Transplant when Warm or Semi Cold

[mobiledynamics]

Maybe I need to do a A/B comparison this year....

Sometimes I've transplanted them when it's not as warm as it should be, and just cutting a milk jug open, and making mini greenhouses out of them. I remove the jugs during the day a lil bit at a time to harden them off and then plop them back on. The slight drawback is just the dew/moisture that might accrue with the jug on.

Anyhow, I've read that plants can get stunted when put out too early and plants put out later may even thrive better or just as well than plants put out early.

What camp do you fall in

[bower]

I think it depends on the level of stress at transplant time...
I did compare plants that went in just before a cold snap lasting a couple of days, with the same variety held back those couple of days and planted in warmer conditions. The ones I held back ripened fruit earlier than the first ones planted.
There was no major stunting though, so the stressed plants did as well overall, just not as early.
YMMV though depending on the variety. Cold tolerance is very much genetic. And also, if cold tolerance is there in the lineage, giving seedlings the cold treatment before plantout will activate the necessary genes.

Fusion once advised to plan the transplant to coincide with a couple of warm days in the forecast, so the plants don't have to deal with two stresses at once. That has turned out to be really good advice for me. As long as the plants have been in for a couple of days before the next cold stress, they seem to handle it just fine. But simultaneous to transplant stress, they droop, lose leaves etc. and as I saw in my experiment, that can make your harvest time later.

[Father'sDaughter]

I tried early May plant out for a couple of years because I was very impatient...

It was stressful because we would always seem to have that surprise cold snap and I would have to scramble to protect them over night.

I then went to a safe plant out date (end of May for my area, though some old timers swear by June 1st). Delaying by two to three week eliminated the stress, and I also realized I was getting ripe tomatoes just one week later than when I planted them early.

For me, risking the plants for the sake of one week just didn't make sense.

[mobiledynamics]

So is there a general consensus on temps on ~best practice~.
Or is it as long as it does not dip below 50 @night?


I figured by initial hardening/then putting them out earlier with the milk jugs serving as greenhouses@ night, taking them off in the day - it actually would help the tomato plants vigor in the grand scheme of things. I've never done half n half though (some early ) some out later. I think I might try that this year for my own WIKI.

[oakley]

You are correct that a safe later planting will most often thrive over an early planting
that could stress the plants if hit by late cold/wet conditions.

I look at a ten day forecast close to when it is recommended to plant. I pot up at least
close to double I have room for and often put a dozen in early... more about my time
and convenience. Very rare that early planting does better than those having to
wait even three weeks, second week of June.

The variety might matter. Two I can think of in my bakers dozen of favorites are SunGold
and CherokeeChocolate. They don't seem to mind a late chill. And always the first two
that give fruit. A snacker and a slicer. Rarely do earlies perish. Just sit and wait out the
cold.

Best conditions in my short season are a forecast of at least 70º with overcast and maybe
a few showers predicted but no major storms in that 10 day advanced.

[mobiledynamics]

Interesting read sofar. I plant in both ground and fabric pots....
This year, I started a smigen earlier, and I was planning to go from cell pack into a 1 gal root pouch.

I might run out space though when they go into the gal. root pouches.

I'm figuring the root pouch might give me a good head start as well with a better root system. When I turned over the container mix in late fall, the roots filled up all the way to the very bottom of the 15 and 20G root pouches.

As crazy as this sound, last summer, we did better with the ones in the containers than in dirt.

[zipcode]

If the soil is cold it's useless. I'd rather plant later. That's more important then the occasional cold snap (as long as it doesn't freeze of course).

[seaeagle]

Originally Posted by zipcode

If the soil is cold it's useless. I'd rather plant later. That's more important then the occasional cold snap (as long as it doesn't freeze of course).

BINGO!!! Seriously, every serious gardener should have a soil thermometer.

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by seaeagle

BINGO!!! Seriously, every serious gardener should have a soil thermometer.

Or black plastic mulch over raised beds. On a sunny spring day, it is 20-30 degrees warmer under the plastic. It feels odd when the soil is warmer than the air.

[bower]

Soil temp is where pots have the advantage over in-ground. The soil in containers warms really quickly compared to the ground. This is why I can plant my toms much earlier than my friend at the farm. Even when the surface seems warm enough, I have found it plenty cold still at the bottom of that planting hole!

Another trick for cold soil is to warm it up with hot water before planting. The heat from the water will dissipate into the surrounding soil and raise the soil temperature overall.

I want to try warming the ground at my mom's with black plastic this year, at least before planting (she's a bit fussy about the look of things). That is an impressive temperature difference!

[Gardeneer]

Tomatoes are pretty cold tolerant
They wont die unless 32f or lower. 42f is pretty safe.
Yeah , soil temperature is more portant. To me soil temp of 52-55f minimum will do.
I second waterung with warm water, if in hurry.
In cold soil tomato plant cannot effectively uptake nutrients.

[mobiledynamics]

I plant in 20G root pouches and soil. Crazy as this may sound, but I got better production on the containers last year than in ground !

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

...soil temperature is more important. To me soil temp of 52-55f minimum will do...In cold soil tomato plant cannot effectively uptake nutrients.

I agree. I believe it is the inability of beneficial soil bacteria to reproduce in the cold that makes it so difficult to uptake nutrients.