They don't mind the 40's. I cover them in the high 30s and bring them in if the forecast is under 36.

also it depends on how LONG it's going to be cold. If it's going from 55 at midnight to 38 at 6am to 55 at 9am, no biggie. if it's going to be 55 all day dropping to 38 all night long, I bring them for the night.

and also the wind...they tend to get windburned if it's colder.

Ok, thanks. I am not sure how long the lows last; my guess would be only a few hours. It sounds like I am probably safe to just make sure they are covered at night.

Lol it also depends on how many you have. :) Lol . :)

LOL ... Only 16, I have 2 plastic shoeboxes that fit 8 tomatoes per box so that is my limit this year.. If I feel sucessful with that amout then I will do more next year.

I put a fleese blanket on mine. I have tomatoes, cucumbers, peas. I'm still waiting on a bunch to germinate. Don't know why they are taking so long. I just hope like everyone else that the cold weather doesn't get them.

Linda

You shouldn't be bringing anything you wintersowed inside, and only covering tenders, including tomatoes, if there's a frost coming. That's the joy (and the point) of this system. My tomatoes were sown in Feb. and have not been inside or covered yet.

Caryl

I started my tomats indoors and are now taking them outside for the sun and bringing them in at night. I guess I still have to baby them for a while since they weren't winter sown. I thought Ws'g them would make them germ too late to get lots of maters. Anybody in zone 5/6 with early germing success?
Susan

I have my first wintersown tomato seedling! One Tiny Tim sprouted yesterday. I got scared by last night's freeze advisory and brought in anything that was sprouted.

congrats, edie!

My seedlings are up in NJ, no true leaves yet. I do this if going under 36 they get a towel over the jug or I move them to my un heated hay trailer. If not certain what it will do just put a towel over those jugs at night. Plastic wont buy you any thing at 32 and 28 degrees.

This year going to try a bit of some thing different and planting them out very early under a milk jug. They will get a towel over the jug at night for a while till they take off. It is way to early warm here to let us off the hook with another frost.

ML

I'm zone 6 ohio, but very close to zone 5. ALL my wintersown tomatoes are up, and have true leaves on them.
(I put them out in 2 liter bottles, 3 seeds each, in late Jan.) Because they are wintersown, they are hardier for the cold temps, and I can plant them out anytime now that they have true leaves. They won't really start taking off until it gets warm and stays that way, but once that happens they will grow leaps and bounds in mere days.. I haven't done tomatoes any other way since I started wintersowing them 5 years ago. Quite often I give away more then I keep of what I sow, and people laugh at first.. I tell them to put them in the ground right away, and just water when needed and leave them be as far as weather goes.. Then they come back and ask how the "itty bitties" I gave them out grow and out perform the quart sized ones they bought. I actually have people calling and asking if I "did those awesome tomatoes again this year, and if I have extras".. LOL!! YES!! SCORE FOR WINTERSOWING!!! Who's laughing now?? LOL!!

orcascove, that is really encouraging. So great to be reminded of how this all works! Thank you for posting!

I guess different ways work for different people.. I tried tomatoes in 2 liter bottles (caps off) last year and they fried. :o(

Unfortunately, I don't have a blanket that I can put outside, but I did plant 3 of the tomatoes around a bamboo stake and draped a big piece of plastic over them all for the night. It's supposed to go down to 35 with frost tonight, and then down to 35 again on Friday night. I'm taking the rest of the tomatoes inside at night until either night temps stay above 40 or the ones I planted outside prove they can take it. If they prove themselves, then I will happily leave tomatoes out at night when I grow them next year. This year did convince me that starting them outside was better than starting them inside.

Lois in PA

Lois - I completely agree, different things work best for each individual. I am sorry to hear you didn't have luck with the 2 liter bottles. (When you say they fried with the tops off, do you mean the screw lids, or the actual tops?) I can't recall having had any troubles like that, I would have been unhappy too. But then again I'm a harsh mom.. as soon as the sprouts occur the entire top section comes off, and besides making sure they are watered (if it doesn't rain) thats it, the tops rarely go back on at my house (only if there is a freak late April snow storm). So I have a you survive on the bare minimum around here approach.. LOL!!

I used to use milk jugs, alot of people like those, but I only use 2 liters now because I confiscated some of the plastic holders that they get delivered to the local store in. I can easily move 8 bottles around at a time that way. Plus once cut in half, they are really easy to throw in the dish washer for a good sanatizing after I empty them (I'm all about easy). They don't take up as much room to store either. Been using the same set for about 3 years now.. LOL!!

Do let us know how the ones you planted handle the weather... And heres wishing you warm nights, so you can stop lugging plants in and out soon. ;+)

Orcascove, thanks for the post from such a long-time tomato winter sower. If I'd seen your post a couple months ago I wouldn't have sown backup tomatoes inside. Now that I have more than 60 sprouts from WS I'm dreading the work of hardening off the inside ones.

I've had no problems with fried sprouts even through the warm temps recently. If the sprouts were up and fairly big in 2L I took the tops off. If they're in milk jugs I mostly just took the tape off so they got more air. That and watering and everything's been fine.

My favorite tomato sprouts are now in kitty litter jugs, or gallon size milk jugs, never had good resulets with the 2 lt soda so dont bother with those. When doing large amounts of jugs use milk crates to carry them around. Have always had large amount of seedlings and happy with winter sowing them. So far two nights of frost warnings and still have happy seedlings.

ML

Thanks! I left them all out last night when it was only supposed to go down to 40, and it's funny, some look a little beaten up but others look fine. I really do need to plant them out this weekend regardless, because some are getting too big for the cups (roots growing out the holes in the bottom). When they fried last year, they were in a 2 liter with the screw cap taken off. Of the 3 that I planted and then covered with a big sheet of plastic, one has yellowed/grayed cotyledons but the other 2 look fine. It's going to get a little cold again this weekend, so maybe I'll do a home made wall-o-waters thing and set some milk jugs full of water next to the seedlings to try and prevent more damage. I think I might be close to a zone 5, by the way. When I visit family near West Chester, Pa, they always seem to be a couple weeks further along in the spring than I am.

Lois in Pa

Lois, I wondered where in PA you were because here (a little southeast of West Chester) we haven't really had frost in a while. It got to maybe 39 a couple of nights this past week.

Have you tried growing in milk jugs? You can flip them back when it's warm then close them at night. And the temp inside them when they're closed is usually a little warmer than the outside air -- you can feel it when you stick a finger in the top.

Caryl

Thanks, caryltoo... I never tried starting tomatoes in a milk jug; I guess I figured they would be too much like the 2-liter bottles. I have some Matina tomato seeds left over from last year, so I'll sow some in a milk jug, keep myself from taking it inside for ANY reason, and see what happens.

Lois in PA