Weird Weather

[jal_ut]

I am having a hard time getting a garden going this season. My usual day for planting things like corn, beans and squash is May 5. So I planted as usual then it turned off wet and cool and either the seed rotted in the ground or it came up and got frozen. From this early planting I have nothing............ So here I am a month late starting over.

[Taiji]

That is terrible. It has been such a weird spring. I had frosts much later than I expected and had to replant or protect. Even this coming weekend one of the predicted lows is at 47 degrees. Now, I happen to know from experience in my higher elevation garden that means low 40's. (at least) Not good for the tomatoes and peppers.

Quite often when it gets really cold here, I think of you up there in Utah and think it must be so much colder. Hope you still can have some success.

[rainbowgardener]

Yep! Almost all of February here we had near record high temperatures, in the 70's and high 40's- low 50's at night. Then almost the middle of March after lots of things were growing and flowering, we had three nights in a row when it got down to the low 20's. The coldest spell of the winter there at the very end. The combination of lack of chilling degree days in the winter and late freeze wiped out a lot of the Georgia peaches (one of my trees has peaches on it and one doesn't).

[jal_ut]

My fall planted garlic and spring planted onion sets are doing great. Also have a bit of spinach making it. That warm then cool pattern got all of the fruit blossoms. Not a fruit tree on my place that will have any fruit on it this year. Beans, squash, cucumbers and melons replanted. They are not up yet. We will just have to see how it goes.

[imafan26]

I am having a wetter summer and a drier winter. I am just finishing up the beans and peas and I have some zucchini and cucumbers with true leaves now. My garden is largely empty, but not so much because of the weather but just because I just did not get to it. I did plant tomatoes but they got tomato yellow leaf curl virus, so I had to pull them out.

[applestar]

Wow, I guess it's going around.
It's currently 46°F with windchill of 45°F

...and the 10 day forecast... looking a bit more normal, finally, though the 90's is re-bounding a little too high...



Some of my fruit trees are not looking good either since we had weird up and down with frost/freeze earlier as well. I'm WAY late planting and putting my tropicals back outside for the "summer", though if we don't get first frost until End of October/early November like last year, the growing season might still work out.

At least this year, we had some rain in the spring.

[jasonvanorder]

I gambled and put out tomato and pepper plants about mid May this year. The rest went in Memorial day weekend like normal. Our Michigan weather can be very strange sometimes. My parents can remember getting snow on the 4th of July

[digitS']

We are having yoyo weather.

This week, there has been an afternoon high of 95°f and tomorrow's high is predicted to be 64°. There has been a morning in the low 40's with more to come.

The garden is fully planted and these temperature swings are hard on both the cool-season and warm-season plants. My experiment with turnip greens is not working out. The seedlings hardly advanced to having true leaves and the flea beetles are the ones eating them. Meanwhile, eggplants and others are also suspended in any growth.

The dull sameness of April and early May with too many cloudy cool days has given way to this challenging, yoyo weather. I'm not sure if it would be better for the temperatures to stay up or down. Fortunately, there was an abundance of winter moisture and the evergreen forests are looking better than during the recent drought. The aquifer is charged. I guess I am hoping for a sunny summer beginning soon!

Steve

[Taiji]

Weather channel has revised the forecast for this coming Monday night/Tuesday morning down to 44 degrees. That means probably somewhere in the 30's for me June 12 or so. Unheard of. A couple of weeks ago I thought it was over and I breathed a sigh of relief. Now I'm just going to try not to think about it and enjoy the cool weather! (rotsa ruck with that one!) Everything is planted, everything is up. Too much stuff to cover.

[Gary350]

We had a lot of 80 degree weather in Feb and March I should have planted the garden then. April 1st we started having flash floods every day for 2 weeks then it let up for a few days then more flash floods and cold weather for 6 weeks. I should have planted corn in Feb when it was 80 degrees. LOL. I planted tomatoes in the mud and they are doing good. Corn, beans, squash, melon seeds all rotten in the swamp first 2 times I planted. 3rd time 1/2 the corn camp up so I filled in the blank places with more seeds now I have 2 crops of corn growing in the same spot 2 weeks apart. I planted beans again they came up. I gave up on squash and melons seeds I went and bought plants they are doing good. We took off went camping in Michigan for 2 weeks just got home yesterday evening. I have been frustrated with the garden. Beans need to be harvested tomorrow but tomorrow is Sunday so they will have to wait until Monday, we should have ripe tomatoes about July, 4 bell pepper plants have 2 peppers, going to have zuchinni in about 6 more days, corn in another month, melons in about 2 months. Potatoes look like they are making all plants no potatoes. Onions are doing very well. Kale has bushed out like several large bushes I can not eat it fast enough.

