What Temperature Conditions Do Tomatoes Need to Grow?

Tomatoes are temperature-loving vegetables. Generally speaking, they can adapt to tomato growth within the temperature range of 15~35℃. The most suitable temperature for assimilation is 20~30℃. When the temperature reaches 33℃, the growth is affected, and the growth stops when it reaches 40℃. When it reaches 45℃, high temperature damage will occur. The temperature drops below 10℃ to grow slowly, and stops growing at 5℃. Tomatoes will freeze to death at minus 1~2℃, but seedlings that have been tempered for cold tolerance can withstand a short period of minus 2℃. The optimum ground temperature for tomato growth is 20~23℃. When the local temperature drops to 6℃, the root system stops growing.

There are certain differences in temperature requirements at different stages of tomato development.

The optimum temperature during the seedling stage is 20-25℃ during the day and 10-15℃ at night. Too high or too low temperature in the seedling stage can easily lead to weak growth of seedlings, flower bud differentiation, poor growth, and reduced flower quality, and it is easy to produce flower and fruit drop during the flowering and fruiting period.

The flowering period is sensitive to temperature, and the optimum temperature is 20-30℃ during the day and 15-20℃ at night. When encountering low temperature or high temperature above 30℃ during the flowering period, the pollen grains will germinate and the pollen tube will be poorly elongated, poor fertilization, and easy to fall flowers and fruit.

The optimum temperature during the result period is 24~26℃ during the day and 12~17℃ at night.

The optimum temperature during the fruit coloring period is 20-25℃, and the coloration is poor above 30℃.

Tomato growth and development require a certain temperature difference between day and night, especially in the fruiting period. Tomato plants photosynthesize during the day to produce nutrients, and appropriately lower the temperature at night, which is conducive to the transportation and accumulation of nutrients, and promotes the growth of roots, stems, leaves and fruits, thereby increasing yield and quality. Therefore, tomato production in greenhouses in winter often grows excessively due to excessive heating at night.

Suitable temperature conditions for different stages of tomato:

The relative humidity of the air in the shed during the early stage of growth should be maintained at 60-65%. The relative humidity of the air in the middle and late stages of growth should be maintained at 45-55%.

Tomatoes do not have strict soil requirements. It is best to choose fertile loam with deep soil layer, good drainage, and rich organic matter. During the growth period, tomatoes need to absorb a lot of nutrients from the soil. To produce 5,000 kg of fruits, 33 kg of potassium oxide, 10 kg of nitrogen and 5 kg of phosphorus need to be absorbed from the soil. 73% of these elements are distributed in fruits, and 27% are found in vegetative organs such as stems, leaves and roots.

The above information is provided by seeds manufacturer.