[mclarkuk1]

Im going away for a week on saturday at what i think is a very vulnerable time for my tomato, cucumber plants.

Its taken alot of hard work to get my plants to the stage they are at, all with fruits on and imo doing really well.

Ive got someone to do the watering and feeding but they wont want to come over all the time so i have to make a decision what to leave out etc.

My tomatoes in the greenhouse should be fine so long as they get watered and fed and i think im going to leave the window open constantly incase it gets too hot in the daytime. Hopefully it wont get too cold at night tho.

My main concern is i have a handfull of tomato plants which are out in the day and in the conservatory at night, can i leave them out permanently? Im in north oxfordshire if that helps.

The next concern is i have 3 indoor cuc plants which have been through alot and i have managed to keep them going and now have a good handfull of cukes which have pollinated. The greenhouse is too dry which nearly killed them the first time so i keep them in the conservatory and in the house at night. Can i leave them out in the conservatory permanently now? i dont have a thermometer in there but dont believe it drops below about 12degC.

Any help greatly appreciated

Matt

P.s, last year my larger toms all got taken out with blossom end rot. This year i obviously dont want this to happen so is it a good idea to buy chempak calcium and feed with that aswell as tomatorite? Can it do any harm?

Thanks

[Yorkie]

I'm not familiar enough with the vagaries of the weather in N Oxfordshire (it would help if you could edit your forum profile to add this so it doesn't get overlooked in your post) but, generally, the start of June is often seen as relatively safe from frost.

I would continue hardening off your plants, get them used to overnights outdoors in a sheltered place, and then towards the weekend have a look at the forecast for the following week to see whether winds or chilly overnights are predicted.

Not sure about the chempak fertiliser question.

[shokkyy]

I thought blossom end rot was caused by inconsistent watering.

[DD.]

It's caused by poor transportation of calcium around the plant, the cause of which can be, but not necessarily be inconsistent watering.

[shokkyy]

Thanks, DD. Last year I had blossom end rot in my alicante toms, but not in the 3 other varieties of tom that were in identical pots right next to them, in the same compost and being watered the same amount at the same time every day I can only think some varieties must be a lot more prone to it than others.

[DD.]

Back to the original question, Metcheck gives -1^oC for Banbury, (took that as a North Oxfordshire location), for the early hours of 7th June.

If they're right, that spells trouble.

[Trillium]

I thought blossom end rot was caused by inconsistent watering.

That is also another major cause of blossom end rot even if you have the calcium problem solved.

[Endymion]

If you decide to leave them out you could put some canes around the pots and wrap them with fleece.

[Kristen]

Ive got someone to do the watering and feeding

They can skip the feeding if you are only away for a week.  Feed them just before you go ... I think the instructions on the pack for feeding Tomatoes have more to do with getting you to use more! rather than what the plants actually need.

Its extremely unlikely that your conservatory will fall below 10C now (which is minimum for Cucumbers).  However, will they cook in there on a blue-sky sunny day? I would have expected the Greenhouse to be fine down to an external air temperature of 2C or so - nights are short, the greenhouse will lose heat such that it is probably 4C above the outside, and if it fell to 6C for an hour or two that wouldn't hurt the Tomatoes

Automatic vent openers on your greenhouse would be better than leaving the windows open - it would be better they were closed on chilly nights.

[poodle]

If you leave the windows and door open in the greenhouse you should be ok because during the day the ground within heats up and then radiates back during the night keeping the temperature slightly above the surrounding outside. I went away early May for a week and checked the forcast,  left all my greenhouse open to stop overheating, with auto watering system, and tomatoes, peppers, chillies and fucias were all fine (there was a ground frost one night but did not affect anything). However I did take my cucumber plants on holiday with me ( in motorhome!).

[Kristen]

Although the heat will escape much faster with the windows open, fo course, particularly if there is any breeze ... and thus will fall to ambient overnight sooner than if the windows ere closed, so there is less likelihood of the greenhouse providing frost protection than if it was closed early.

On nights where there is risk of frost I deliberately close the greenhouse earlier - to trap more heat to help sustain it through the night

[LilacSandy]

Where did you get your forecast DD? Everywhere I look for Tuesday I get 7 - 8 degrees?  I hope you are wrong as I live in Northampton and all my tender plants are out!!

[DD.]

It was from Metcheck - and the site's down AGAIN!

[mumofstig]

It's back up again 

[DD.]

So it is - and they've changed their minds.