Wilderness State Park, Mackinaw City, Michigan. Weather was perfect 54 at night and 78 during the day. The park had the cutest tiny fuzzy Red Squirrels I ever saw, chipmunks and black squirrels too. We slept with the camper windows open every night and never got cold. Water was about 70 degrees. Very few bugs and or mosquitoes. It is a short drive to Sault Ste. Marie where you can take a boat ride through the locks. Another short drive to Tahquamenon Fall State Park. Up the road is Pictured Rock National Seashore & 12 mile beach. Morning Sun comes up a 5 am and it gets dark at 10:30 pm. Take a drive on Highway 2 it is nice. There are 3 boats ride side by side to the Island with 3 different prices, Boat near the motel is most expensive, take the cheap boat. They all have Fast boat and Slow boat, slow boat is the most fun at 1/2 the cost of the fast boat. Take your own bicycle over to the island on the boat or rent one when you get to the island it is 6 miles ride around the island. Lots of good food on the island & prices are not too bad. Walk Mackinaw City strip and check out all the shops. Campground has electric at each camp site, nice clean bathroom with HOT showers. WE had a slice of pizza on the strip $2.50 per slice it was 1/4 of a pizza best pizza I every had. I cooked breakfast at the campground every morning and Alice made coffee. This was the best camping trip we ever did, need to do this again and stay longer next time.

[jal_ut]

You are having way too much fun!

[jal_ut]

June 13, overcast and damp. Temp 45 degrees. Nothing growing. Too cool. Nothin to do outdoors..... guess I will sit here and play on the computer?

[Gary350]

My corn is 3 to 5 feet tall and making tassels, ears with silks are the size of pencils. I think it all needs to be cut down but I am going to keep an eye on it for 1 more week first.

[jal_ut]

Gary350, I don't know what you mean by: "I think it all needs to be cut down" .

Corn is a large plant it needs some room to grow. It also needs company so the ears will get pollinated and fill out properly.
So we plant a corn patch. Usually at least 3 rows spaced 30 inches, or some plant a block of say 4 feet by 5 feet with 20 plants in that block. If you get it too crowded it will grow tall stalks but the stalks will not grow ears. If too thin, you get ears, but they may not get pollinated right so the kernels on the ear are spotty. So you have to search for a happy medium. Just what the right spacing will be may also vary with the different varieties of corn. So we play and experiment. After a few years we discover what works for us in our environment and with our varieties. Have fun.

[Gary350]

Gary350, I don't know what you mean by: "I think it all needs to be cut down" .

Corn is a large plant it needs some room to grow. It also needs company so the ears will get pollinated and fill out properly.
So we plant a corn patch. Usually at least 3 rows spaced 30 inches, or some plant a block of say 4 feet by 5 feet with 20 plants in that block. If you get it too crowded it will grow tall stalks but the stalks will not grow ears. If too thin, you get ears, but they may not get pollinated right so the kernels on the ear are spotty. So you have to search for a happy medium. Just what the right spacing will be may also vary with the different varieties of corn. So we play and experiment. After a few years we discover what works for us in our environment and with our varieties. Have fun.

5 rows 20 feet long 36 inches apart, seeds are about 6 to 7 inches apart in each row. That is about 190 plants. Silver Queen corn is usually 6 to 7 feet tall but I never planted Ambrosia before? Corn usually makes ears before it makes tassels and silks. After pollination the cobs grow kernels. No pollination then it is just cobs with no kernels. This corn has no cobs but it has silks and tassels? Some of the plants are only 3 feet tall for the flash flood rains we had for 6 weeks. My farming experience growing up on the farm sometimes a 40 acres corn field would get a big rain leaving a pond of water in the field all the corn in the pond of water would have stunted growth. Corn it the field would be 7 ft tall but the corn in the pond would be 1/2 that tall. Harvest time the short corn makes no corn just stocks. The package says Ambrosia is 68/72 day corn. This corn was planted 3rd week of April it should be ready to harvest last week of June. Even the 5 ft tall corn has no ears with cobs it is just flat leaves with tassels. Ok so maybe this corn is different it has 2 weeks to grow a cob with kernels.

[rainbowgardener]

I've only been growing corn a couple years, but IME it always makes tassels first, then it makes silks when the ears are very tiny.

[Gary350]

I never planted Ambrosia before. I never saw sweet corn make silks & tassels before making ears. There is usually some type of small ear before tassels. 68/72 day corn it has 14 more days to make ears with kernels. Wait and see. I have been planting Silver Queen for 25 years maybe I forgot how other corn grows. LOL This plant is only 4 ft tall, Silver Queen is usually 6 to 7 ft tall by now. There is 40 acres of field corn 1/4 mile up the road I am going to start watching it.

[jal_ut]

Thanks for sharing the pic. Watch and see what happens?

[jal_ut]

Ambrosia is the corn I plant. It always does good for me. Just give it some time.

You say 68/72 days? Well it is my experience that is the time it takes in the area the seed was produced. Take it to another area, different elevation, soil, wind, etc. and it may take longer.

