A plant shouldn't be stunted at that temp. She'll see that all her plants will continue growing just fine with no stunting.

Carolyn

I have my plants outside to harden off and it has been getting down into the thirties. I put them next to the house under the eaves at night and back out in the sun during the day and they are doing just fine- will be going in the ground Sunday with lows predicted in the low 40s next week. Your plants won't set fruit at those temps but they will grow just fine.

I thought temperatures below 50 were supposed to stunt tomatoes. Am I wrong on this? I've seen this information all over the place? If that's true there's no reason I shouldn't plant mine now.

geez...carolyn can you see why the forum is still boring the hell out of me?

hahahahaha

Maybe answering my question instad of laughing or saying you're bored would be a better idea. Not eveyrone has years of tomato growing experience.

I had always heard that you should never put out transplants (without a wall of water or something else) until nighttime temperatures were stable above 50 degrees F. I thought that a temperature drop below 50 would stunt the growth. If that's wrong please correct me with the proper information or help rather than criticism of my tomato nievity.

Forager,

This may not fully answer your questions but it showed quickly on a web search.

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Heat Requirements for Tomatoes

Dave, a good link but really directed to the greenhouse grower in terms of fruit production of mature plants.

Forager, I think you may be thinking about temps below about 50F not allowing for pollenization of blossoms and that IS true for almost all varieties.

But a different question is will the seedlings to be transplanted out be stunted if exposed to temps slightly below 50 and the answer is no.

Many folks when hardening off their plants will leave them outside as long as the temps don't dip below maybe 40 F. Below that depending on wind, humidity and geographical exposure, frosts can occur.

You say there's no reason why you shouldn't plant them now. I don't know where your 6b gardening zone is, but if now is about two weeks past your last average frost date and your plants are hardened off you might consider planting them out now.

Hope that helps.

Carolyn

I had always heard that you should never put out transplants (without a wall of water or something else) until nighttime temperatures were stable above 50 degrees F. I thought that a temperature drop below 50 would stunt the growth.

Definately some misunderstanding going on. The learning curve has been difficult for you as you started the plants so early and so have had to deal with issues most don't have. ;) Thus much of the confusion I think.

In previous threads of yours you were advised that you could begin hardening off some time ago and told then that 40 degree nights would pose no problems.

But I think you might be confusing soil temps and air temps. Totally different issue.

Back in one of your earlier threads - the one where you were going to transplant them out on April 9th (3 weeks ago) it was suggested to you by one poster that soil temps in the 40's or lower could lead to stunted plants without a WOW or something similar. That may be true but it does not apply to air temps. That is a totally different issue.

You mother's plants will be fine as already said and yours can easily go into the ground now.

Hope this helps clarify the issues.

Dave

Tomato plants when left in cooler temperatures for extended periods of time (more than overnight) will not grow as quickly. But, even in those cases the plants will rebound rather quickly when exposed to warmer temperatures.

Many varieties of tomatoes have difficulty setting fruit in cooler temperature especially when night time temps fall below 55 degrees F.

Your plants are fine nothing to worry about. BTW, an indicator of plants that are stressed by cooler temps. is when the underside of leaves have a purplish tint or purple veins. As soon as it warms up the purple will go away.

Good luck.

Randy

Thanks so much for the clarification guys. Dave is probably right about how I became confused. I don't regret starting them early, though I certainly won't next year.

Starting early saved my crop last year. My 'seedlings' were 3 to 4 feet tall when planted. Flowers came out and set fruit within a few weeks. Then the weather turned (cold nights, hot and humid days...blossom-drops-a-plenty) Others that I know (including some that received my 1 foot tall secondary seedlings) had absolutely no luck because their flowers came during the several weeks of 'blossom drop' weather. My plants had little fruit set after the initial burst, probably a 4 to 5 week period of very few fruits. Besides taking up a lot of space, as long as you have adequate sunlight, whats the big problem with planting large seedlings (*and I did remove all flowers before set out).