I read somewhere when you have tomatoes planted outdoors that in the Fall when daytime temps get down to a certain degree that it doesn't do any good to leave the tomatoes out anymore. For the life of me, I can't remember what temp they said.

I guess commonsense would say 50's?

I live in northern Maine and would like to leave mine out for as long as I can (even if I have to cover them every night).

Does anyone have any ideas on this?

Ciao McNan,

They're calling for a low of 3C on Monday night here, so I'm going to be covering my plants with tarps. What I do until the show's really over is I pick any tomatoes that are showing the least smidge of a blush. Some hint of colour. Then they ripen the rest of the way in the house. Usually sometime in October, I yank the plants up and spread them out on the floor. Some ripen, some stay green. I don't waste much.

Cheers,
Julianna