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Tomato growing and colder night temps

FireFire Posts: 19,096
in Fruit & veg
I have several patio cherry tom plants which have been doing ok. But I see that, from next week, the night temps are dipping to under 10oC in my part of the world - potentially going down to 4/5oC.  I read that toms need to stay over 10oC. Will the temps arrest the growth of fruits, do you think?
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  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    4-5°C in London next week.... ? where is your forecast coming from Fire? I'm not far and the lowest temps here next week are 12c according to the BBC forecast.
    But, yes the cooler temps slow things down. Plants are driven by chemical reactions according to light levels, duration of light and temperature.
    So fruits ripen more slowly and as the plant has set seed (which is its sole purpose in life) it begins to die as it's job is done.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited August 2018
    My forecast is coming from the Accuweather alternative universe. Always radically different from The Met/Beeb, which is quite amusing. It attempts to do very long range forecasts based on aggregate global satellite data and modelling. I haven't tested how accurate it is over a month (because I have a life), but it does give a lovely false sense of knowing what's going to happen. Over ten days, it is pretty reliable. I really don't like the Met website, it's about as opaque and user unfriendly as they could make it.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I agree about the met, but the BBC no longer use them - it doesn't make the forecast any more accurate though :) If you're looking for wild forecasts it's hard to beat the Daily Mail - won't be long now until they're doing their annual prediction of 100 DAYS OF SNOW!!!!
    I like to avoid showers when out walking with my dog or planning garden projects and I find this website invaluable.
    It's not a forecast, but an (almost) live map of were it's raining and how much it's raining, and you can follow where the rain has come from and where it's likely going. So it's never wrong.
    Just note that the radar is very sensitive, so it may show light rain (very pale blue), but the legend indicates that this is less than 0.25mm/hour, so it likely evaporates before reaching the ground

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Yes, the Mail and the Express are best (always) avoided, esp for anything weather related.

    I thought the BBC had gone back to the Met after their cheaper choice didn't work out. I maybe behind the times.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    They delayed the switch-over, but it's now provided by-
    BBC Weather in association with MeteoGroup
    I think Weather Warnings are still supplied via the Met though - I can tell as the weather Warning in place yesterday for heavy rain - we got not a drop

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    I use metcheck - usually accurate over the next few days and also quite informative about uncertainties and possibilities. It has the advantage over others of allowing you just see night time temps over the next two weeks or so - nothing below 15C on their forecast for the London area.
    But in any case - if it is getting cooler, close the greenhouse door earlier in the day to keep the heat in as much as possible. If the leaves start going yellow, you'll not get any new toms setting, so just take all the leaves off and leave the fruit on bare stems to get them as ripe as possible. They will be OK until we get a proper frost. I doubt you'll need to just yet though
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    The Met Office 10 day trend explains the uncertainty at the moment quite well. It sounds like you'd have as much chance predicting the weather by examining entrails or casting runes. :|

    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • stewyfizzstewyfizz Posts: 161
    As a weather enthusiast (not expert!) you need to take any forecast past 48 hours with a large pinch of salt. At best it is an educated guess of the likely conditions. Forecast models give a forecaster dozens of possible scenarios of what may happen. It is down to the forecaster to interpret them and pick out the trends and ignore the unlikely. This is made harder the further forward you are looking as the range of scenarios is much greater and the trends less obvious. Plus they are dealing with extremely complex atmospheric variables, where an increase in temp of 0.5c or a shift in course by as little as 20 miles means conditions are totally different. Those long term (usually apocalyptic) headlines in certain newspapers by certain journalists are laughable. There is actually a law against such reporting in some countries!
    Gardening. The cause of, and solution to, all of my problems.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    My toms are outside. No greenhouse
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I'd agree with Stewy. No one can accurately predict weather here beyond a couple of days, and even then there are too many variables. I use the Met office one for walking, as well as the Scottish mountain forecast, and the Norwegian one. It's surprising how good it [Met office ] is, considering how impossible it is to gauge [ in the west especially ] and when you add in the height involved.
    We grow indoors here - shorter season, and temps in single figures at night are a regular occurrence in any summer. Sometimes during the day as well  ;)

    Whose entrails would you recommend wild edges?  :D
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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