Surprising set back on the tomatoes, the heat goes on.

I got a late start and it was already too hot to be outside. Temp was actually 87 but 'real feel' was 90. Right, that stupid 'real feel' is what people are measuring when they just stand outside. (I tried cropping the screenshot three times and it wasn't working. Stupid phone)

It's going to be in the 90's all this week so I will be endeavoring to get out as early as possible to  uncover the cucumbers. Which are doing good but the tomatoes I discovered last night... 

Blossom end rot on just one bush in the north bed. Not even the one in the middle, the one on the right side. Only thing I can think of is that end of the bed is lower and stays wetter underneath. I double checked all the other bushes and everyone else was fine. What tipped me off there was a problem is seeing those two orange/yellow ones. I knew they weren't big enough to be coloring and sure enough there were a lot more. I'll check that bush again, there's still plenty of flowers on it to catch up but if I lose that one and the  middle one I'm still okay, just a bit bummed. The ones I'm holding were after I picked all the others and the sizes are pretty consistent. They all went into the working compost bucket.

Except for the trellis tomato with signs of chewing. I found that evidence as well as a cocoon that was empty so it's done flown the coop already. The yellow leaves on that center tomato in the north bed is bothering me. It's a lot weaker than the others and with the combination of blossom end rot I have to be very careful about watering that bed now. The zinnias are just getting going so have to basically just water them.

 

The leaves on the south bed are still concerning. The leaf on the right is from the trellis tomato and is the oldest in the ground of all of them.The raised bed also got the most fertilizer I think. This is kind of concerning but I think it is all due to the east end of the bed pooling water. Considering the blossom end rot and that center plant not doing well, has to be the culprit I think.

No more water for that bed, I really need mulch for that to work. Sigh.

Good news is, fall is around the corner and different places will be selling small straw bales as decoration.

 

Larger cuke last night and this morning (yes there's a distance and angle difference) but the leave is the same size, the second leaf is opening slowly.

And the smaller seedling (water spots from last nights watering). I did notice signs of thrips on the cotyledon leaves though. Not much I can do at this point except monitor. Could be springtails but the damage is consistent with thrips.

 

The leaves on the overwatered plant are drooping a bit and that north bed just isn't as thriving as the others, which given the amount of work I had to do is really frustrating. I'll have to add more soil to all the beds of course and as soon as possible everyone get s a shot of fertilizer. Not just the calcium stuff.

Even the tomatoes on that bush are kind of wrinkled feeling and rough. So very worrisome with that bed. The zinnias couldn't be happier so far and the sunflower is still plugging along, but they love water. 

Stray thought: Is it worth pulling that all up at this point? Especially that middle tomato? Why is it doing so poorly? Those have been in since early May and that center tomato was the same size as the other two. So just don't know. 

 

Still flummoxed by that seedling. I double checked a search for what the tree seedlings look like and it doesn't match any of them and especially not cilantro. It never got the long broad seed leaves on it. Guess I'll do a taste/smell test on a part of the leaf and see what I find out. Don't know why I didn't think of that before. Not big enough to take a sturdy sample I suppose.

All the other tomatoes are doing just fine. It's going to be a lot of fun yanking those bushes out in a few months. Going to lose a lot of soil and am going to need at least four bags for the raised bed and another bag to split between the other two beds. Tomato roots go everywhere when the conditions are right.

So that's all for today, will check on things tonight and still covering the cucumbers. Need to find another cheap container to cover the second one as that is getting too big for the cup.