I dont beleive covering the plant at this time will save it. it is much to early for tomatoes in you area.I live in zone 9 bordering s. georgia and florida and i put oit my transplants about the 2nd wk. of april.If this plant is small enough you may be able to bring it inside, and put in a sunny location making shure it does not dry out.
good luck

Whodaz:

I also live in a zone 7 climate, perhaps a bit cooler than yours, but I never set my tomato plants out until mid-May. I plant on black plastic to attract heat to the roots, but give tomatoes no other protection. There are techniques such as cloches, walls-o-water, reemay covers etc. that can allow earlier setting out, but I am not in that much of a rush and prefer to let nature take her course.

If your tomatoes are sitting out there by their lonely selves with no protection, they are doomed if the temperature reaches 30 degrees or below at night. It may not kill them deader than a doornail, but will set them back enough that you will wish you had waited another 5-6 weeks because they will never really recover.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

The only low temperature number you need to worry about is 32. Anything above that and you are fine leaving it out. Cooler temperatures may slow its early growth and it may take on a bit of a purplish color, but it will still grow and get established so that when the warmer weather arrives it will be ready to take off. I plant in late May around or just after the last expected spring frost date, although it is very common to get occasional periods with low temperatures below 45 for another month yet. If I didn't plant until then, they would never have time to ripen any fruit before the fall frosts begin.

I put some of my tomato plants outside very early last year only because I ran out of space inside for them. They were my "extra" plants that I never intended to put in the garden. I figured they were doomed because we had a few very hard frosts after I put them out but figured it was either the trash can or an experiment to see what would happen. All but one pretty much died back to nothing. They eventually came back to life and produced nearly as good as the ones that I put in later. I wouldn't do that again on purpose for plants that I expected production from but they did produce a lot of tomatoes.
Rick

whatup whodaz,
I'm also in NC, central piedmont. I just looked at the 10 day forecast and there aren't any days below 38 in my area. But you know how NC weather can be. 80 one afternoon and an overnight freeze is all but imminent at least a few times a year. And remember the late freezes after the first week in April 2007? I would just keep a five gallon bucket handy to cover it if the forecast says it'll dip below 32 like beeone said. Transplanting it again may be the last straw. I just planted mine indoors this week from seeds. Looking forwards to the growing season. Love those heirlooms

I buy my transplants in mid April, and set them out as soon as the 10 day forecast looks good. My experience has been anything below 40F will set them back. The longer the cool temperatures, the more they are set back. In unfavorable weather, I cover the plants with plastic ice cream buckets, and set a brick on top.

Zone 6 KS

Thanks so much guys you were wonderful :)
the coldest night on my 10 day forecast is 37F... the rest are mid-40's.. i'll just cover it that night...and any other tomato plant i buy i'll keep it indoors till april to avoid any surprises :)
thanks again!

My second try to plant tomatoes, living in coastal Pacifica, CA, I have tons of flowers with one or two tomatoes, the weather is erratic one day warm and sunny the next day cold and foggy. I have heard in our zone it would be ok to cover the plant with a clear garbage bag for warmth and dry contrition. I wonder if this is correct. Dieter