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Post by brownrexx on Apr 4, 2019 7:18:56 GMT -5
Do you harden off your seedlings before planting them in the garden?
How do you do it?
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Apr 4, 2019 8:47:35 GMT -5
Oh, absolutely. If the seedlings go straight from indoors to the garden they will get a fatal sunburn every time.
Step 1 is to move them to the back porch, where they get a little early morning sunlight filtered through the screen.
Step 2 is, after a couple of days on the porch, I move them to the deck just outside the screened porch. Here they get morning sun, but the eaves and the house shade them from noon onward. If I can be home, I try to move them outside in late morning so they get just a couple of hours of direct sun before that area gets shaded. Then if they look good (no sunburn) that evening, I leave them out to get sun all morning the next day. If they show any sunburn, they go back on the porch for a couple of days before trying again.
Step 3 is, after 2-3 days next to the porch, I move them slightly farther away from the house each day or two, until they are getting full sun all day. They should adapted to full sun and ready for the garden 7-10 days after coming out of the house.
I monitor them for sunburn after every move - the biggest sunburn danger is from the move outside the porch, because it's the first time they get direct sunlight that isn't filtered through a window or a screen.
And of course I bring them in at night if a cold night or two is forecast. But usually I don't start hardening off until the 10-day forecast shows all nighttime lows at 45F or higher.*
*EDIT: 45F is my threshold for hardening off frost-tender seedlings like tomatoes and peppers. I don't start many of my winter plants inside, but when I do, I harden them off when there are no hard freezes in the forecast. Light frosts are okay for hardening off the winter plants, though.
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Post by paulf on Apr 4, 2019 8:55:09 GMT -5
Yes. About a week before planting the flats of tomatoes get taken to the garage. The first day all are set out for a couple of hours. The next day a little longer, etc. Always the flats are in shade to dappled sunlight. The wind is more a threat than sunlight for burning tender leaves. After a week or ten days the seedlings are put out into the mean, cruel world to fend for themselves.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Apr 4, 2019 9:11:57 GMT -5
Oh yeah, part of the hardening off begins inside with a fan. I also take the flats outside and put in the shade, giving them more sun a little at a time.
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Post by brownrexx on Apr 4, 2019 11:23:04 GMT -5
I have a covered front porch which is perfect for hardening off because it only gets sun at the front half so I can pull the seedlings back into the shade when necessary but they still get exposed to breezes which helps them get stronger stems.
My bok choy, cabbage and lettuce seedlings are out there in full sun as I type this. I pulled them back towards the house last night because it dropped to 36°. They were fine so I think that I will get them planted in the garden this weekend. They have been spending their days but not the cold nights on the porch for the last week.
My tomatoes and peppers usually end up spending about a month on the front porch because they outgrow their pots and my little light set up so I pot them into 6" pots and let them live on the front porch after that and until planting time. This gives them time to be really well hardened off and they fill the pot with roots.
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Post by september on Apr 4, 2019 15:34:20 GMT -5
My seedlings are hardened off very early. They go out to the greenhouse as soon as they sprout, but get brought back into the house at night until night temps stay above 25F when I can safely heat the greenhouse. We're still getting nights from 12-18F, but mid April tends to be when I can leave them in the greenhouse at night with an electric heater. Then seedlings go from the greenhouse onto the lawn in front of it, as soon as day temps are about 50F and sunny, but back into the greenhouse at night. Even with fans and vents open, the greenhouse will get into the 80's when it's sunny, and I think they grow more robust in cooler temps with lots of natural wind. I have a light-stand in my basement with 8 shop fixtures, but it only gets limited use while the seeds are sprouting at different rates.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Apr 4, 2019 16:25:33 GMT -5
The greens I don't harden off, because I immediately cover them with Agribon, and I don't ever have a problem with them. The rest, I harden off, mainly to get them used to the sun, by putting them out on my deck. The ones that I start later - the cucurbits in the jiffy pellets - I put them on a shelf in front of a south facing window on my back porch, and they are pretty used to the sun, by the time they get transplanted.
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Post by brownrexx on Apr 4, 2019 16:37:03 GMT -5
pepperhead212, will you be planting your bok choy in the garden this weekend? