When to move tomatoes into the hoop house.
Hello, first year gardener here. I have been getting my tomatoes started indoors and am wondering when I can move the out to the hoophouse. The hoophouse isnt pefectly sealed so cold air does seep in at night, but it warms up in there really nicely during the day. Night time temps outside for the next few days are a low of 37 low 40s next week. Peppers have spent the last couple nights out there and seem to be fine. Also how long can I keep them in a 3 inch pot, I didnt want to have to keep potting up before they go in the ground because I do have a bunch of them, but will do it if I have to. Thanks guys.
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hendi_alex
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 3604
- Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 7:58 am
- Location: Central Sand Hills South Carolina
Peppers are a little more temperature sensitive than tomato plants, so if the peppers are doing o.k., that is a good sign. You may want to consider clipping a couple of reflector lights with 100-150 watt bulbs in the hoop house. Those dish reflector lights only cost about $6 at Lowes, and would probably give enough heat to help protect the plants when the temperatures drop to between 36-42 degrees. I keep a single such light in my cold frames when the plants are left outside and temperatures are dipping to 40 degrees or slightly under. The lights do an excellent job in that application.
I have 2 hoop houses - one that is 8' x 20' and one that is 8' x 12' and attached to a 4' x 8' shed. They are both temporary structures of plastic film & pvc pipe.
I moved my tomatoes & peppers out of the greenhouse and into the shed-attached hoop house about 10 days ago. There were numerous frosts the 1st week and I had an 800watt heater with a fan in there. The heater kept the interior about 12° warmer than the outdoors. It actually fell to 39° one morning and I was one nervous Nellie. Later, I got another, larger heater but haven't had to use it.
Without the heater, the hoop house drops very close to outdoor temperatures by morning. This morning it was 2° above the outdoor temp of 43°. That's fine. They've had plenty of time to acclimate by now.
I want to caution you that tomato plants, fresh from indoor temperatures, can die at 37°. A few years ago, I moved plants out of the greenhouse, where it is never below 60° to the 20' hoop house with no heat. I am not sure what the temperature was outdoors that morning but it was 37° in the hoop house. Some plants were fine. Some wilted a little and recovered. Many wilted and lost leaves. A few were damaged right down to the soil and died. Variety seemed to make a difference and the ones that died were right beside the wireless thermometer in the middle of the hoop house so I'm fairly confident that they were only at 37°.
I was surprised and a little dismayed that the foliage on those things was so tender.
Steve
I moved my tomatoes & peppers out of the greenhouse and into the shed-attached hoop house about 10 days ago. There were numerous frosts the 1st week and I had an 800watt heater with a fan in there. The heater kept the interior about 12° warmer than the outdoors. It actually fell to 39° one morning and I was one nervous Nellie. Later, I got another, larger heater but haven't had to use it.
Without the heater, the hoop house drops very close to outdoor temperatures by morning. This morning it was 2° above the outdoor temp of 43°. That's fine. They've had plenty of time to acclimate by now.
I want to caution you that tomato plants, fresh from indoor temperatures, can die at 37°. A few years ago, I moved plants out of the greenhouse, where it is never below 60° to the 20' hoop house with no heat. I am not sure what the temperature was outdoors that morning but it was 37° in the hoop house. Some plants were fine. Some wilted a little and recovered. Many wilted and lost leaves. A few were damaged right down to the soil and died. Variety seemed to make a difference and the ones that died were right beside the wireless thermometer in the middle of the hoop house so I'm fairly confident that they were only at 37°.
I was surprised and a little dismayed that the foliage on those things was so tender.
Steve
UGH! Gotta love New England weather! 