Yes, it is good to always plant 3 rows of corn. I space them 30 inches and plant with a seeder that drops seed about every 8 inches. I plug every other hole so it only drops every 16 inches. Depending on the seed it may drop one or two seeds each drop. I don't thin, just whatever comes grows.

[Taiji]

My Ambrosia usually gets to around 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 feet tall. I can usually see tassels on shorter corn too, but by the time the whole plant tops out it ends up about right. I space mine differently than Jal, but the result is about 2 square feet allowed per plant. Yeah, 68 days seems awfully short. My Ambrosia package says at least 75 days.

Getting back to weird weather, forecast for Mon, Tues, Wed is for 100+ degrees. Yet, June 13 we had a low of 27 degrees. Lost 2 tomato plants, some freshly sprouted squash, a few pepper plants; potatoes got hit again, some bean sprouts lost, and even a couple of corn plants are crunchy now from being frozen. I'm dangerously close now to not having enough time for winter squash to mature before fall frosts.

All this talk of planting after the last frost is well and good, but what if there is no last frost?! So after the coming heat wave, is the jet stream gonna take another dive and freeze more stuff? Sigh...

Luckily, at my lower elevation garden it didn't freeze.

[applestar]

I can NOT imagine low of 27°F in June. How heartbreaking!

[gumbo2176]

I can NOT imagine low of 27°F in June. How heartbreaking!

June, I have a hard time imagining that temperature in January here in the deep south.

[Gary350]

I can NOT imagine low of 27°F in June. How heartbreaking!

It snowed in Michigan 3 days ago family sent us pictures on the cell phone. They had 1" of snow in Mackinaw City where we camped on the beach a week ago in 78 degree weather.

[Gary350]

I don't need any more rain the garden is still mud from the 2" flash flood we had 2 days ago. Hurricane is on the way forecast is 8" of rain Thursday & Friday. Yesterday forecast was 4" of rain Thursday, sunny and nice Fri, Sat and Sun. I am pretty sure it will rain but not sure we will get 4" each day. As the storm gets closer the forecast gets more accurate they can walk outside look up to see what is really happening. LOL. National News never gets our local weather correct. 1 of the local stations down graded the storm to about 2" Thursday, less rain on Friday, mostly sunny on Sat.

https://www.facebook.com/gary.weaver.50 ... 609835656/

[rainbowgardener]

"forecast is 8" of rain Thursday & Friday." Where do you get your forecasts? I'd love to see it.

Intellicast forecasts about an inch and a half of rain total over Thurs and Fri for both you and me:

https://www.intellicast.com/Local/Weathe ... n=USTN0356

[Gary350]

Sunny and nice today, sky is blue, 1 cloud in the sky. We only got 1/2 inch of rain from the hurricane. I think TV channel 5 weather has more accurate weather than channel 2. Forecast for today 100% change of spotty scattered showers, sunny and nice all day. We are packing up and going camping.

[Taiji]

Maybe I should go camping too in the White Mountains and get out of this blazing heat!

Several 100+ days in a row. Things are surviving surprisingly well. But that probably has something to do with the fact that I'm watering well. Tomatoes have pretty much shut down on fruit set though they're blooming. It probably won't start up again til the summer rains. At that time the daytime temps go down and the humidity really helps.

Looks like some relief in sight for next Wed, Thurs, Fri. High 80's with some nights in the high 50's. At least no frost! To think I had a 27 degree freeze on June 13!

[jal_ut]

65 degrees F and clear beautiful blue skies here this morning.

[jal_ut]

The corn is doing OK. Everything else got tromped with that late frost.

[jal_ut]

Well, photobucket is on a rampage. Guess we will have to look for other picture hosting options?

[imafan26]

My seeds did not germinate well last month. They were very slow and sparse. Some of the ones I was about to give up on are germinating now. Others nothing. July and August are not good planting months, but it is usually not this bad.

I grow silver queen corn too. Mine will get up to 8 ft but I use synthetic fertilizer and the tassels do come out before the ears and silks appear. The tassels do not mature until the silks emerge. The corn ears grow quickly and usually 10 days after the tassels appear my corn is just about ready to harvest. Silver queen takes about 80 days.

[Gary350]

Something is wrong, we had no rain today.

[jasonvanorder]

Something is wrong, we had no rain today.

We took it! Sorry we needed the rain up this way. Finally got more today. I apparently live in a bubble. About 90% of the rain coming towards me just splits and goes north and south of me leaving the lawn and garden high and dry till the sprinkler runs.

[jal_ut]

My garden this year is a disaster. I planted May 5 as usual then a month later we got a killing frost. The only thing that survived is the corn.l So starting over a month late. The weeds seem to be doing well though. Can't keep up with them. Most of my later planting did not come up. Some of the squash and melons did. It might be too late for them to make it though in this country. We usually get a killing frost the first week of September.