Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post - Running lights overnight during cold treatment

bower · April 3, 2017

'Stunting' is a harsh word.

The main point of cold treatment is to activate gene expression for cold tolerance. KarenO doesn't need it because of her methods, potting up into large pots and planting out when it's really warm. Those plants didn't even know they were in Edmonton.

OTOH where I live it's never really guaranteed to be warm.

I don't have the space to pot up and keep them indoors until July, so they will have to be planted in the greenhouse out of beer cups, and nights will be lower than 50 F on times, 50 being the benchmark for "good night". So my seedlings need to grow proportionate to the small pots they are allowed, not too tall, and they need to be ready to put up with a lot of miserable weather!

April 3, 2017	#12
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,793	'Stunting' is a harsh word. The main point of cold treatment is to activate gene expression for cold tolerance. KarenO doesn't need it because of her methods, potting up into large pots and planting out when it's really warm. Those plants didn't even know they were in Edmonton. OTOH where I live it's never really guaranteed to be warm. I don't have the space to pot up and keep them indoors until July, so they will have to be planted in the greenhouse out of beer cups, and nights will be lower than 50 F on times, 50 being the benchmark for "good night". So my seedlings need to grow proportionate to the small pots they are allowed, not too tall, and they need to be ready to put up with a lot of miserable weather!