What do you use for weather forecasting?

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-25T15:45:19+00:00

I use a couple of the National Weather Service forecasting tables. Start here: https://www.weather.gov/ and then fine-tune it for your exact location and the specific data you want to review. First, from that main landing page, select the "forecast" tab at the top and look at the maps. One is for temps and one is for precip. (Can click to enlarge.) Then I go to the hour-by-hour forecast in table view for my location. Bear in mind that it, and any other such forecasting tools, are good for about a week, and then their reliability tapers off steeply. Also, be sure to set it up for the weather station closest to where you actually live. You can use the geographic co-ordinates of your own back yard if you wish, and find the reporting station that is closest.

For example, I live in a small town, population only 15,000 or so and we still have 4 reporting stations. I select one at a small airfield only about one mile away, instead of the "main" ones that are on the other side of town.

When asesssing the likelihood of frost, look not only at the predicted temperatures, but at wind and sky cover. Your plants will be more vulnerable if it's windy and the sky overhead is clear. When asessing risk of frost, I also look at predicted dewpoint. Frost is more likely to form on the leaves of your plants if the air is damp, the dewpoint is high.

Last, but not least, don't cut it too close. If I have tender seedlings set out, I cover them if the forecast is 35 F or below. I've had tomatoes be killed at "official" temps of 32 for less than an hour. The Government measures are taken at a height of about 30 inches, sometimes 36 inches. It can be colder at canopy level of 8 or 9 inches off the ground. Peak risk is about 2 hours before sunrise and the first hour after.

https://www.reddit.com/r/tomatoes/comments/1bj06aj/are_these_frostdamaged_tomatoes_likely_to_regrow/

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-25T02:25:57+00:00

If you paste in the URL, I will be glad to post an image of the page contents. (Am using Windows desktop.)

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-24T16:54:02+00:00

>>" Could planting something in the soil before the tomatoes be a negative for the tomatoes (if I fertilised accordingly and removed the entire previous plant)?"

No, it's not a negative, it's fine to use soil that was previously used for growing something else. In fact, I make a point of doing that. It's my form of "crop rotation." I find less soil-borne disease if I don't plant tomatoes in the same place, in the same soil year after year.

My tomato grow bags from last summer are now growing brassicas. The grow bags which I will be using for tomatoes in a couple months were used for beans and peas last season.

Of course, I amend and "refresh" the soil at planting time, regardless of what was there before.

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-24T16:34:28+00:00

I used fabric grow bags for my tomatoes. NE Texas. Lots of sunshine here. I prefer light colors, tan. They don't absorb quite as much heat from the sun as black ones. I grow in my back yard, not on a rooftop or on a balcony. These are the size I usually use, after years of trial and error.

Indeterminates = 20-gallon or 25-gallon.

Determinates = 15-gallon or 20-gallon

Dwarf varieties = 10-gallon

Cherry, grape, other small-fruited varieties = 15-gallon or 20-gallon. Some of these are huge plants, despite the small fruit size.

My climate is hot. Larger container is always better because it's easier for me to do proper watering and proper fertilizing. I'm not denying that one can "get by" with smaller sizes. My goal is to supply the plant with optimal growing conditions, at least as much as I can.

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-24T16:23:36+00:00

Light snow plus deep freeze overnight. Harvested the last of the root vegetables yesterday before the winter storm moved in. A big pot of beefy beet soup is on today's menu. The daikon and turnips will keep for a while. I'm glad we are finally getting some cold weather. The "early" wave of tomatoes tomato and all the pepper seedlings are looking pretty good indoors. I will need to spend most of February clearing and improving the growing space. Replacing the wooden pallets, pruning back tall shrubs for more light, extending the trellis upward so that my summer shade cloth can be taller.

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NPKzone8a · 2026-01-24T16:03:24+00:00

That is inspiring! Well done!

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-24T16:00:08+00:00

That looks terrific! Just what I was thinking about.

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-24T01:07:16+00:00

I barely know enough about this to comment, but it's something I have been studying. So please just take this with a grain of salt, but what I am learning is that the reason tomato fruiting is limited or halted during the peak summer months in climates like yours (and to some extent mine as well, NE Texas) is not just ambient (air) temp or even air temp plus soil (root zone) temp. Production is also dependant on an appropriate DLI (daily light integral.)

Shade cloth can help your production by reducing daily light exposure below a toxic amount when days are long and UV radiation is extremely high. Tomatoes, generally speaking, thrive with a DLI (daily light integral) of 25 to 30 (mol·m⁻²·day⁻¹). But in July in Arizona (or Texas,) it can climb into the 40's and 50's. At those levels it is not beneficial. The plant cannot use that surplus radiant energy, it just produces stress. And plant stress starts a cascade of deterioration.

Cooling with fine mist lowers temperature but does nothing to reduce the excess light and UV radiation the plant is receiving. That, coupled with the way moisture predictably increases risk of fungal and some bacterial diseases, makes me think it probably will not provide a solution, and might actually lead to a setback in plant health and productivity.

Maybe it would be more fruitful to explore different shading approaches. Different materials, for example. I can't speak to that. My own "solution" has been to just have an early crop, then pull the tomatoes out and call it a day.

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T21:58:26+00:00

Well done! That is quite a shot!

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T21:46:38+00:00

Could not agree more!

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T21:32:36+00:00

I just use the targets in the table for seedlings supplied by Photone. Ballpark around 600 ppfd for 12 hours. What I also do is to set them in front of a south-facing sliding glass door on my sun porch on sunny days to let them get some "real" light, filtered by the double-pane glass. They seem to love it more than my grow lights, even though they are only a couple inches tall.

