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Putting seedlings into unheated greenhouse

bryanedwbryanedw Posts: 20
in Plants
I live in vale of Evesham in Worcestershire. I have flower seedlings propagated a week ago. Very shortly I will pot them on . I’m thinking of putting them in our greenhouse which is unheated but I can put on a paraffin heater if we have frosts . Being march ( nearly), is this a good idea? What is the lowest temperature they can tolerate ? Thanks in advance. 
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  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    seedlings of what? some are more cold sensitive than others. I wouldn't pot on and put out at the same time, let them get used to the potting on or the GH first


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • bryanedwbryanedw Posts: 20
    thanks. Cosmos, rudbeckia and gaillardia at moment. 
  • gilla.walmsleygilla.walmsley Posts: 339
    I'm in Essex, so possibly a bit warmer than you... but I've just put mine in my unheated greenhouse and they're fine. Keeping an eye on possible upcoming cold spells!  :)
  • ciaranmcgreneraciaranmcgrenera Posts: 313
    This morning… heavy snow here!
  • bryanedwbryanedw Posts: 20
    ciaranmcgrenera said:
    This morning… heavy snow here!

    Wow! Which part of the country do you live?
    Thats a snazzy greenhouse thermometer! May I ask where you bought from? I guess the 87% is humidity, but what does the 1.5 refer to (I m a nosey devil aren't I!)

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    The temperature  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    Far too cold to put seedlings there!
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I wouldn't even have contemplated sowing those plants from seed yet @bryanedw. Far too early. Your location is a huge factor.  
    Too early, too little decent light, too long to wait for putting them out in a greenhouse. It would have to be a heated one if you were sowing so early, and/or you would need to be somewhere mild enough for temps to be steady enough, and that's fine if you have that balance, but it's better to simply wait for it to be warmer unless there's a reason you want them to be growing/flowering much earlier. 
    Seeds that have only just germinated will be far too small to shift though. You would wait until they have proper seed leaves before potting on individually, as @nutcutlet has said. Then you'd wait until they're sturdy enough before getting them accustomed to the lower temps of a cold frame or unheated greenhouse. It's only the start of March, hence the importance of location. 
    A properly heated greenhouse is also a different thing from one with just a paraffin heater, unless you can keep it consistently at a suitable enough temp.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • ciaranmcgreneraciaranmcgrenera Posts: 313
    @bryanedw I’m in Dublin. We had 2.5 inches of unforecast snow this morning! 

    1.5 degrees and 87% humidity in the greenhouse. I got the thermometer on Amazon, but I’m not sure I have full faith in it yet.
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    I usually start sowing seeds in my unheated greenhouse around the third week of March. I did start some tomatoes off early in the house last year and they went out into the greenhouse as quite small seedlings maybe mid-March (my window sills aren’t sunny enough). They survived cold temperatures fine, just grew slowly until the weather warmed up and the ones sown in the GH in late March soon caught up.
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
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