Tomatoes and Sweetcorn safe to go in Polytunnel?

[Jonnyt]

I've had Toms, Courgettes and Cucumbers in the unheated greenhouse for a week now. Temps not going below about 8C.

All look healthy, my Courgettes are all but flowering, one tomato Sungold is in flower.

The Polytunnel bible I have suggests you can plant out Tomatoes in Mid April with no ill affect.

[Bacchus]

The Polytunnel bible I have suggests you can plant out Tomatoes in Mid April with no ill affect.

I think this is one where local conditions really do matter. I want to get mine out into the polytunnel as the OH is starting to make comments but I don;t think I can risk it yet.

[Python15]

I think this is one where local conditions really do matter. I want to get mine out into the polytunnel as the OH is starting to make comments but I don;t think I can risk it yet.

The very reason mine got hoofed out of the house! Too many wee pots kicking about she was getting sick of them. Not very green fingered my wife!

[muddled]

My toms are going out into the unheated greenhouse today.
This is purely because I'm sick of traipsing in and out with so many trays each morning and evening.

Half a dozen went out last week and have shown no ill effects....even grown a little...so I've decided to go for it.

My 'tester' dwarf french beans are happily thriving outdoors in daytime, greenhouse at night so I think the temps must not be dropping too low here in London.

cukes, squashes and chillis e.t.c will be coming indoors at night for a while yet though.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Saw a weather forecast today, cold blast due next week. Just in case they have it right keep some fleece handy.

[Python15]

Maybe I'm saved!!!

[Alison]

The Polytunnel bible I have suggests you can plant out Tomatoes in Mid April with no ill affect.

That's very dependant on location, were still getting frosts and some parts of the UK will be worse. It's impossible (and risky) to generalise.

[Lumpy]

After having a porch of 16 tom plants in 6in pots taking up all the room we shoved them all in the poly tunnel today. They will be thankful for the support and the oven temps like today.
I even have the bonus of getting one of the estates gardeners to open and close up the PT when he gets into work and goes home - result

[esbo]

I have never had anything die because of putting it out to early before.

Am I right in thinking only frost will kill a plant'?

As frost is the only thing which will damage the plants cells?

I think as long as no ice forms they will be OK.

[TrysHard]

I sowed too early this year and ended up with around 12 seed trays worth to bring in and out and Toms needing to go into 9cm pots I starting leaving it all out in a unheated greenhouse about a week ago it has been down to around 4 C stuff has slowed down but no deaths in the family yet.

Oh and sweet corn was sown in greenhouse around easter 90% plus germination and all ok

[Alison]

I have never had anything die because of putting it out to early before.

Am I right in thinking only frost will kill a plant'?

As frost is the only thing which will damage the plants cells?

I think as long as no ice forms they will be OK.

Frost can kill plants but generally bad conditions will put it back generally and reduce yield etc and make them much more susceptible to pests, wind and the like. And if you've never lost a plant then you've been very lucky.

[Kristen]

Lots of "seems ok" being mentioned here. I'm repeating myself, but it is definitely worth avoiding cold stress. The plants "seem OK" but then perform worse later in the season (you'll never know how much better they could have performed / how much sweeter the fruit might have been etc. or maybe they will be identical, but the risk that they aren't is there).

next year sow later ... there is very little to be gained by sowing early, lots of extra work carting them in/out of the greenhouse, and one sharp late frost and all the effort will have been for nothing.

I have Tomato plants which were sown in January and which have been raised under high powered growing lights. I have some sown at the same time which have been in my heated conservatory - definitely not fallen below 10C but only recently been regularly up in the 20C+ during the day. The ones under lights were in flower all of a week earlier than the un-lit ones.

I doubt very much if sowing a month earlier, and then subjecting the plants to some cold stress, will make more than a few days difference to the date on which the first Tomato is harvested.

[unclefudgly]

I have had my toms and chillis in polytunnel for two weeks now, one of the reasons I wanted to do this was to stress the plants purposely, as this is what makes them tastier. I would rather have a few kgs less but have tasty tomatoes instead of bland ones. I think this is why in general outdoor tomatoes taste better than indoor ones, the extra stress of being outdoors makes the tomatoes make extra lycopenes or whatever the tasty chemicals are called.
I agree with Kirsten though, that sowing early is hard work and not really worth it.

[Lamboluke]

I've potted on my chilli's,toms, sweet corn, cucumber and probably something else which I have missed off.
Up to yesterday I was carting the lot in and out of the greenhouse day and night but I've decided to keep it all in the greenhouse now.
If the forecast shows a stupidly low temp I might cart it all in but given the number of pots lack of space to bring them inside now they can stay in the greenhouse.
I've just got in from work and temp currently at.11c.
For Me this is the first year growing anything so it's all a learning curve. For next year I'll be sowing later and.investing in a greenhouse heater to save on stress for me and the plants!

[Kristen]

II wanted to do this was to stress the plants purposely, as this is what makes them tastier

Its not something I've tried, but I'm sceptical that "cold stress" is the right sort of stress for that objective. From what I have read I would favour very small containers and minimal feeding (at least early on in the life-cycle).

Monty Don tried that a year or two back (on the recommendation of someone he clearly considered an expert, and with a side-by-side comparison using his "normal" growing technique). He grew the trial plants in clay pots only half filled with compost. He pronounced it, for him, a disaster, although it clearly works for his chum!

There again maybe his chum was (inadvertently, or not!) cold stressing his plants as well ...

Either way, it would need a side-by-side test to convince me. Growing conditions are so different from one year to another it is impossible to compare one year with another. My family say "These are way better/worse than last year" and I just wonder how the heck they can remember a flavour, seemingly so clearly, for 12 months ... some days I can't even remember what I had for breakfast, let alone whether I enjoyed it!!