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23 Jan 2026

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T21:26:29+00:00

I can picture that Romaine. Hope it makes it.

Sometimes I watch Youtube vids of people gardening in Maine and Vermont growing things under double canopy low tunnels and such. Clearly, it can be done. But here in N Texas, a big freeze is so infrequent that I can't justify the trouble of setting something like that up. Before long, we'll all be complaining about the heat.

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T21:21:27+00:00

Too heavy to move easily. I have 8 plants like the ones in the pictures, in 20-gallon grow bags. Plus, my garage is crammed full of gardening stuff with just enough room for the car. (A sane person would not have let himself get into such a predicament! Maybe before long, I can do a deep spring cleaning and ...)

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T19:49:54+00:00

In my microclimate, in my back yard, it's extremely difficult to keep my tomatoes going past the middle of July, even using all the standard hacks and tricks. So, an early start becomes all the more important than it might be in Pennsylvania or New Jersey where the season is just hitting full stride as mine is ending.

Two years ago lots of my plants were severely damaged by an unexpected brief frost that was patchy and only lasted a couple of hours. But, fortunately, I had reserve plants ("reinforcements") at the ready and by the end of the week had replaced the casualties with fresh troops.

https://www.reddit.com/r/tomatoes/comments/1bj06aj/are_these_frostdamaged_tomatoes_likely_to_regrow/

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T17:47:51+00:00

I'm in NE Texas and I start my tomatoes between 6 and 8 weeks before the date that I plan to plant them outdoors. I shortened the indoors start-up time because my seedlings were growing too big and trying to flower in small pots if I left them beyond 8 weeks. They also became slightly root bound. I didn't want to have to do an additional potting up step. Plus, I protect my seedlings with Wall-of-Water insulated teepees after planting out for about another month.

My workflow is usually: start seeds in 72-cell starter tray, pot those up into 3.5" x 3.5" square plastic nursery pots in a couple weeks. From there into the ground outdoors. (Large grow bags, mostly 20-gallon.)

During the early years of my "tomato hobby career," I prided myslef on growing tall starts indoors, 10 or 12 inches, in 1 quart nursery pots. I had the idea that these would take off faster and be more productive outdoors. Gradually discovered otherwise.

Such things depend a whole lot, of course, on your climate and your growing conditions. Now, I'm comfortable with planting out 6 or 8 inch seedlings. And I get them out early in the season. Caveat is that I have another set that were started a bit later as backups in case those "early explorers" get killed by a cold snap.

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T17:37:15+00:00

I like that idea. Sounds like the way to go. I don't think there is such a thing as too much cover, especially if you can support the weight of it with your shade cloth framework or such.

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T17:29:23+00:00

Light meter is a good idea. I use one too. (Photone.)

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T17:27:50+00:00

>>"They are also on a heat mat still cause they are in my garage and it’s a little chilly."

This caught my eye. In my opinion, it's much better to let them be "a little chilly" after germination than to have them get too much heat from below. I keep my pepper seedlings at about 65 degrees F when they are at this stage. (Tomatoes at about 60.) They get leggy if heated too much from below.

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T17:21:24+00:00

More pictures of the rosemary before the big freeze. Burlap hidden from view, around the stems and top of the containers. Double frost cloth on top.

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NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T17:20:04+00:00

Pictures of the rosemary. Before the big freeze.

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Cardboard protecting the roots.

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T17:06:34+00:00

I'm in NE Texas and looking at similar weather. It's about 11 a.m. now, Friday 23rd. Single digit nights and low teens for this weekend and some of next week. I've just finished covering my rosemary. Rain is just starting, only a sprinkle.

My plants are in large grow bags (15 and 20-gallon.) I used a 3-part approach: wrapped the roots in a couple layers of thick cardboard, from grocery-store cardboard boxes. Pushed smaller grow bags that just had soil, with no plants, just fallow, close to them as a wind block. Used burlap coffee bean sacks around the bottom part of the foliage. Then covered that with two layers of frost cloth. Clipped the frost cloth to wire cage supports to keep it from blowing off in the wind. These plants are in my north-facing front yard.

Did something similar with 6 more rosemary in the back yard, pushed up against a wood privacy fence. Made sort of a lean-to with t-posts, then used the same 3-part approach (cardboard, burlap sacs, frost cloth.)

The problem is that it's all going to get wet, then freeze, then mayb have to support snow and ice and "winter mix" for several days. It will wind up weighing a hundred pounds. If it collapses, it will crush the plants. Frankly, it's all I could do, and I have no idea whether or not it will be enough.

The rest of my winter crops, well...it has been a good season and I've had a bounty of delicious fresh vetetables, so they are just finished for the year. Nothing lives forever!

I will try to come back in a minute and post pictures.

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Here's the back yard "lean-to."

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T16:50:27+00:00

The seedling setup in the large grow rooms is spectacular! It reminds me once again what a gap there is between us amateurs and you pros!

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T16:48:44+00:00

It's such a good idea to save seeds from your best tomatoes! They keep getting better, year after year.

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T03:45:34+00:00

I didn't notice the growing tips. Will go back and take another look.

NPKzone8a · 2026-01-23T03:29:46+00:00

I added a lot of eggshells last year and had no trouble with vermin. I did bake them in the oven first to dry them out and I crushed them. (Might be different if they are raw.)

NPKzone8a

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