Weather might halt setting of tomato plants

Here are some concerns I encountered this past week.

Tomatoes not setting: It has been an unusual spring. Here are two of the main reasons for the plants not setting: We had many nighttime temperatures below 50 degrees into May, and soon thereafter we experienced temperatures above 70 degrees. Tomatoes will not set when temperatures drop below 50 and rise above 70 during the night. After studying National Weather Service records, there were about 30 fruit-setting days this spring. You will still get a few tomatoes to set, but it is about over. Don't give up on them, they will come back in the fall.

Sprinkling tomatoes may set fruit: There are three things you can do that may help you get more fruit:

1. Direct a strong jet of water at your tomato blossoms. The water jet acts as the wind to shake blossoms to jar pollen out of the pollen sacks.

2. The added water increases humidity around the flowers, so pollen sticks to the female parts to enable fruit to set.

3. Evaporating moisture lowers the temperature in an effort to improve fruit set. Do this in the early morning for best results.

Orange jubilee covering bay window: This is a beautiful shrub covering itself with orange trumpetlike flowers, but it is too tall for this setting. Try gold star, one of its many cousins. It gets waist high and covers itself with golden trumpet-type blooms until frost. Hummingbirds love its rich nectar.

Composting hair: "Yes, people can compost hair," said composting expert Bernie Schwab. "You can compost anything except greasy and meaty things; they draw unwanted insects and critters to the pile, something you don't want. For faster composting, turn your pile often and keep it moist."

Understand drip irrigation: When dealing with drip emitters, you need to realize they deliver water in gallons per hour while sprinklers deliver it in gallons per minute. People run drippers 15 minutes, and if you have a one gallon per hour emitter, the plant only gets a quart of water. That's not enough.

Experts agree that running emitters less frequently but for a longer time is much better than shorter watering times. Drip irrigation applies water slowly and deeper if run for 30 to 90 minutes, and that establishes deep roots, which means healthier plants.

Masses of insects migrating: When someone calls and describes a weird mass of insects moving slowly along a sidewalk, my immediate response is a migration of false chinch bugs. This phenomenon occurs when the bug's source of food (London rocket mustard) dries up. If you step on them, they emit a familiar stinkbug odor that protects them from predators. I find them more around vacant lots where the weeds proliferate. They'll be back next year. Let them go, because they will be gone in a few days in their search for food and shade.

Establishing ocotillos: They are very difficult to start as transplants, because they come to you without roots; they were lost during harvest. Dave Turner, of Turner Greenhouse, places spaghetti tubing near the top of its canes and mists plants daily until plants establish roots before selling them. Ocotillos found at the Springs Preserve were established under these conditions and are continuously in leaf, even through the heat.

Restart a bay laurel tree: A bay laurel broke off during a windstorm. Don't give up on it, do the following: New sprouts will soon emerge from the tree's base. Let then get a foot high, save three suckers evenly distributed around trunk and remove the others for a multitrunked tree or develop it as a single trunk tree.

Linn Mills writes a garden column each Sunday. You can reach him at linn.mills@springspreserve.org or call him at 822-7754.