Hardening Off Tomatos in Topsy Turvy Temps

11 years ago

My tomato are outside hardening off. I have left them there overnight for last 2 days since night's have been in the 60's. When the cold nights hit is it okay to a) leave them outside and cover them with cardboard box? They are sitting inside a box with sides that reach slightly above the cup line and I have another box the same size that I can put over the tops. The box is sitting in a very heavily protected area, surrounded by house, several trees, sitting on ground which should provide some warmth. Or, b) bring them back indoors for a couple days until cold spell passes.

Thanks, everyone!

Susan

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Comments (7)

slowpoke_gardener
11 years ago
Mine have been sitting out for the past two nights also. I am waiting on the cooler weather to get closer to decide what to do. If it gets as cool as first predicted I will bring my inside.

I think the boxes would work, but I just dont have enough boxes to be able to do that with mine, plus, I know they will be ok in the house.

Larry

I hope you have better luck with your Topsy Turvy than Madge did. I told her that I already had more tomatoes in the ground than we could eat. I spent way too much time building a gallows to watch it slowly die on. I took great pride it saying, "I told You So".
susanlynne48
Original Author
11 years ago
Oh, no, Larry, I'm not growing them in Topsy Turvy planters, I was addressing the "topsy turvy" temps we've experienced this year! I would never even attempt to grow them in those things. IMHO they are just a novelty that encourages a noob to try something wild and crazy, as Steve Martin might say.

Susan
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I have heard of people planting nastursiums in the top waterhole part and I may try an experiment next year because I still have one more topsy turvy in the box. I am wondering if I planted a trailing dense plant in the top part (and did it early enough in the season) if it would shade the topsy turvy enough? But I do agree about the plastics, recently my mom and I went through tons of plastic pots and threw them away because the desert is not good with them, some of them just desintigrated right in our hands. I am wondering about styrofoam planters and redwood planters though. I have several pots and some of them are highly decorative and I really like to use them. Someone tips on here I have read said to 1)keep the pots shaded so the roots dont cook 2)someone else said to use diapers for insulation 3)double pot with either popcorn styrofoam or air surrounding the inner pot (I want to try this with some of my pots that dont have holes and just put water in the outside pot to raise the humidity) 4)change the color of the pots, in the summer use light colored and use dark in the winter. This can be accomplished by using the same pot; for instance -if it is a dark pot in the summer cover the outside with light colored paper or stack light colored rocks around the outside of the pot. In the winter the dark colored pot can be left more exposed. I am leaning more towards putting everything in the ground except for some special plants I have that need to be brought indoors part of the year. I baked several of my plant's roots this summer not knowing about the heat on the roots, I have read the temps inside a pot can get up to 140 degrees HOT HOT HOT!!!! It's good to know about your Tom plant!! I guess it's probably too late for me this year, but next year I will be planting some in the ground as insurance!! This year it looks like I wont have any homegrown toms of my own :(
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slowpoke_gardener
11 years ago
Susan, I am sorry, I did not read closely enough. Its just that I have flashbacks every time I see the words, "Topsy Turvy".

This weather is Topsy Turvy. Last week I was cold and wet, now I am hot and dry. But at least I have the north garden and the sweet potato bed tilled. I need to finish the bed for the Seminole pumpkins, the bed for the corn field pumpkins and the okra bed. I am really running behind this year. (plus flower beds and other things that dont count)

Larry
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
11 years ago
I'm glad you clarified that, because I thought the same thing Larry did, Susan, and I was horrified....thinking to myself "No, Susan, No." Now I am ROTFL because I knew that you knew better than to put a poor, unsuspecting plant in a Topsy-Turvy thing and I couldn't figure out what in the world was going on. Forgive me for thinking you'd lost your mind. : )

I'd move those plants back inside because you cannot count on a forecast to be that precise and if they are saying 40 degrees now, it could go lower. Last week our forecast low was for 36, and then the forecast dropped to 34, and our actual temperature was 28. This week, it was for 39, and then they dropped it to 37 yesterday and now it is 34....so maybe we'll see 28 again if the skies are clear. When they keep dropping the forecast low as the cold night approaches, it makes me nervous to the point that I cover up everything I possibly can within reason.

Even 40 degrees is a temperature the plants won't like, even though it won't cause freeze damage. Remember, though, that frost can and does form at above-freezing temperatures up to 39 or even 40 degrees (a hard lesson I was slow to learn after we moved here because it never happened in Fort Worth) so don't take any chances with your plants.

Dawn
susanlynne48
Original Author
11 years ago
Gasp!! Guess I will truck them back in.......grrrrrrrrr. I just knew this was gonna happen as soon as I put them out, darn it.

That's okay, Dawn....some days I think I have lost my mind!

Susan
soonergrandmom
11 years ago
It is really hard to not be planting more when the temps are in the 80s, but when I look at the possibility of a freeze, it slows me down. So far, we have not had the hail and the really cold temps that some of you have been having, but I have covered mine just in case, and I will do so again.

I feel like Ron White with his height measurement that depends on which convenience store he is leaving, as our weather threats seem to depend on which forecast I am viewing. I see everything from 32 to 37. I am usually a little higher than the forecast, probably because I am near the lake but I am afraid to trust any of them.

In most years I have everything in the ground, or at least everything except peppers and eggplant. This year I have only planted 10 tomato plants and a few bean seeds, and I'm planning to cover cool season crops. Crazy weather.
shankins123
11 years ago
OK...what do you guys think? All of my (14) tomatoes are hardened off and planted in the ground. Last night I covered them with cut-off plastic milk jugs and kind of banked the soil up around them. I do not have lids for all of them, though.
The last I heard, OKC's forecast for Friday morning is right at 32 (I heard this last night; it may have changed). Will that tiny opening at the top negate the whole covering? The only other thing I can think to do is to get plastic wrap over the tops and secure it with a rubber band (!)

Thoughts?
Sharon

Hardening Off Tomatos in Topsy Turvy Temps

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Hardening Off Tomatos in Topsy Turvy Temps

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