If I put plants outdoors and there is a few nights in the 40s at first, will that kill the plants? During the day we're talking 70s and even 80s but in May it still gets chilly at night and I dont wanna kill my plants.
How cold can it get? the lower the temp, the slower the plant grows also. even night time temp's. 40's is do-able but not prefered. 31F = death (tho there are many a story of living thru lower).
Froggy put it perfect. Your plants can survive any tempurature up to and above a frost. But that said plants growing inside in 75 degrees 24/7 should be introduced slowly to colder temps to avoid shock.....and stunted growth or other bad things. Cold will just slow growth. Until the nights stay in the 50's or above the plants will grow slowly. I personally would say wait for outside until the temps are up near 40 at night. Ive put plants out very early to jump the gun and ive put plants out 3 weeks later.......the 3 week early plants were no larger than the late plants my mid summer. My take was the cooler temps......they didn't really grow anyhow, so i just wait and don't risk killing them with frost. Other thing is...if nothing else is green. Hungry animals will find your plants and eat them, and they stick out like a sore thumb for people to see if nothing else is green.