I put my tomato plants outside here in the Midwest last week and they
have been doing well with our unusual warm spell. Now they are
predicting night time temperatures of the low 40's. I will try and
cover them with plastic, but am curious
to how much cold these tomato plants can survive.

In article , sherwindu
wrote:

I put my tomato plants outside here in the Midwest last week and they
have been doing well with our unusual warm spell. Now they are
predicting night time temperatures of the low 40's. I will try and
cover them with plastic, but am curious
to how much cold these tomato plants can survive.

I'm in zone 2 (3 in a good year).

Tomatos don't do frost. I

f it's freezin' the tomatos are seizin'

sherwindu wrote:

I put my tomato plants outside here in the Midwest last week and they
have been doing well with our unusual warm spell. Now they are
predicting night time temperatures of the low 40's. I will try and
cover them with plastic, but am curious
to how much cold these tomato plants can survive.


First of all you should NEVER cover ANY plant with plastic to protect it
from the cold. You should use cloth instead.

As to how cold you plants can stand it depends a lot on the variety and
how well developed they are. Most "early" varieties can stand
temperatures into the 40s but for small plants the cold shock can really
stunt them (it takes a long time for them to catch up to plants that are
planted when it is "safe" -- temperatures into the 50s at night).

There are some varieties that have been developed to withstand cold (but
not frost or freezing). Some of those varieties are Glacier, Oregon
Spring V, Manitoba, and Siberian. Seeds for those varieties can be
obtained from several vendors.
--
Bill R. (Ohio Valley, U.S.A)

Gardening Since 1969

To see pictures from my garden visit http://members.iglou.com/brosen

Remove NO_WEEDS_ in e-mail address to reply by e-mail

I live in central ILL and I went ahead and planted mine already. I took a
gallon milk jug and cut the bottom out of it and put the jug over the plants
and also on the big bertha pepper plants to protect them and mounded dirt
around the bottom of the jugs. I am able to get almost a month jump on them.
I never had a problem with them yet, been doing it for years.


"Bill R" wrote in message
...
sherwindu wrote:

I put my tomato plants outside here in the Midwest last week and they
have been doing well with our unusual warm spell. Now they are
predicting night time temperatures of the low 40's. I will try and
cover them with plastic, but am curious
to how much cold these tomato plants can survive.


First of all you should NEVER cover ANY plant with plastic to protect it
from the cold. You should use cloth instead.

As to how cold you plants can stand it depends a lot on the variety and
how well developed they are. Most "early" varieties can stand
temperatures into the 40s but for small plants the cold shock can really
stunt them (it takes a long time for them to catch up to plants that are
planted when it is "safe" -- temperatures into the 50s at night).

There are some varieties that have been developed to withstand cold (but
not frost or freezing). Some of those varieties are Glacier, Oregon
Spring V, Manitoba, and Siberian. Seeds for those varieties can be
obtained from several vendors.
--
Bill R. (Ohio Valley, U.S.A)

Gardening Since 1969

To see pictures from my garden visit http://members.iglou.com/brosen

Remove NO_WEEDS_ in e-mail address to reply by e-mail

I'm located in a SW Chicago burb and put my 1 - 2 week old seedlings
outside in a coldframe consisting of 4 mil plastic, PVC tubing and dyed
water bottles (to control temp flux at night). In years past, the
little guys have survived lows into the mid 20's, but I do toss a
blanket over the cold frame at night to help out. Haven't lost any
to frost doing it this way, but do have indoor ones just in case. So
far they have been outside two weeks are are small, but stocky.

I have an uncle in the Kalamazoo (MI) area that plants on Good Friday,
and yep he has lost tomato plants over the years. He has saved some
though by putting a sprinkler on at night and letting an ice shield
form over the tomato plants. I have no idea how that would save
them, but it does LOL.

Long story short, lows in the 40's is fine. Lows in the 30's, yah
better protect them - even a 5 gallon bucket may do the trick
overnight.

Good luck!

Hi Bill,
If the plastic is only on the plants overnight and only a few times, is
that material
still a problem? What is the downside of using plastic vs. cloth? The
plastic does not
totally cover the plants over this short period of time. Can cloth do an
adequate job of
protection from the cold? We are expecting temperatures in the low 40's.
My plants
have been in a cold frame for 2 days and in the ground for a week. Are they
sufficiently cold hardened to take those temperatures, or should I cover
them for the
overnight lows?

Sherwin D.

Bill R wrote:

sherwindu wrote:

I put my tomato plants outside here in the Midwest last week and they
have been doing well with our unusual warm spell. Now they are
predicting night time temperatures of the low 40's. I will try and
cover them with plastic, but am curious
to how much cold these tomato plants can survive.


First of all you should NEVER cover ANY plant with plastic to protect it
from the cold. You should use cloth instead.

As to how cold you plants can stand it depends a lot on the variety and
how well developed they are. Most "early" varieties can stand
temperatures into the 40s but for small plants the cold shock can really
stunt them (it takes a long time for them to catch up to plants that are
planted when it is "safe" -- temperatures into the 50s at night).

There are some varieties that have been developed to withstand cold (but
not frost or freezing). Some of those varieties are Glacier, Oregon
Spring V, Manitoba, and Siberian. Seeds for those varieties can be
obtained from several vendors.
--
Bill R. (Ohio Valley, U.S.A)

Gardening Since 1969

To see pictures from my garden visit http://members.iglou.com/brosen

Remove NO_WEEDS_ in e-mail address to reply by e-mail