From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Willamette Valley, Oregon

It's supposed to be in the upper 90's this week in Western Oregon, which is pretty hot by Northwest standards. Besides having a misting system, which I'm not equipped with, any suggestions for low cost ways of managing the heat?

Last year I had a fruit stop growing right after/during a hot spell.

7/4/2010 12:11:34 AM

Bloomington, IN

You asked for low cost, lol.

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/sprinkler1.jpg

7/4/2010 12:20:54 AM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

When I need a mister, I use this fogger I got from Lee Valley and it works great....easily mounted above plants.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=10371&cat=2,2280,33160&ap=4

7/4/2010 1:38:55 AM

Fresno, CA

shade cloth

7/4/2010 1:56:52 AM

I have had one growing so slow, its been hot and dry but i had no misters, today plant was bad leaves were wilted watered it for a bit leaves popped up within 30 mins now i am hoping the pumpkin will start growing again.

7/4/2010 3:05:24 AM

Ohio

Nice idea Glenn!,, I could never find a mister that shoots a really fine mist that could be ether hand held or could also be mounted over the plants, I ether haD to buy the sprinkler head misters that need to be installed to a stationary water system or have a bulky hand held hose end sprayer.

Thanks for sharing that bud! hope things are growing great for you!

7/4/2010 8:20:06 AM

ordinary,VA

that is a good idea Glenn going to give it a try..
shade cloth here for the most part.
we have had some temps.over 100 degrees with indexs in the 110+ range real smoker this year and little rain.
in the words of my co-worker who calls this weather "Africa Hot" (not a racial slur, he is from Africa so he should know)

7/4/2010 11:57:12 AM

Las Cruces NM

Heat is a problem here in southern NM. This year's June temps probably averaged close to 100. June tends to be our hot month because it is clear and dry hence higher averages. July-Sept brings monsoons (some can read that as hail) and these gives us some cool days, but clear days can still be 100+. If we can beat the heat, there is no reason we can't growz-em big here!

So, this year I just went with 1/2gph misters and soakers(i.e., no shade cloth). Soakers are set 5-10 min on every 1/2 hour 8 times (best time I could find). And it looks like the hours we need to cover here is 10:30 to 3:30. Soakers were run at 2-3pm.
This kept the leaves hydrated and free from wilt, but heat still causes problem with fruit set and termination. On my AGs, male and female flowers dry up, hence nothing to set nor polonate with. Some AG are certainly more sensitive then others as I could set them last year. And for the squash, main did term but have blooms -- just polonated one today so will see if it takes.
My thought behind no shade cloth was carbs are produce via sun and shade cloth takes away 30 percent of that valuable carbs. Logical yes, however, AG don't seem to need all that intence sun -- the only really sucessful AGs grown here was with shade cloth -- Endless Trail said it and I'm sold!

7/4/2010 1:44:16 PM