I think it depends on the level of stress at transplant time...
I did compare plants that went in just before a cold snap lasting a couple of days, with the same variety held back those couple of days and planted in warmer conditions. The ones I held back ripened fruit earlier than the first ones planted.
There was no major stunting though, so the stressed plants did as well overall, just not as early.
YMMV though depending on the variety. Cold tolerance is very much genetic. And also, if cold tolerance is there in the lineage, giving seedlings the cold treatment before plantout will activate the necessary genes.
Fusion once advised to plan the transplant to coincide with a couple of warm days in the forecast, so the plants don't have to deal with two stresses at once. That has turned out to be really good advice for me. As long as the plants have been in for a couple of days before the next cold stress, they seem to handle it just fine. But simultaneous to transplant stress, they droop, lose leaves etc. and as I saw in my experiment, that can make your harvest time later.
|