In ,
simy1 wrote:

(Hillary Israeli) wrote in message ...
* I know you are supposed to wait until night temps are in the 50s F before
* planting tomatoes. My question is this: what happens if you don't? I mean,
* if night time temps are in the 40s when you plant, does that mean you're
* doomed, or does it just take longer to mature, or what?
*
*they will slow down, and produce later than if you had followed proper
*procedure. it also depends on the tomatoes. cherry are more cold
*tolerant than others. now, if you were to set out eggplant, okra or
*basil at those temperatures the first two would stall for months, and
*the basil would die.

The basil would NOT die. I do this every year with basil. I always plant
it early, I am a sucker. Yes, if it FREEZES, the basil dies for sure. But
40 F? Well, it's been 40ish plenty of times since I planted the basil and
it is alive, and it has lived in past years when I did the same thing.

So, back to the tomatoes - I still don't quite get it.

Say I have some tomato plants and I divide them into two groups. These are
all the same type of plant and all sprouted at the same time. One group I
put outside after the last frost, but when evening temps are still dipping
into the low 40s or even high 30s. Another group I keep inside for another
month or six weeks, until the evening temps are always in the 50s. Are you
saying that the group one tomatoes will produce their crop later than the
group two tomatoes? Or when you say they "slow down," do you mean that
they will just not do much until it is warmer outside?

--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large