How Cold is too Cold?

[SL3]

I think I’m kind of playing Russian Roulette with my plants. Although I am in Sunny California it seems winter has arrived, and a couple of rain storms have already come through the last couple of days.
 
I was trying to hang on until the first frost before pulling them all in for the winter. We still have temps ranging from 65 to 70 during the day, but it’s 40 to 43 at night.
 
I hate to pull them in too soon and waist all that good sunshine between storms, not to mention the electric bill. I know 32 degrees is the instant death number, but how close can I go to that number for a night time temp before pulling all of my plants inside?

 

[spongey600]

in my experience, as long as it is not below 40 for multiple days you will be fine. i am in SD and i keep mine outside all year, i just cut them down to branches in a month or so. but they grow back.

 

[geeme]

I used to live in Houston, and then So Cal, and now (for some strange reason that totally escapes me right now) I live in Ohio. Northern Ohio at that. I can tell you it's too cold here, but you've got it made for the most part. with temps from 65-70+ in the days, you don't have to worry about 40's at night. When you need to start getting concerned is when it gets below 50 during the day as well as at night. Even then, the plants will likely tolerate a day or two here and there like that. I've had mine out in the open garage (covered from snow and frost) with it down to 30. 
 
Note I'm talking about plants in pots. If you have the plants in the ground, they get warmth from the ground and can tolerate a bit more cold up above. 32 degrees is not instant death, btw..... I do try to bring my plants in the house when it gets that cold, but I don't always make it. I now have 4 plants inside for overwinters, and they were outside when it dipped down into the 20's at night for a couple nights.

 

[ajijoe]

it can also depend on relative humidity if it has been raining or you have alot of dew thats a very bad thing and is a death sentence also, ice crystals form and destroy plant tissue
 
i seen temps dip to almost 30 and the plant got funny looking but did not die because it was dry cold,it didnt do them any good either, i could be wrong but i have seen this with my own two eyes with my garden
 
thaks your friend Joe

 

[SL3]

in my experience, as long as it is not below 40 for multiple days you will be fine. i am in SD and i keep mine outside all year, i just cut them down to branches in a month or so. but they grow back.

Thanks. That's what I did. I cut them all back, but at the rate their growing new leaves in, I'll probably have to do it one more time. We do get a real hard freeze in this valley, unlike some of the surrounding areas. I have lost hundreds of succulents by not being prepared in the past. I will use 40 degrees as my marker and play it safe.

 

[zantrax]

I am near Toronto and I managed to have my peppers out until just before Halloween. The leaves all were wilting, and they all looked like they were dead.The temp was hovering around 5C/41F and dipping to 2C/35F for over a week.  I re-potted the 10 plants I wanted to keep and cut them back and hoped for the best. 9 survived, the one that did not come back was a Yatzy. They were doing quite well until the aphids got to them. I guess they will hold on for life until they freeze.