I'm in the deep south it gets HOT 🔥 in the summer months last year burned a bunch of my maters this year I started them indoor im thinking of planting them on the east side of my house or somthing as they always burn up
Any tips on how to properly taper them into full sun does anyone have better luck growing in partial sun
by BotanyBum
8 Comments
Start slow! An hour or so a day for a few days, increase an hour or two after several days. Watch for signs of stress and back off if necessary. Good luck!
I put mine out for the first time yesterday in the dappled light of a shrubbery for an hour. The tomatoes loved it, one of my lettuce plants curled up like I kicked it in the privates. Just keep an eye on them every so often.
I start slowly. Ten minutes the first day, and increase by 15 minutes or so each day. I set a timer so I don’t forget them.
I’m by no means an expert, but I’ve been leaving mine outside for most of the day when I water them. They’re in a spot to get a few hrs of morning sun and then shade in the afternoon, but still get the breeze all day to strengthen them. I’m in a 10a zone
Morning sun is perfect. Anytime after 11:30 becomes zesty sun and you gotta move to shaded sun or shade. Do that for a couple days and they should adjust
The best planting for tomatoes where you get intense sun (we often get into the 100s with an occasional day over 110) is early morning through noon sun, then shade for at least 2 hours during the heat, and finally some late afternoon sun. Think, plant north east of a tree.
I plant north east of my apple, lemon, and pomegranate trees. I’ve had people tell me I’m not going to be able to grow annual veggies forever because the shade of trees is going to block the sun, but that’s all part of the plan! As long as they get 6-8 hours of sun, they’re good. It doesn’t have to be consecutive. They get at least 6-8 hours in the morning and 2-4 more in the evening. But we have slightly longer days here, topping out at almost 15 hours. Sunniest place on earth during the summer!
As far as hardening them off… I put them on my north facing front porch to start. They get sun from sun up until about 10, then an hour of evening sun. After a couple days, I move them to underneath the lemon or pomegranate for a couple days, then finally into their final spot.
For me:
Early morning (or late afternoon) sun for a couple hours the first day. A few more hours (or all day in dappled shade, if it’s fairly warm out) the second. After that, all day every day, as long as it isn’t raining or colder than about 50 deg.
For actual growing rather than hardening off:
Where I live, I grew for many many years in full sun from dawn to dusk. It tends to be very bright here in summer (may not see a cloud for days & days, and it never rains), and gets fairly hot (only about 100 normally, but heat waves lasting week or two at 105-110 are common enough, and we’ll usually have a few days of 110-112). The plants themselves handle it fine; humidity is always low, so those temps aren’t as bad for them as it sounds. Main problem was sunscald on fruit, but with good leaf cover and never wetting down the plants except at dusk it was a minor issue.
That being said, I’ve developed issues with both root knot nematodes and spider mites in recent years (the former stress the plants in hot weather, and the latter attact stressed plants) so I started using 30% shade cloth a couple years ago. It does make a difference, although if I had enough room to create a new (nematode-free) tomato patch, I’d not bother with the shade.
Many folks where I am grow on the east side of the house; they don’t get as good of production as I do…..but good enough (morning sun plus a couple hours of strong overhead light seems to be acceptable)
I can’t really speak to your area, because I’m not used to that sort of humidity. But at least where I am, *deeply* cultivated soil and a *very* thick layer of mulch makes a huge difference; but again, it’s dry enough here that the plants (if otherwise healthy) only start to suffer once it’s up well past 105….and even then they’re ok if you can keep up on watering. Likely a different story where you are.
I grow tomatoes in NE Texas. No matter how carefully I harden my young plants before planting and how healthy they are for the first part of their “in-ground” (large grow bags) life, I find they do best when I protect them with shade cloth once the weather gets hot. It’s not only the ambient air temp, but the humidity and the UV index that matter. Air here is humid. UV is usually 8 or higher during a large part of the day. I put up 35% shade cloth sometime in May and find it helps a lot.
This year, I pan to try and also protect the grow bags somehow from direct sun. (Still working on the best way to do it.) The roots of the plant getting too hot is a separate problem from the foliage getting too hot, but it still affects plant health and yield.