Dried Tomato Salad – Chef Chadi Zeitouni – Aalam Al Matbakh (9 April 2012)
Question by Matthew C: How to care for pepper and tomato plants?
I recently planted some pepper and tomato seeds in small starter pots and I live in Ohio. The night temps are around 50 degrees so I have been keeping them in the garage for warmth and moisture. Most of them have sprouted and are about 2 inches-should I put them outside in the Sun now, even though the temps are not quite as warm as it should be?
Best answer:
Answer by dan p
Night temps around 50 but you don’t say what the day temps are ….in any case they should go outside at least in the daytime . Try to keep them sheltered and out of the wind. ….also, it sounds like you planted them a bit late . They should be 4/5 inches high by now . Plant them in the garden as soon as the nighttime temp is consistently above 50.
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What the other guy said …..but here’s another tip for when planting them: Trim all but the top leaves off the tomatoes and plant either deep into pots or sideways in a garden. Roots will form all along it. Be careful with transplanting though because tomato roots don’t like to be exposed to the air. With peppers, tear up some books of matches and put in the hole you are transplanting them too. Peppers like the sulphur. Peppers also like slightly acidic soil so put them where you have not used lime.
50F night temps are good. But you can’t just throw them out in sun or they will burn. You have to put them out in the shade to start, then each day and hour more and a little more light till they are hardened. Again, for tomatoes and peppers 50F or more night temp uncovered is good. Covered you can go down to 35F at night. Don’t cover during day or they will bake. As to planting, soil temp for tomato 60F, for peppers 70F. So plant peppers a couple of weeks after tomatoes. If you put in to cold ground they “set back”, like if you had your feet in ice water. Roots are chemistry and temperature is important to chemistry. If you want to be scientific get a small meat thermometer with a probe.
http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-Classic-Instant-Read-Pocket-Thermometer/dp/B00004XSC4/ref=sr_1_2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1368491808&sr=1-2&keywords=meat+thermometer
They sell them at Target and other places.
Harden them off 2 hours outside on day 1, 4 hours on day 2, 8 on the next day and then, if weather will be ok (no cold, no heavy wind) you can keep them out full time –
Direct wind can damage them, so a sheltered location (against the house, against a fence) can be helpful.
Direct sun can burn the plants, so try shade first and gradually move them to a sunnier location –
Many have told me keep them dry during the harden process, but I don’t know how crucial that is.
I also agree that planting the tomatoes deep is the way to go and I add a tablespoon of epsom salts to both the tomatoes and pepper planting holes.
Enjoy!