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Cloches on tomatoes now? (under 2')

14 years ago

I decided to press my luck and plant out my little tomatoes tonight. They've got their 2nd set of leaves, or have just started 2nd set. Regardless, I wanted them out.

I have black plastic on the whole bed area, but I'm wondering if I need cloches on them this small- either to protect from whatever lobbed off three of them the other night, or to give them more heat/humidity.

Thoughts?

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Comments (7)

kqcrna
14 years ago
What's your weather like? It's awfully hot here all of a sudden, too hot for a cloche during the day I think (mid-80s).
Fencing or a cage might be better.

Karen
mmqchdygg
Original Author
14 years ago
that should have said 2 INCHES not 2 feet.
So yeah, they're REALLY small.
Weather- We're getting Zone 7 March/April weather this week: Up in the 70s and 80s during the day, and down to under 40 at night. Not sure what's up with this.

So my thought was to give them more heat to speed up their performance...because Toms like it hot, right? So that was my thought. Or would they fry? I've been leaving them uncovered, so I don't know WHY I'm thinking I should cover them...maybe I'm having a total brain fart. This seems insane but logical at the same time to me...the giving-them-more-heat thing.
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greylady_gardener
14 years ago
did the ones that you lost have their stems cut off at the soil? If so then it could have been cut worms that did the damage.
kqcrna
14 years ago
Well, from 40 at night to 80 day is already a 40 degree climb in 8 hours or so. I don't know how a new, tiny seedling might respond to a 50 degree climb, or 60 degree... because the temp in the jug is bound to be 10 or 20 degrees higher, don't you think?

I wouldn't cover them, but that's just off-the-top-of-my-head reaction. I'd be afraid of frying them. I'm certainly no tomato expert, though. (But I don't think I'd do that to any seedling).

I know some folks put jugs of water in the tomato bed. They're supposed to heat in the sun and maintain higher temps at night. Never tried it myself, so I can't comment on results from it.

Karen
token28001
14 years ago
Like greylady said, sounds like cutworms. After planting, stick a toothpick right down beside the stem. The cutworm won't cut if it can't wrap around. I lost a few cherry tomatoes to cutworms. Even lost a couple sunflowers.
dorisl
14 years ago
If you want to do the effort, you could cover then at night for the cold and then uncover them in the am so you dont have stewed toms before you even have the tom part
mmqchdygg
Original Author
14 years ago
damage: Well, it's weird because they were in styro cups on top of the picnic table when the damage happened. It looked like someone came along with a pair of scissors and simply clipped them off. Not AT soil line, but about 1/4" up. Cutworms could be in a styro cup of promix on a picnic table???

I took the cloches off this morning. I'm claiming temporary insanity today. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Thanks for taking time to respond. Oh, and thanks for the toothpick tip. I'll be sure to do that when I get home tonight.

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