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syntria

Texas Heat and Tomatos on Concrete

syntria
10 years ago

Hello! This is my very first post :)

I've been growing 2-5 pots of this and that for years now each summer, usually peppers/tomatoes. The easy stuff as they say. Now I've got Potatoes in the ground, and about 20 other plants in pots. I've got Tiger Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, and Silvery Fir (Grown from seeds).

I mention all that because my current setup is I have a small square basketball court in the back yard (I don't play basketball D: ) that gets around 8-10 hours of sunlight, and connected to that I have a concrete pad that's covered and gets about 4-5 hours of morning light.

So finally here's my question! I have a few different Tomato plants in pots (around 7 gallon plastic for some, and Ceramic for others) and currently they are on the concrete pad/basketball court. They'll be getting 8-10 hours of sun, upwards to 100 degrees at times during the summer. (along with other plants I have out there). (Arlington, Texas)

Am I going to cook my tomatoes before I get them into the kitchen? My drip system would drip directly into the plants each day and also mist them in the mornings (or however I set it) but I assume the concrete is still going to get awfully hot.

The two options I figure is
A. Moving them so they only get 4-5 hours of sunlight in the morning and shade the rest of the day on the deck
B. Buying some cinderblocks/boards and elevating all my plants a few inches off the ground which I think would look aesthetically pleasing but still would have that hot concrete cooking away under them.

Any other recommendations or am I fussing for no reason? I know Tomatoes like heat and light. I'm just not sure what they'll tolerate.

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