Patiently held off putting out tomato plants, until yesterday. News station said absolutely no frost. Low of 44. They were wrong. Light frost again. Put 25 plants out yesterday, and have sprayed them 4 times with water since 4:30 this morning. Just out again, sun over the tree tops, and Ice on the tomato leaves. Sprayed for the 5th time. Hopefully was on top of it and no damage done. And I have 50 more plants than I know what to do with, there's a reason for starting extras, and this year I needed them after the LED debacle. What a year so far!!!

Gosh what a bummer!

I feel your pain. I have had frost the past 2 nights too. You are far more energetic than I am, I stayed under the covers to keep myself warm. It's so disappointing when all your babies that you have cared for and have dreamt of harvesting get sick or perish. Usually it is safe to plant by now but someone likes to throw a monkey wrench in the works from time to time to keep us on edge. Big sigh... and my fingers are crossed for you and your plants.

@TheMad_Poet just a word to the wise - tomato plants will survive a light frost better if they are dry. Dry leaves, ground on the dry side too. Best protocol is do not water them in the afternoon if low temperatures are expected.
Our friend MrBig46 found the research on this subject a few years ago, and I have borne it out in my own experience too. Watered plants got severely damaged while the dry ones were fine.
For the same reason, covering with a dry sheet or piece of row cover gives the best survival results, compared with covering in plastic. The plastic causes condensation to form on the inside, water touches the leaves and they are toast.
Sorry to hear you're having a difficult time!

MissS wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 6:43 am I feel your pain. I have had frost the past 2 nights too. You are far more energetic than I am, I stayed under the covers to keep myself warm. It's so disappointing when all your babies that you have cared for and have dreamt of harvesting get sick or perish. Usually it is safe to plant by now but someone likes to throw a monkey wrench in the works from time to time to keep us on edge. Big sigh... and my fingers are crossed for you and your plants.

No frost here, didn't even dip into the 30s.

The Gotch

@Cornelius_Gotchberg I'm in a low spot. My neighbor's yards are higher than mine and theirs was frost free. I woke up and looked out of my window while still lying in bed, my yard was frosted but my neighbors were not. Lucky me!
(Note to self, next time you buy a house get it on a hill).

Same problem up here as well...two nights this week with real frost. I keep a stack of empty large yogurt and cottage cheese containers on hand. They nest, and store easily without taking up too much space, and they're easy to pop over a small tomato or pepper plant...so far they've worked well. For larger plants, I use the black plastic nursery pots, which nurseries generally discard and will give away for the asking.

Well I hope they came through okay Poet. I don't know what to think, some say dry, some say wet. I totally agree with no plastic cover, as I saw 22/25 go down on May 17th. They had just been planted and covered with plant pots. Mine that were under row cover for 2 weeks fared much better, but I still replaced somewhere around 20% of them, some dead and some just weak.

Wet is best for other crops, to keep them from freezing.

I have always sprayed with water and will continue to do so. Not being argumentative, but it works for me. There have been times when I missed spraying a plant and it was extremely damaged, while the ones sprayed came thru fine. No damage at all to the ones this year. I usually can't sleep more than 5 hours straight, so up by 4AM always. Not that big a chore to run out and check on temps. I have plants I started in late march that were long overdue to get into the ground, with lots of blossoms, and a few with tiny fruit. Hate to lose those. I also have a group of smaller plants started in April, and timing was perfect on them for this late of a planting. Love starting the Brandywines early, get way better production and fruit set with the earlies. And yes, I also sit low compared to neighbors, in an area with not many trees close by, ideal for frosty conditions.

It’s seems like the theme so far this summer nothing but rain and cold nights still I hope everything is ok such hard work to loose it all