I guess it will be your best guess. I never do the cloche thing for that reason- fear of cooking them to death. It gets too hot too fast here if the sun shows, though that seems rare this year. I'd only cover them when frost is likely, but that's just me. I know lots of folks use cloches.

I haven't even planted mine out yet- still too rainy here to get out and plant anything. My soil is way too wet to dig.

Karen

Once mine were potted in their containers, I didn't do anything but water, fertilize, sucker and stake. They were fine. They grew too tall too fast for cloches to even fit after a few days of warm weather.

I take the tops off after they sprout and don't put them back unless there's going to frost or hail.

I covered my 38 pepper plants and about half of my 117 tomato plants last nigth with two liter bottles, tops of my gallon milk jugs, whatever I could find, because it was supposed to get 40 degrees here last night. Its only about 60 out now, so they're probably fine under the bottles. I'll probably take them off tomorrow morning though. Its still supposed to be chilly tonight.

Everyone does it differently... I take them off when nighttime temps go above 40 degrees. By that time they are outgrowing the cloches anyway. But I am saving them in case we get hail because this is such a whacky weather spring.

I was wondering this same question on my seedlings that have sort of stopped growing. Today I went out and cut them all off. Because of the massive amounts of rain for the next week, I'll cover them with clear plastic at night.

Thanks. I think I'll leave them on during this chilly spell then pull them off when the sun comes out again.

The bottles should not have a cap on them. They will retain heat, which is good, but they may also retain too much heat which is very bad. Ughh, steamed seedlings.

In my garden, sometimes I need to use a water bottle coche over my very small tomato seedlings because some of the birds seem to think they're delicious. By the time the seedling's leaves are touching the bottle walls I remove the bottle.

T