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Hot tomato! How to help your vines during high heat

Surviving triple-digit temps comes down to moisture and mulch

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Container tomatoes, like this Orange Pixie, should be watered frequently during high temperatures. The soil can dry out much quicker than for in-ground tomatoes. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Tomatoes love heat and sun, but how much is too much?

Prolonged triple-digit heat waves can toast tomatoes and other sun-loving crops. Tomatoes in particular tend to be temperature sensitive.

When temperatures stay above 95 degrees, tomato flowers may drop off or refuse to set fruit. Leaves can fry and turn crispy. Ripening tomatoes may split or develop calluses.

Give your vines a hand – along with enough water and shade – to cope with this week’s heat. This advice comes from UC Cooperative Extension master gardeners as well as longtime local tomato growers.

* Water early and deep. Irrigate your tomatoes in the morning, making sure water reaches down at least 6 inches into the soil. How do you know? Test the soil with a probe or long screwdriver; it should easily plunge into the soil. Or use a trowel, dig down and look.

* During hot weather, water tomatoes two to three times a week. Tomatoes normally wilt during a hot afternoon; that’s OK. But if they’re wilted in the morning, water immediately. (Note: A few heirloom varieties, particularly of Russian origin, have a natural tendency to wilt all the time. But if you are growing one of these, you've probably noticed this already.)

* Tomatoes planted in containers may need extra water every day during hot weather. Their potting soil tends to dry out faster.

* Keep watering consistent and don’t let soil dry out completely. That can lead to blossom end rot, the hard brown callus on the flower end of a tomato.

* Mulch is your friend. Make sure your vines have at least 2 to 4 inches around them to help keep roots cool and soil evenly moist. Straw, leaves or shredded bark make the best tomato mulch. Many gardeners prefer straw (not hay) because its light color reflects intense sun rays instead of absorbing that added heat. (Also, hay contains seeds that can sprout and suck nutrients out of soil.)

* Don’t fertilize during a hot spell. Feeding now just puts more stress on the plant.

* Tomatoes love sun, but they can get sunburned. If leaves or developing fruit look bleached out or burned, give your vine some afternoon shade. Erect a temporary shade structure by draping burlap or shade cloth over the tomato cage or trellis. This also helps prevent fruit from cracking.

* If foliage turns brown, leave the dead leaves in place for now. They help protect the fruit from sunburn. After the heat has subsided, prune off the completely dead leaves so new foliage can grow.

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Garden Checklist for week of Feb. 2

During this stormy week, let the rain soak in while making plans for all the things you’re going to plant soon:

* During rainy weather, turn off the sprinklers. After a good soaking from winter storms, lawns can go at least a week without sprinklers, according to irrigation experts. For an average California home, that week off from watering can save 800 gallons.

* February serves as a wake-up call to gardeners. This month, you can transplant or direct-seed several flowers, including snapdragon, candytuft, lilies, astilbe, larkspur, Shasta and painted daisies, stocks, bleeding heart and coral bells.

* In the vegetable garden, plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers, and strawberry and rhubarb roots.

* Transplant cabbage and its close cousins – broccoli, kale and Brussels sprouts – as well as lettuce (both loose leaf and head).

* Indoors, start peppers, tomatoes and eggplant from seed.

* Plant artichokes, asparagus and horseradish from root divisions.

* Plant potatoes from tubers and onions from sets (small bulbs). The onions will sprout quickly and can be used as green onions in March.

* From seed, plant beets, chard, lettuce, mustard, peas, radishes and turnips.

* Annuals are showing up in nurseries, but wait until the weather warms up a bit before planting. Instead, set out flowering perennials such as columbine and delphinium.

* Plant summer-flowering bulbs including cannas, calla lilies and gladiolus.

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