damage by Jack Frost?

20 years ago

I live in Ithaca, NY where our average last frost date is May 15th. On May 7th I moved quite a few of my tomatoes outside. Six of them I planted in the garden, and the rest I left in their containers. The weather here has been very mild with no frost in the forecast. All of my tomatoes were green, sturdy, and apparently healthy when I took them out.

A few days went by when I started to notice yellowy/white patches on the leaves. Then the leaves began to wilt. While not isolated to just the plants in my raised bed or the ones that are still potted, my bigger plants seemed to be the most affected.

I feel I may have "jumped the gun" a little with moving them out. I have always waited until June to transplant my tomatoes, and have NEVER had problems with insects or disease. I guess the warm weather during the day got the better of me, but perhaps 40-ish at night is still too chilly.

Will they recover from the shock??

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Comments (3)

carolyn137
20 years ago
A few days went by when I started to notice yellowy/white patches on the leaves. Then the leaves began to wilt. While not isolated to just the plants in my raised bed or the ones that are still potted, my bigger plants seemed to be the most affected.

Did you harden off your plants before moving them outside?

If not, which really must be done where we live, especially, then what you're seeing is sunburn and windburn damage, with maybe a touch of transplant shock.

They'll recover, and no need to remove damaged foliage.

But consider the following.

My last average frost date is also May 15th and in over many decades of growing tomatoes I've learned that it makes no sense to plant out too soon when soils are cold and weather is unsettled, b'c the plants will just sit there and mope.

So I sow my seeds so as to have them ready after hardening off, to set out around June 1. I've seen late frosts in mid-May up to the end of May, and while they're averages, I also understand Ithaca weather.

As in......when someone commented that 1/3 of the worlds worst weather went thru Ithaca, the person asked where the rest was, and the person answered that the other 2/3 were in Ithaca all the time. LOL

Carolyn, who spent four years on the hill many years ago and further time in Rochester in grad school, so knows Western NY weather and it isn't that much better here in the Eastern part of upstate NY either. Sigh.
thecolorgreen
Original Author
20 years ago
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Yes, the weather here in Ithaca CAN be unpredictable at times. Shame on me for not following my gut instinct and letting them be for a few more weeks. Unlike yesterday when it was high 70's and sunny, today is low 60's, overcast, and windy. Luckily I have other tomatoes in reserve so if the few in the garden don't make it, at least I have backup.

Here is a link that might be useful:
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carolyn137
20 years ago
Your picture clearly shows sunburn or windburn or a bit of both. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between them.

If the weather warms new foliage should appear and they should survive and do nicely.

But I really think that in the future you should think about setting them out later.

As I said above, they'll just sit there and mope with overcast skies, showers and coolish temps which is what we're supposed to be getting for the next couple of weeks and what can be normal for us at this time of the year. Sigh.

Carolyn