Hi all, in recently moved some of my seed trays indoors as there was no progress after 2-3 weeks. For context, I sowed some tomato and chilli seeds in my greenhouse mid January in the UK. I brought them indoors last week and they have started to seed (yippee!). Picture of tomato seedlings attached.
My question is, am I okay to take them back out the unheated greenhouse now or should i keep them on the windowsill a bit longer?
Thanks for any help in advance. Second year growing (or attempting to) and I watered the heck out of everything last year and killed it. So this is progress for me!
If you need any more info etc. let me know.
Happy planting!
by WetYellowCactus
3 Comments
What’s the temp in the greenhouse? If you don’t have grow lights, I would at least take them out for the sunny part of day and bring them back in at night if it gets too cold. I use a heat mat for seeds and remove it once they sprout so similar idea.
It should be at least 50F inside the greenhouse for tomatoes, and ideally at least 60F for peppers. Yes, they can ***survive*** temps that are a bit lower than this…but there is a good chance you will stunt their growth.
You could put them in the greenhouse during the day and bring them back in at night if the greenhouse only reaches these temps during the daytime.
They will need more light than this if they will be staying inside awhile longer. Peppers may need a heat mat to germinate in cooler room temps–or try putting them on top of a fridge where it is usually a bit warmer. They like temps closer to 80F to germinate.
Not knowing your exact location I guess you will fail in the greenhouse trying to grow them in February or March. 1. Too little light and 2. too cold. My experiences in cold Eifel/Germany: I tried that in March and was able to completely stall their growth. They never recovered from a low temperature shock. It is right, you should not have any temp below 10 C, even for only a short period in a juvenile state.
Get them inside, get some nice led grow lamps, nurse them until you have strong 20 cm plants in 9 cm pots and plant them to the greenhouse when outside nighttemperatures are above 5 C (that should be around 10 C inside). Look at “historical temperature data” for your area, you will get an idea…
You c a n do it in the greenhouse if you don’t have the space inside (I did one year) but only in closed environment (mini greenhouses) with heating, controlled temperature and artificial light. But its cheaper and easier to do it inside.
Good luck!