Brutal growing conditions (for us anyway)

[stressbaby]

No fireworks this year here in central Missouri.  We've had 1.6 inches of rain in the past 7 weeks!  Normally I use rainwater on my plants but I've been using water from the house for weeks now, which I don't like doing at all.

On top of that, we've had unusually warm temps.  Thursday, we hit 107.  Interestingly, the plants inside the greenhouse, under 50% shade cloth and mist, did better on Thursday than the plants outside.  Outside, my new loquat suffered significant burn; cherimoya, pitomba also injured; mango, jaboticaba, pitanga, feijoa suffered no injury.  Inside, carambola 'Kari' has some injury, but most everything else is OK.  I will consider moving plants back INTO the greenhouse on sunny days with forecast high temps in that range next time.  The only thing growing is the dragonfruit.   

Perhaps these conditions aren't so unusual for some of you but in 6 years now of greenhouse growing here, this is as tough as it has been in June and early July.

[TropicalFruitHunters]

We've been getting the same...not as high as 107 but we were around 100 for a few days.  107 is crazy!  My plants outside did okay.  I've been watering everything pretty good.  I only water certain plants from the rain barrels.  When we do get rain...it comes in with 75+ mph winds and hail.  We had this both Friday night and Sunday night.  Plants on the patio were leveled and most had sand bags or cinder blocks on the containers.

You'll have to build a shade structure like Juan did in PR!!

[HMHausman]

Gee, Jay.....you've gotten so much more attractive since last I saw you.  Have you an announcement to make?

Harry

[HMHausman]

Robert:

Those are some tough temps for sure.  Sorry to hear about these growing challenges in your neck of the woods. What kind of temps do you have inside the greenhouse?

Harry

[TropicalFruitHunters]

Administrator powers gone amok!  Wait till you see my legs! 

[KarenRei]

Ouch... how do you even stand outside long enough to water in that kind of weather, let alone repair storm damage and build new plant shelters?  My sympathies!

[CoPlantNut]

It's been a brutally hot and exceedingly dry year here too; most things have stopped growing after 3 weeks of 98-104 degrees.  2 forest fires have started within 20 miles of me in the last week alone.  Fireworks and all open fires are banned statewide.

Interesting map of the deviation from normal temperatures:

http://www.livescience.com/21291-us-heat-wave-map.html

   Kevin

[stressbaby]

Robert:

Those are some tough temps for sure.  Sorry to hear about these growing challenges in your neck of the woods. What kind of temps do you have inside the greenhouse?

Harry

GH temps are almost exactly outside temps thanks to misters.

[Ethan]

107? thats a normal warm day for us.   I've been watering about every 4 days and even doing some misting of the plants after sundown, most everything seems to still be growing?

Good luck with your troubles, hopefully your plants wont mind the switch to tap water too much,
-Ethan

[Felipe]

Recently we had for a few days over 100 farenheit (over 40 celsius). Many tropicals loved that heat (whith propper irrigation). In fact many of them, including litchi and mango, pushed a lot of new leafes over those days, while most avocados suffered from water stress. Here a Pinkerton avocado:



I think there are two points:

1. Poted plants a very vulnerable against heat, while established plants in ground can handle very hot temperatures.
2. How much heat a plant can tollerate depends on what temperature/how much sun they are used to. Plants that have been raised in nurseries, either I plant them out in winter, or I put some shade cloth for the firts summer. This is the best way for the plants in my dry subtropical climate, maybe in rainy/humid climate things are different.

[johnb51]

Good thing a cerrtain political party in the U.S. has outlawed climate change or even using the term so sorry about the bad weather, but it's nothing to worry about.  The forest fires in Colorado--now THAT IS SOMETHING TO WORRY ABOUT!   (Let's see how fast this comment gets removed!) 

[stressbaby]

I should have made this post about a month ago.

[CoPlantNut]

...
When we do get rain...it comes in with 75+ mph winds and hail.  We had this both Friday night and Sunday night.  Plants on the patio were leveled and most had sand bags or cinder blocks on the containers.
...

Jay,

After coming home this evening to 90% of my plastic- and clay- potted plants blown over again, I feel your pain.  I've tried cinder blocks and sandbags as well; they help some but aren't perfect.  All but one of my clay pots are now broken or badly cracked and need immediate replacement.  Many branches have been lost on the plants that blew over.  As usual, we didn't even get any rain along with the wind though...

100% of my fabric pots are still upright though-- they can't protect from hail but they work wonders in the wind!  You should really give them a try; I don't know of anyone yet that has actually tried them and doesn't prefer them.  All the plants I have to repot this evening will certainly be going into fabric pots.

   Kevin

[GwenninPR]

I also am having extremely dry and hot weather.  I live in a rain forest and still we only got 1.6 inches of rain in June and hotter than usual also.  For things in the ground, I only watered a few times (not an easy task when things are planted all around a 3 acre property).  We have cracks in the clay soil that are about 8 inches deep.
The trees are surviving, but the fruit is  miniaturized, with  just a touch of flesh around a seed.  Very disappointing.

