Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi Colin
As for okra it needs a lot higher temperature than the others. Here's what Medwyn says:

Okra certainly likes warmth, so the seed will have to be sown in a propagator initially and once germinated, which is quite easy, it can then be potted on into a three inch pot and it must still be grown warm with a minimum night temperature of 60°F. Germination will be quite quick but young seedling establishment can be very slow. The seedling will very often appear to be just sitting there not seeming to move at all for days on end and looking a very pale yellow colour. However once it has established it’s roots it will soon gallop away.

Hope you succeed

Alan

Thanks to JB and Alan for your comments.

Since Monday night looked like it was turning colder, I brought all the plants mentioned indoors and left them there (it's a difficult decision in the mornings since it's often still too cold to move stuff back outside before heading off to work).

As a result, they stayed in the conservatory and later baked in 20+degree bright sunshine

Alan, I've tried Okra once before and it grew ok'ish, producing wonderfull pastel yellow flowers and (about 7) fruit! This time, my seeds germinated in about 4 days and are currently 5 inches high with 2-3 sets of leaves. I'm sure they will continue to be pesky though, as Medwyn suggests.

Colin

Peppers/ chillis are definately more robust. I planted one as an experiment in my tunnel this winter along with some tomatoes. The tomatoes died off in the cold as would be expected (a week of around 0c in the tunnel) but the pepper made it (albeit a bit stumpy)and is now setting fruit, we'll see how productive it gets this summer - it may have suffered due to its ill treatment, it was also kept in a pot since its initial spring sowing and tortured before it was set out in the tunnel in autumn.

Bal - Not to sit on the fence but if you have a few spares i'd be inclined to put a couple of test plants out now and see what happens. I tend to hedge my bets and put my crops in different places as our weather is pretty extreme 32c in the day and crashing storms at night in the last couple of days.

Hi CJ,
Certainly Peppers/Chilli's may well stand a colder temperature but in a way this is not the point at issue. Below a certain temperature sometimes there is a change in the plant metabolism especially with some young plants. It would appear that the family Solanaceae seem to be such a family and Tomatoes, Pepper/Chilli's and Aubergines are all in this family.
Although they may well survive at a lower temperature (this is not disputed) you have no idea what you a doing to the future performance of the plant. Commercial growers normally are to be relied on to follow that which has been found to be the best min and max temperatures. Commercial growers are advised not to allow their crop temperatures to fall below 10C.
We hear from some people that for them a certain Tomato did not perform as well as was made out by the seed house. Could it be that the temperature that they are raised and kept at in their formative stage that is responsible.
JB.

I'm also hedging my bets, keeping a couple of peppers and aubergines indoors but also agree that peppers/chillis tend to be a little more robust than tomatoes and aubergines. It's a really dilemma this time of year, having to move plants im and out, especially when time is limited before rushing off to work, etc.

Hi - I just make a temporary little "heater" in my cold greenhouse on nights where low temporatures are forecast by putting a stumpy candle or nightlight inside a terracotta plantpot, and inverting a second pot on top as a lid. Might not be ideal, but it certainly raises the temperature a little, and my toms and peppers have never complained. Having said this, however, my greenhouse is in my garden, not on an allotment.

As JB says - the minimum temperature for tomatoes is 10 degrees and I apply that principle to aubergines, chillies adn cucumbers.

I'm sorry Colin - don't know whether that's suitable for Okra. Can't imagine why anyone would want to grow them?!

Tigger wrote:don't know whether that's suitable for Okra. Can't imagine why anyone would want to grow them?!

c'mon Tigger, live a little

But then again, if you don't enjoy eating them, I can see why you'd say that! Luckily, I do.

Colin

Tigger wrote:As JB says - the minimum temperature for tomatoes is 10 degrees and I apply that principle to aubergines, chillies adn cucumbers.

Since I don't have any power to my greenhouse and it feels too late to buy a paraffin heater now, I bought a max/min thermometer instead.

Last night in Bristol showed 9 deg C. Good thing I'd bought the toms in JB! I'd also brought the peppers & aubergines in, but sadly not the cucumbers Tigger.

Hopefully just a few more weeks and we can start going for it in earnest,


Colin[/quote]

Hi Colin,
You had a temperature of 9C in the greenhouse but we had a -1C frost outside and Bristol is only about 80 miles as the cow flies so it shows just how variable things are at this time of the year.
So easy to slip-up. Better to be a tad late sowing than having to resow and be a mile behind!!
JB.

My greenhouse is unheated apart from frosts. At night it goes down to around 5C and my tomatoes are A1 ok...

Hi Madasafish.
As has been said that plants may survive at lower temperatures but I will say again that this is not the point at issue.
The recommended minimum temperature is 10C for the safety and welfare of your plants if you care to grow them at a lower temperature this is your prerogative.
JB.

Point taken JB, hence I've followed your advice.

On Thursday night, the temperature inside the greenhouse dropped to 6 degrees C (though it had been in the 20's during the day).

This thread interests me. I've had mixed results with the toms in my greenhouse for the past 4 years. There have always been some that grew tall with plenty of foliage, but never produced much fruit.

It will be interesting to see the results of keeping their toes warmer this year.


Colin

Many thanks to all you folks who commented on my post
Your comments have been very informative and helpful.
Thanka again
BAL

OK Colin - maybe I should try them (Okra) again! I always find they taste a bit like wallpaper paste.