Soil Temperature? A Gardening Beginner Question.

[OldGuy43]

Any advice on the correct soil temp for planting. I've done a Google search and gotten more confused.

Info on how and when to measure the temp would also be appreciated.

 

[digitS']

This is a favorite topic of mine, OG!

Is it time to plant vegetables? Ask your soil thermometer. Oregon State University (click).

Oregon has the same cloudy springs and slow warming soil as here except - I've got it even slower. I can't wait quite so long to sow and set out the warm-season crops. Still, I'd better not push things too fast.

Here is an idea of how quickly seed germinates at various temperatures: Germination Temperatures, University of Minnesota (click)

State ag stations all over the nation measure soil temperatures with automated sensors. A gardener with a thermometer? Customarily, temperature is measured at a soil depth of 4" at noon . By the way, most any thermometer should work.

Steve

 

[OldGuy43]

Wow, really useful. Some seeds have a rather narrow range that they like, huh?

Thanks Steve.

 

[digitS']

I think that might be one of the reasons people have trouble with celery, OG.

It looks to me like that small seed goes just below the soil surface at the wrong time and . . . it is doomed! I just started my celery root (celeriac) seed in the greenhouse. I have no idea how well it would do out in the open. In that controlled greenhouse environment, I've never had trouble getting it started.

Like a lot of gardeners, I have trouble with carrot seed. It has a lot to do with the depth of the seed and how quickly the soil dries out around here. But of course, hitting the right week when it is both a little warm and a little wet would be the key to success.

Steve

 

[so lucky]

I wonder how it would work to put a strip of black plastic over your newly planted carrot, celery or whatever --maybe beet? seeds. Leave it on for a few days or a week? Theoretically it would warm the soil and keep the moisture in.

 

[digitS']

Some folks put burlap over seed beds.

Of course, doing something like that requires a brain that tells me to "look under that for sprouts, Steve." It didn't work too well when I used a board.

Durgan tells us he uses a board elevated an inch or 2 above the soil surface. That may not warm the soil but I can imagine a carrot sprout's angry face appearing from under the board and yelling, "Hey dummy! Get this board off me!"

Steve

 

[dickiebird]

Here's what an old timer told me his grandpa would do.
Go out in the field, mid day, drop his bibs and boxers, nestle his bare behind in the soil. If he could sit there a little bit and his behind didn't get chilled, it was time to plant!!!

THANX RICH

 

[so lucky]

Here's what an old timer told me his grandpa would do.
Go out in the field, mid day, drop his bibs and boxers, nestle his bare behind in the soil. If he could sit there a little bit and his behind didn't get chilled, it was time to plant!!!

THANX RICH

That's a good one! Reminds me of being a kid, making home made ice cream, the ice coming in a big block. Before the menfolk would chip it up to put in the freezer, we kids would have contests to see who could sit on it the longest.

 

[samthedog]

Corn is best planted when the soil temp reaches 50 and stays there for a week. Find a stick thermometer and push it into the bare soil. Put a bucket on top it the thermometer. Come back the next day. The coolest time will be about 9 in the morning. Depending on where you live, the ag extension folks post soil temps for farmers on the internet.

Warm weather crops work off of a 60F clock, so peppers, tomatoes, Okra ect need a 4" soil temp of 60 (and a good weather forecast for the next week)

Planting in cold soil isn't the worst thing in the world. Planting in slightly wet soil can be tolerated. However, cold AND wet will get you every time.

 

[digitS']

I bet that's true, Sam'.

My soil is seldom wet once the garden is planted unless I make it wet by running irrigation. It is the climate around here. If a seed doesn't come up in a few days, it may well show up in a few weeks. Of course, I've got other things to do besides wait around for a seed -- like kill some weeds.

If the seeds take too long, the weeds can "get the jump on them." Someone just beginning a garden can have real trouble with that. They may be willing to clear the weeds out but can't see the garden plants! After awhile, their new gardening experience is sinking beneath a sea of weeds.

Of course, the longer it takes for anything to happen, the more things that can go wrong. A packet of seeds may have 90% germination in 5 days. If it takes them 14 days, the same seeds may have 45% germination. At 21 days, 5% . . .

The soil is warming through the spring. I checked the soil temperature in the most protected, sunniest part of my yard on March 6th. It was 41 at noon. I checked yesterday in the same location. It was 51.

Plant 2 or 3 weeks early :/? Everyone is anxious to get things done. Everyone has a schedule with other things to do but, in life - timing is everything. Not a single weed seed has sprouted in my garden. My veggie seed doesn't have any more magical properties than does a weed seed. Likely, less. We just do the best we can.

Steve