Tomato Question!

[IceStorm]

Hello all!

Today I picked up a handful of different tomato varieties from a friend. They're all pretty big, maybe around 1/2 to a foot tall already?
We live in CO, the weather is warming up but the nights are still chilly. The plants are all in planters that can be moved around, should I be moving them into the garage at night and outside in the morning till the nights start to warm up? That seems like it's gonna be a good while...

 

[Rillowen]

Hello all!

Today I picked up a handful of different tomato varieties from a friend. They're all pretty big, maybe around 1/2 to a foot tall already?
We live in CO, the weather is warming up but the nights are still chilly. The plants are all in planters that can be moved around, should I be moving them into the garage at night and outside in the morning till the nights start to warm up? That seems like it's gonna be a good while...

Tomatoes can handle fairly cool temps, i leave mine out at 40s often. It also depends on how they have been kept, if in a heated greenhouse for instance you might want to wait.

 

[digitS']

We see reasonable garden advice telling us to wait until nighttime temperatures are consistently above 50⁰f.

I will say something about conditions for me to deal with here at home. The "normal daily minimum temperature" is below 50 degrees Fahrenheit for the entire month of May. That would mean in mid-May, half the mornings would normally be in low 40's or even cooler.

Most years, I would be waiting until mid-June to set tomatoes out following that advice and there is nothing wrong with it. Setting out mid-May, I choose less-than-80-day to maturity varieties and am prepared to cover plants with buckets or tarps if conditions become too chilly. Choosing later transplanting dates or later maturing varieties, I would be taking the chance of having no ripe tomatoes for the season.

Steve