It sucks.  Hopefully rain will come soon for all of us.

[Mike T]

Gwennin that sounds more like the driest month of the year.What temps are you having?

[GwenninPR]

We had mid 90's during the day (which for us is HOT).
It was the driest June on record. 

[KarenRei]

It sucks.  Hopefully rain will come soon for all of us.

I was going to joke, "Hey, you can have some of ours!" as it's been raining on and off for the past couple days and Reykjavík is a fairly wet city (akin to Seattle), but actually, we're in a drought too.  It's been an unusually dry summer (by our standards) even up here, to the point that some of the springs are starting to go dry.  It's not dangerous (we have the largest freshwater supplies per capita on Earth, over half a million cubic meters per person per year), but it's a sign of how dry it's been, proportionally.  And come to think of it, while it never gets "hot" here, for most of the summer, we were having above-average temperatures, too.  Funny that this is extending all the way down from the Caribbean, up through the Americas to us here in Iceland.

[MangoFang]

Thank you FELIPE for the voice of reason.  Heat alone will not cause plants to stop growing, though there is a limit.  Living in a true LOW DESERT like I do, we've already had around 50 days this years of at least 100 degrees.  So, as Felipe said, it is what they are used to, along with the amount of watering they need, to not only survive but grow.  All my mangos are pushing new growth now.  True, some, the smaller ones, a couple of them, and one larger one, are under shade cloth but 80% of all my trees see direct sun for much of the day.  THe main problem for many of you (as I see it) is that the current leaf structure of your plants were formed with a certain amount of heat and light and moisture, and so when this intense weather hit, those leaves burned badly. But if this weather would continue, eventually you'd see probably smaller, tougher leaves appearing designed for the conditions they would now find themselves in....but hopefull for your sake, NOT for very long!

The limit I've discovered as far as how hot it will get before stuff stopi growing is probably tied in to the ground temperature more than the ambient temperature.  I'm guessing that soil temps above...what...90 degree maybe will start to stress roots and probably cause them some damage - and than can equate with sustained daily air temps of 115+ - I'm just guessing here.....  Another VERY important reason to MULCH heavily on these hot days - it cools the soil and roots and keeps more moisture near the plant.

With all that said, I do feel for you guys not used to this kind of heat, plus you have the added humidity that the plants do love, but make you miserable.  My heat is mostly dry, and you know what they say about a "dry" heat ( ), though there are days when monsoonal flow from the gulf swings up and.....bluuuuuughhhhhh

Hang in there Midwesterners!!!!!!!!!!!!


Fango

[fruitlovers]

Thank you FELIPE for the voice of reason.  Heat alone will not cause plants to stop growing, though there is a limit.  Living in a true LOW DESERT like I do, we've already had around 50 days this years of at least 100 degrees.  So, as Felipe said, it is what they are used to, along with the amount of watering they need, to not only survive but grow.  All my mangos are pushing new growth now.  True, some, the smaller ones, a couple of them, and one larger one, are under shade cloth but 80% of all my trees see direct sun for much of the day.  THe main problem for many of you (as I see it) is that the current leaf structure of your plants were formed with a certain amount of heat and light and moisture, and so when this intense weather hit, those leaves burned badly. But if this weather would continue, eventually you'd see probably smaller, tougher leaves appearing designed for the conditions they would now find themselves in....but hopefull for your sake, NOT for very long!

The limit I've discovered as far as how hot it will get before stuff stopi growing is probably tied in to the ground temperature more than the ambient temperature.  I'm guessing that soil temps above...what...90 degree maybe will start to stress roots and probably cause them some damage - and than can equate with sustained daily air temps of 115+ - I'm just guessing here.....  Another VERY important reason to MULCH heavily on these hot days - it cools the soil and roots and keeps more moisture near the plant.

With all that said, I do feel for you guys not used to this kind of heat, plus you have the added humidity that the plants do love, but make you miserable.  My heat is mostly dry, and you know what they say about a "dry" heat ( ), though there are days when monsoonal flow from the gulf swings up and.....bluuuuuughhhhhh

Hang in there Midwesterners!!!!!!!!!!!!


Fango

It's true what you say about plants being used to and adjusting to high heat. It's those sudden blasts of heat that will hurt them. When you live in the dessert a blast of heat is nothing new to them. Also keep in mind that mango is one of the most heat resistant of all tropical/subtropical fruits. They grow fine in S. India where it gets unbearably hot (much more so than in Southern Florida). Also there are commercial orchards of mangos in the desserts. Israel is famous for its commercial mangos.

[Felipe]

BTW Mango Fango, are you growing mamoncillo? I think this one would LOVE your climate.. 

[siafu]

 While they love heat, won't zone 9B be too cold for Mamoncillo?

[Felipe]

Sergio, I understood it's always hot at his place... I cold winter would be a problem.