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It gets so hot during our Texas summers. Just like we can sunburn, your vegetables can also suffer from too much sun. Extreme heat is stressful for plants. When the temperature is too high, plants can suffer from sunburn and become sunscald. Often a plant will go dormant and stop growing even if they are well-watered. High heat can also prevent plants from setting any fruit because hot temperatures kill pollen. eggplant hot Although eggplant, peppers, okra, and s potatoes prefer 85 to degrees, they will su temperatures ranging fro to 65 degrees. Blossoms fall off pepper and eggp if the temperature rises a 85 degrees. Tomato flo may drop off if temperature is above during the day or above night. Do not fertilize garden as the plants are u severe stress due to the temperature and nee conserve energy to survi Shade cloth can cut d sweet o 70 urvive om 95 s may plants above owers the e 90 75 at e the under e high d to ive. down heat on the heat, but it also can trap even more humidity than we already have which can cause its own issues. The increased humidity can also increase the chances of disease and once you have disease, then the bugs come to attack your “sick” plants. Tomato, pepper, and squash plants can benefit from shade. A shade cloth can reduce the temperature by ten or more degrees. If you choose to use shade, choose a 10-20% shade and is not too thick. Hang it high above your plants to allow air flow. Hang the shade so it is protecting against afternoon sun. Let it have that “cool” morning sun! Keep ripe fruit well picked as ripe fruit (tomato, melon, and peppers) take necessary water from the plant. Keep soil covered with two to four inches of organic mulch to help keep the moisture from evaporating.
