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How cold is too cold?

     So, I may have jumped the gun when I put all my overwinters out on Saturday. It's supposed to get down to 45F tonight and about 40F tomorrow night. I don't care if their growth slows down - they don't seem to have woken up yet anyway. I'm just concerned about doing permanent damage to them. But I'm really not looking forward to bringing them all back inside. They're heavy and dirty since I watered them.
     So, what temp. do all you THP pro-growers think is the cutoff for nighttime temps for overwinters? Is my laziness justified, or am I being a bad parent?
 
     Thanks for all the help, folks! It's good to know I won't have to drag all 13 5-10 gallon pots back inside. (I'm sure my wife is glad to hear it, too!) I think what I'll do cover them on the particularly cool nights (thanks jedisushi06) and place a couple of solar-heated water jugs under the tarp/blanket to add some additional heat. Also, I'll make sure the pots see sunlight all day before the colder nights - to help warm up the soil. 
     As I was bringing in my flats of starts this evening, I remembered that I also have a 2' x 4' heating mat I can throw under the tarp, if need be.
     I'm starting to think this will probably be more work than just bringing them back inside, but now it's personal, dammit! Those pots aren't coming back inside until Fall! Watch, now we'll probably get a blizzard this weekend…  :rolleyes:
     Thanks again for all for validating my laziness, everybody!

PrimeTime said:
so easy to jump the gun when spring starts to poke around!
 
     No kidding! I'm always itching to get my plants outside, but I'm never all that motivated to prepare a place for them (mix soil, compost my beds…). 
 
 
     Now if I could just convince the family of rabbits living in one of my raised beds to "jump the gun" and hop outta' there… That's valuable real estate they're squattin' on!
 
The thing to pay particular attention to is sustained temperatures. It can actually get down into the upper 30's at night and as long as it significantly warms up during the day they can be fine - adult plants can, at any rate. They will stress at that point and likely lose leaves, but the plant itself will handle it. Yes, I know from experience - put them into the unattached garage so they didn't get snow or frost only. Ideally the roots won't get much below 50F, but again, for a sustained period. 
 
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