Tomatoes and Sweetcorn safe to go in Polytunnel?

[Braceandy]

Hi all,

I have a bunch of tomatoes in pots and Sweetcorn in loo roll growing on the windowsill in my living room. I am running out of space and they are getting quite large. I am wondering would they be ok in my polytunnel now or is it too soon? I am in Hampshire and forecast is for nighttime temp to stay around 5-6 degrees - I have no idea if this is too cold??

The plants are all about 9-12 inches tall.

I would plant the tomatoes in the ground where they will be for the rest of the season. Sweetcorn I would just keep in the loo roll in the tray but put in polytunnel for a few weeks and then plant outside when I am sure there will be no more frost.

I haven't hardened them off but I could do that first.

[Elfeda]

I just found I left my tomato plants out side last night, they seemed to be fine..will move them back to GH in the evening.

[sparrow100]

I wait till night temps are 10C before mine stay out.

[rustylady]

Should be safe in your polytunnel - temperature should be at least a couple of degrees above outside. Do you have a max/min thermometer so you can keep a check?

[veggiechicken]

My toms have been in the GH and poly for a couple of weeks. There are flowers on some of them
I don't grow sweetcorn.

[Braceandy]

thanks all. I do have a max/min thermometer and its been reading min of 5 degrees recently... but I have read toms need a min of 10 degrees (like Sparrow says) but then others say they should be ok. Thus the confusion! I think I will try a couple of plants and if ok after a week then move the others...

[Scarlet]

There are flowers on some of them
I don't grow sweetcorn.

mine are on a go slow...I've only got four leaves on each

[Trix]

I was waiting for 10 degrees (as the books say!) but have left a few toms out over the last week simply because I'm running out of space. I've had min temps of 8 degrees and they seem fine

[Bacchus]

I've had some that's been in the polytunnel for 3 weeks - as a trial - some chill's too. All under plastic bell cloches though - so double wrapped against the cold.

One tomato plant looks a bit tired and one looks fine. A couple od chilies are fine and one looks a bit fed up, so it may depend on the general vigor of the plant as well as to how it copes with difficult temperatures at night

[veggiechicken]

Rambling Red Tomatoes (saved seeds) - sown 16th January indoors; grown on in unheated GH, then planted into grow bags 30th March.
These were brilliant last year and cropped into December.

[Penellype]

I'm treading with caution here, although all of the first 3 months have been a little warmer than average and April has started very warm indeed. Nights here are still forecast to be cold enough for ground frost, and although the current high pressure system is forecast to hang around for a while yet, the last week or so of April still looks extremely chilly on some of the models. We would be talking about night frosts and snow on northern hills with the current forecast for that week.

I sowed my tomato seeds this week and the first ones will be going out under cover in the middle of May, when they get too big for the windowsills. That usually gives them a buffer of something like 5 degrees under their covers, much colder than that and all growth stops and they go bluish purple. If that happens they take quite a long time to recover. Bear in mind also that some varieties are slightly hardier than others - the first of mine to go out are Sungold, which seem to cope better than Shirley and the other varieties I've grown.

I can't comment on corn as I have never grown it.

[libbyloulou]

My toms have pea sized tomatoes on, my sweetcorn only 2 inches high,but been in the tunnel for 2-3 weeks now,i'm am an eager beaver, but get away with it every time (blowaway last yr).

[Valleyman]

I agree it's confusing with the whole 10C thing that we all see quoted everywhere.

My understanding was that a minimum of 4C means the risk of frost is over, but you need a minimum of 10C in order to assure you don't get stunted growth. So whilst the plants won't necessarily show signs of problems in a greenhouse at this time of year there may be long lasting effects.

Whether I listen to that or not is a different thing. In mid April every year my house starts to look like the glasshouse at Kew. Stuff that's in the greenhouse gets moved outdoors, and stuff that's on the window sill gets moved into the GH.

The only things i leave inside for a couple more weeks are peppers and chillis as I've had disasters with these in the past if they even see the door.

[Bren In Pots]

My toms will be staying on the window sill for a few more weeks until the night time temps improve, this last week the min temps have been from 1.1c to 9c so I'm waiting a while.

[bitShifter_]

I was wondering the same thing here in north-central Scotland. Having read your comments I think I'll keep them inside for a while longer. I've chucked one Alicante out in the greenhouse as an experiment, he looks a bit sad but like he will pull through.

Doesn't it seem a bit sad that the plants are missing out all the lovely direct sunlight though? I suppose there's plenty more to come in the year (hopefully).