Can It Be Too Hot for Tomatoes, Peppers & Beans? Cooler Feet Might Help the Tomatoes!

Rhoda Burrows, PhD has an interesting article on The Effects of Heat on Vegetables -- ie: the failure of tomato & pepper & green bean fruit to set, squash flowers to be pollinated, lettuce to germinate, and the bitterness of cucumbers and the head disruption of broccoli and cauliflower.  She has a few suggestions on how to ameliorate the bad effects of high temps.

Some members have complained about the lack of fruit on their tomatoes while others see their fruit failing to ripen.

According to the ND Extension Fact Sheet "Tomatoes often produce more flowers at high temperatures, but above 80º F pollen production is impaired and fruit set is decreased, especially if the high temperatures are accompanied by high humidity."

And Carly Fiske, eHow Contributer, in her article "Tomatoes Will Not Ripen" observes, "If air temperature rises about 85 Fahrenheit, tomato plants cannot produce the carotene and lycopene essential for ripe, red fruit. Roots need to be below 80 F.  If your region has temperatures above 85 F, shade your tomato plants to reduce temperature. Add mulch around the roots of the plants to protect roots from high heat."  For more info on this see Cornell's article Why Aren't My Tomatoes Ripening?

These high temperatures are just the conditions we have suffered under this last week and earlier in the summer.  Hurricane Sandy destroyed much of the salt hay fields last year and nurseries were not able to provide us with the supply to mulch our tomatoes as we have in past years.  Both the lack of mulch and high temperatures this year are contributing to the poorer than usual tomato yield.  One possible and easy alternative to mulching with salt hay is to use composted manure which we can obtain free from Happel's Barn in Rockleigh, NJ.

Providing shade for the plants to reduce the temperature is a trickier solution which as a community we have not been forced to develop.  Any suggestions?

To understand better how the heat (and drought) is affecting the food supply in our country read the NY Times article of July 21, 2013 Our Coming Food Crisis.