How cold is too cold?

[Lawrence]

After an awful summer, my plants have quite a few green pods and loads of flowers.
They continue to grow but with temperatures around 14°C at night and 20°C during the day not that well.
We are expecting a cold night Wednesday down to 8°C should I be moving them into the greenhouse?
I can heat it, so what should I be aiming for? I can't afford to heat up to tropical temperatures so I want to make sure they keep going while I decide which ones I will attempt to overwinter.
Appreciate your help.

 

[harry]

The key thing I have found in keeping the plants alive is to keep them out of the rain and sheltered from frost.

8° C is about the minimum temperature expected over night here. The temperatures that I consider dicey are those below 4° C here where the chance of frost increases.

Will you be able to ward off freezing temperatures with a heater in the greenhouse?

 

[POTAWIE]

4C here last night and a light frost but plants are all perfectly OK. Time to start filling the greenhouse again soon

 

[Lawrence]

Yes I will be able to keep the frost at bay, I have a heater with an automatic frost protection setting. I think it kicks in at about 5°C.
Thinking about some lighting too, but thats a whole new topic!

 

[FarmerGuy]

I find that they do get very cranky below 6C - I try to keep mine above 10C whenever possible.

I run a large outdoor hydro setup and am forced to make them finish early this year since I am moving soon. I cut off the majority of their water and give them only enough nutrients to keep their osmosis going the correct direction. This is forcing them to ripen much faster and has resulted in higher heat levels, which is great. So I would stress them out a little bit, particularly on the watering side of things which should help to hurry them up.

Good luck!