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lowest temps?

Balduvian

Balduvian

so the temps are about mid 50's during the day now and around low 50's to high 40's at night, its going to start to dip down to mid 40's for a few hours every night and some days low 40's in the next 2 weeks. what temps can i still have them outside at before they die? i need to bring them inside just need to know when ill need to have them in by.
 
any help would be great, whats the lowest temps you keep your peppers out till?
 
32F. A frost will affect tender leaves and limbs but not pods. A true freeze is what you need to look out for. That being said I try to protect them from anything below 38ish.
 
i got that experiment on the go right now as we have had a few freezing nights.
 
so, in the lab(ground) in front of my garage facing south. in raised beds, sheltered from most winds and weather, except cold are: 1 dundicut, 1 goatsweed and 1 jwala.
 
-3C was the first extreme night, all have survived but the dundicut has drooped, is wilted and has dropped some leaves. its fruit has softened but not mush. the plants are staggered in the raised bed with the goatsweed being closest to the garage and having the most protection. then jwala is 6 inches in front of the goatsweed and the dundicut is 6 inches in front of the jwala and the dundicut is closer to any cold exposure. the jwala fruit is still ripening and firm as is the goatsweed.
 
i do cover the plants at night and have 2 remaining tomato plants next to them for any possible additional heat. plus, they are right beside my greenhouse, that hits 50C when the sun is out, it has a cement floor covered by black shingles, so i am guessing that is retaining heat in the soil during the night.  farther away from the greenhouse, i dug in some coffee grounds yesterday and found some ice pockets. i do monitor the greenhouse temps with a remote thermometer and by 6am it has gone as low as 4C at the top of the greenhouse, i don't know what ground level or below temps are, perhaps i should move the remote to the bottom of the greenhouse to see if the ground level is retaining heat.
 
last year i attempted a fully exposed goatsweed in my unsheltered garden and a -7C took care of it. the 3 lab rats are destined for the composter once the experiment is over.
 
Burning Colon said:
i got that experiment on the go right now as we have had a few freezing nights.
 
so, in the lab(ground) in front of my garage facing south. in raised beds, sheltered from most winds and weather, except cold are: 1 dundicut, 1 goatsweed and 1 jwala.
 
-3C was the first extreme night, all have survived but the dundicut has drooped, is wilted and has dropped some leaves. its fruit has softened but not mush. the plants are staggered in the raised bed with the goatsweed being closest to the garage and having the most protection. then jwala is 6 inches in front of the goatsweed and the dundicut is 6 inches in front of the jwala and the dundicut is closer to any cold exposure. the jwala fruit is still ripening and firm as is the goatsweed.
 
i do cover the plants at night and have 2 remaining tomato plants next to them for any possible additional heat. plus, they are right beside my greenhouse, that hits 50C when the sun is out, it has a cement floor covered by black shingles, so i am guessing that is retaining heat in the soil during the night.  farther away from the greenhouse, i dug in some coffee grounds yesterday and found some ice pockets. i do monitor the greenhouse temps with a remote thermometer and by 6am it has gone as low as 4C at the top of the greenhouse, i don't know what ground level or below temps are, perhaps i should move the remote to the bottom of the greenhouse to see if the ground level is retaining heat.
 
last year i attempted a fully exposed goatsweed in my unsheltered garden and a -7C took care of it. the 3 lab rats are destined for the composter once the experiment is over.
Click to expand...
-3C!!! CELSIUS. What kind of sorcery did you grow those with? Mine refuse to tolerate anything below 45 before going into "shutdown".
 
the key is the soil, keeping it above freezing. think geeme has been on this for a while and i am just proving her correct..........as usual!
 
my dundicut is dying. the jwala is still doing well as is the goatsweed. tonight is suppose to hit -1C again, so what is that, 29F. let's see how everything fares in the morning.
 
I live in southern AZ but last winter was crazy and got down to 10F (that's f'ing cold here) and was regularly in low 20s. I got multiple plants through the winter just fine by covering them with a bed sheet and thin plastic sheet on top of that, and an incandescent light bulb underneath the sheets. They actually seemed to keep growing (slightly) and came back with a vengeance I'm the spring. I did this with both potted and in-ground
 
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