What's Too Cold for Tomato Plants

Tomatoes are a staple crop in many home gardens, but they are also notoriously sensitive to temperature changes. Knowing what temperatures are too cold for your tomato plants is crucial to ensuring a healthy harvest. Let's explore what temperatures tomato plants can handle and what happens when they get too cold.

Tomato Plants' Temperature Tolerance

Tomato plants are most comfortable in temperatures between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit at night. When the temperature drops below 55 degrees Fahrenheit, tomatoes will suffer from stunted growth and possible yields losses. If the temperature stays below 50 degrees Fahrenheit for an extended period, the plants will stop growing altogether.

Effects of Cold Temperatures on Tomato Plants

When temperatures drop, tomato plants can experience a range of negative effects. One of the most impactful is slowed growth. When the soil is too cold, the roots of the plants cannot absorb the nutrients they need, leading to stunted growth that hinders the plants' ultimate yield.

If the temperature drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the plants can go into shock, causing leaves and flowers to drop, and the plant stops growing altogether. This can happen even if the temperature only reaches this threshold for a couple of hours. At this point, the plant won't recover, and any fruit that has already begun to grow will not be salvageable.

Minimizing Cold Damage to Tomato Plants

If you want to prevent cold damage to your tomato plants, several steps can be taken. For starters, you could consider growing your tomato plants in a greenhouse or a covered area to keep the plants consistently warm. Alternatively, planting tomato plants against a south-facing wall, in the sunniest part of your garden, can help provide additional warmth.

You could also use row covers to trap heat around tomato plants, which can help insulate the soil and the plants. Heavier fabric row covers can be used during extended periods of cold weather to provide extra insulation. Be sure to prop the cover up so that it does not touch the leaves of the plant, which can cause frost damage.

Conclusion

Tomato plants can be sensitive to cold temperatures, and growers must be aware of this when planting and tending to their crops. While certain temperatures can stunt plant growth, others can cause irreversible damage that is impossible to recover from. Gardeners must be proactive by using different strategies to trap heat around the plants, such as row covers and greenhouses, to protect the plants from unseasonable cold weather. By understanding what temperatures tomato plants can handle, gardeners can look forward to a bountiful, healthy harvest.