cold weather on new pepper plants

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We are having unusally cold weather here in Kansas. My question is this: will I need to replant my serrano and jalepeno plants? And what about my basil? I guess I've vaguely remember hearing in the past that cold weather (I'm talking 42 degrees at night and windy, of course) could permanently stunt these types of plants.

-- Robin Attanasio (robinatt@salpublib.org), May 22, 2001

Answers

I live in Kansas also and have my pepper plants out. Acctually we have had some unusally hot weather this year already. (It's been close to 90 - welcome to Kansas.) From what I've learned is that the pepper plants will slow down growing during this time but should rebond when it warms up. That's what seems to have happened in the past. You can cover them. If they are small enough you can put plastic milk cartons over the top of them. Just cut the bottom off and place them over the plant. Of course mound up some dirt around the botton to keep them from blowing away.

I hope this helps.

-- Tom S. (trdsshepard@yahoo.com), May 22, 2001.


Dang this cold weather i was mulching my garden had the maters and pepper plants mulched just have to wait and see hope it warms up today. Bob se.ks.

-- Bobco (bobco@hit.net), May 23, 2001.

If you can, water them in the morning. It always worked in the fall for me, extending past some of the first hard freezes. Should be able to save all the peppers, and most of the tomatoes. Also - mulch deeper... up to about 1/3 the plant's height.

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), May 23, 2001.

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