatoes have never done well in our garden is that they get too hot in the dead of summer, and also have had blossoms blown off by storms in past years. So he got this opaque white plastic to put over the bed (on a frame) because we met a guy last year who had great tomato success with a homemade hoop house. While this will definitely cut down on wind damage, everything I've read about hoop houses suggest they might need some kind of shade cover during really hot days, and a boatload of ventilation. The hoop house we saw that gave him the idea was in an area with some natural shade; that is NOT the state of our yard. Case in point today, it's about 80 degrees out right now but under that plastic it's over 90. Isn't that going to kill our plants on hot days? Anyone else have any experience using hoop houses with plastic sheeting?

[Curmudgeoness]

1. I have never used plastic sheeting

in the summer, and I never would. You have already seen the results----the plastic holds heat in and makes it even hotter. This would kill your plants.

When I have had problems with tomatoes, it has been that the place I was growing them just did not have good soil, and was nutrient poor. You may want to take a look at the location of the plants, and fortify the soil, before you go any other route. We have had some nasty storms in summer, but I have not lost blossoms, or at least not many. Are you sure that the blossoms are blown off, or are they just not developing or dropping off?

I am not the greatest tomato gardener, so I will leave the advise to others who are much better than I am. I just know that I have had problems in the past and have done better over time by working at the soil.

[intheflow]

4. We use raised beds

Last edited Tue May 14, 2013, 12:47 PM - Edit history (1)

with our own homemade compost, mixed in with native soil and cow manure. It's very rich. So I don't think it's the soil. The blossoms blowing off is a tale my SO tells from before we were dating. We kind of live in a tornado alley so it's quite likely the blossoms were blown off one year. We didn't have any problem with winds last year (my first year). Cherry tomatoes did awesome last year but the bigger varieties didn't produce much.

[NutmegYankee]

2. That's too hot for the tomato. You'd likely suffer blossom drop.

[NJCher]

3. check out bearfan's old posts

If I remember correctly, one year he posted some pics of shades he put over his tomatoes.

Shades are more what you need that full-time hoop houses.


Cher

[bvar22]

5. I rigged shades several years ago with a 70% sunlight reduction/diffusion screen.

I placed them in late June so that the tomatoes would enter the shade slightly before high noon, and emerge from the shade at about 3PM.

They didn't do any better than the ones in direct sunlight.
The fruit already on the plant ripened without trouble,
and the plants continued to blossom,
but no new fruit set during the heat.
When the ambient air temp is 95 in the shade,
tomato blossoms just aren't going to set fruit.

This year, we started some Early Girl hybrids very early ,
and then put them out early and managed to protect then through a couple of light frosts.
They are setting fruit now.

We also have our regular assortment of Heirlooms on our regular planting schedule,
and we are trying a couple of hybrids that are Heat Tolerant.

The San Marzanos (Roma Determinant) didn't seem to mind the heat as much as the other varities we grew.

Last year, we started some tomato seeds in late June,
and managed to harvest tomatoes from these plants until November.
We will try for a late crop again this year.

(We are in Central Arkansas)

[intheflow]

6. Are you in zone 7?

I'm in zone 5a with almost zero humidity, a mountain-desert region. It's the lack of humidity that does the tomatoes in here. The sun is a real scorcher so I'm still thinking the shade might be good idea. But I've convinced my SO we need to make sure there's plenty of air flow, too. Gardening is, after all, an ever-evolving process.

This reply has a lot of good info, though. I have no idea what tomatoes we got aside from knowing we got some beefy ones, some cherry varieties, and maybe some kind of roma. We have five plants, but I'd say at least three aren't doing very well due to a) having bought them faaaar too early in the season before we could directly plant them, b) transplanting them three days ago, and c) spending the last two days in blazing heat. (Yesterday, 80 degrees outside temp, 90 under the half-open hoop house, and today, 90 degrees outside and a good 100 under the even more open hoop house.) The heat is supposed to break and get back into normal seasonal ranges (50 at night, 60-70 during the day) over the next week, so hopefully we'll be able to nurse our current plants back to full health instead of buying some younger, spry-er replacements. Next year I'll try to pay some real attention to heat tolerant varieties.

[Javaman]

7. From your profile I'm going to assume you are in Colorado...

I have hoops on my raised beds and use 60% shade clothe to cut down on the UV's.

I get over 100 degree temps days in a row here in Austin and I've never had ever lost a tomato plant.

You might want to get your soil tested.

Also are you watering everyday?

And what I have been finding is if the temp of the soil isn't where it should be and if you plant too early, your plants will suffer and will take a bit longer to recover and grow to proper height.

[intheflow]

8. We removed the plastic cover and haven't had to

put up any other shade yet (it's been mostly cloudy with highs in the 60s this past week). But I'm thinking that's going to be a project for next weekend. We make our own soil, so it's pretty rich and balanced; we certainly couldn't grow anything in the natural clay sod at our prairie home. Watering every other or every three days since I've heard they don't like to be over-watered. I could be wrong about that, though.

[Javaman]

9. ahhh okay.

It's pretty much in the 90's here every day now, so I have to water every day.

In the 60's might be a little cool for them soil wise. I have to check my charts. I noticed mine took off when it hit constant 75-80 degrees everyday.

[intheflow]

10. NOAA says that's starting later this week.

I can't wait!

[Javaman]

11. Cool :)

Good luck!

Here's one of the charts I use.

http://www.gardeningbythemoon.com/chart.html