Help how do I save my Tomatoes?

Question

It was so beautiful for a couple of weeks I went out and bought some tomatoe plants and planted them and they were looking beautiful. But then with this late season freeze most of my plants died. I have one plant that I had planted in a huge pot. Before the freeze I brought it inside my house. The pot is too heavy for me to drag it in and out but the dryness of the heater and the lack of light seem to be doing almost as much dammage as the cold. It is looking limp and Yellow. And the freeze looks like it will last for at least a few more days. It is by the glass door so it gets as much light as I can arrange. Any ideas?

Answer 1

buy a grow light or get a florescent bulb for a lamp and put it as close and above the plant as you can then mist it with a spray bottle full of water

Answer 2

If you try all of the stuff above it will be dead by the time you get done. If the whole plant is yellow then it is to late if it has green limbs then you have two choices. First is to try to save the whole plant. If it is by the door it may still be getting cold. You can get a heat bulb for about $5 & a reflector for $10. Put it far enough above the plant that you don't burn it(hint if you can't hold your hand at the top of the plant it is to hot). Second choice is if you still have green limbs then you can cut them off & repot them in smaller pots. These will root & give you new plants.

Answer 3

Tomato plants will do best outside in bright light, heat, and humidity. If you plant early and then there is a cold snap, try covering the plants with a sheet or plastic and placing an extension cord light under the sheet with the plant. It will keep it warm enough overnight. Just be sure to remove plastic covering in the morning before the sun gets too high or the heat will literally cook your plants.

Answer 4

It's better to grow tomatoes during the summer, but the next time during the freeze just cover the plants with black plastic and spray plenty of water over the plastic, this way the plants won't die if it's for a couple of three or four days..☺

Answer 5

You just planted too early---but if you do plant after the supposed last frost and it does frost anyway if you can spray water on them before the sun hits them they will be OK. Its the heat from the sun which is intensified by the ice crystals that cook the plant the water dissolves the ice

Answer 6

poor tomatoes! I have grown tomatoes for years and have experienced all manner of climatic catastrophe and seriously, your best bet is to just start over with all new plants, (or start seeds now and transplant in May) but next time, wait til after the last frost date for your hardiness zone. it's so hard not to get in a hurry. - i screw up and freeze a bunch of plants every year. patience! if you have one left, it should do ok in the window, but get it outside after it warms up. I'm sorry for your loss.

Answer 7

Anytime they are have a freeze warning(on the daily weather)out you should cover your plants with milk jugs or at least a sheet of plastic to protect them from the freeze. Jugs work best as it will hold the plants warmth in.
If they were already exposed to the freeze, I doubt they can be saved.

Answer 8

It is possibly getting to much light for the soil moisture and humidity. You moved it from optimal green house conditions. It may also have suffered from exposure when you set it out so early. Tomatoes are tropical plants so do not like to cool off sharply at night. You can try to save it by giving it a foliage feeding.
Mix 2 T fish fertilizer, 1T liquid seaweed, 1 T blackstrap Molasses, 1 gallon water
Spray on plants leaves getting tops & bottoms wet. Spray once a week. Plants absorb nutrients through their leaves quicker than their roots. I also suggest Super Thrive a multivitamin supplement or make alfalfa tea for a root drench.
Alfalfa Tea Spray or Drench
Bucket with lid
1/2c alfalfa pellets or meal (available at pet supply stores or your garden nursery)
Cheesecloth or pantyhose
Add 1 gallon water to the pellets in the bucket. Allow to sit and brew for 10 days out in a place you can't smell it. Use up to 1/2 gallon for a large plant, less for starts. Strain the mix through cheesecloth or pantyhose. "Fortifiers" to the tea can include kelp, fish emulsion, or soluble fertilizer.
Bury the alfalfa dregs into your compost pile (by this time they will be pretty smelly).

Alfalfa is a good source of nitrogen, being a legume, as well as iron, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium and other trace elements. But its value as a fertilizer supplement is in supplying a fatty acid alcohol called triacontanol that acts as a root growth stimulant. Studies at the Organic Gardening Research Center in Emmaus, PA demonstrated that small quantities would increase vegetable yields by 30 to 60% (Large quantities had little effect; once again, more is not better).
You have plenty of time to buy more plants and put them out in May.
I am in zone 7 and I wont be starting to harden my plants til the end of April then as soon as the soil warms up to 55 F they get planted. This is usually Mothers Day here.
To harden I take them out in the morning on a tray and place them in the sun but I move them or use shade cloth to keep the noon sun from burning their leaves if the day is very sunny. Plants like people have to get used to the UV or burn. I will harden them to get them used to wind and day light for two weeks at least.
Yes the wind matters, too. Green house grown plants do not grow stiff stems from being blown about by spring winds. So it is best to expose them to wind to toughen their stems.
Last. I bury the bottom leaves leaving only three layers of leaves showing. This grows roots along the whole stem and establishes a larger feeding base to get them off to a fast start. I use red plastic to hold soil warmth and even in April if and evening threatens to cool off to much I will cover the plants and place a gallon bottle of hot water between each pair of plants.

I use rebar to stake the plants. Three 8 foot rods per indeterminate plant. I cage them with cord strung between the bars as needed.

Answer 9

what you can do is make a mini green house make a small box frame out of some wood than cover it up with plexiglass sheets make sure you leave the top one open that way during the day you can keep it open than at night close it.

Answer 10

juss put it in a salad or a hamburgaaa and make it into yellow ketchup delicouso