Misshapen tomatoes how to#

You can purchase a 6 pack of garden cloches on Amazon here. These are best to deploy when tomato plants are still fairly young and before they become sprawling behemoths. When the cold is coming, cover plants up at dusk and remove the cloches first thing in the morning the next day. Garden Cloches A glass cloche protecting lettuce from late spring frosts.Ī garden cloche is a plastic or glass dome that is placed over individual plants to protect them from the cold. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to protect them from the cold while they are still relatively small and compact. Tomato plants exposed to prolonged periods of temperatures below 50☏ (10☌) will flower profusely but fruit won’t set.Īnd in temperatures between 32☏ and 41☏ (0☌ and 5☌), tomatoes become affected by chilling injury, which stunts overall growth, causes foliage to become wilted or die back, and increases the plant’s susceptibility to disease.įor the best yields, you’ll want to keep young tomato plants nice and warm early in the growing season. A “catfaced” tomato – likely damaged by consistently cold temperatures. When temperatures are below 55☏ (13☌) consistently, the fruit that eventually develops can become misshapen or “catfaced” – malformed tomatoes that are still edible but have brown scarring, holes, and crevasses in the flesh. The optimum temperature for productive and healthy tomato plants is between 65☏ to 80☏ (18.5☌ to 26.5☌).

Misshapen tomatoes how to#

How to Protect Tomato Seedlings Against Late Spring FrostĮven when you do everything by the book and plant up your tomato seedlings after the last frost date for your region, a sudden cold spell may come along to foil your plans. Tomatoes are particularly sensitive to frost even cool temperatures that don’t dip below freezing can cause lasting harm to tomato plants, both young and old.

Like other warm season veggies such as peppers and eggplant, tomatoes will be their healthiest when given plenty of light and warmth. Sudden swings in temperature in late spring or early autumn can mean stunted growth, misshapen flowers or fruit, or most tragically, the untimely demise of your frost tender crops. When you live in a part of the world with distinct seasons, dutifully checking the weather forecast every day is a semi-annual gardening tradition.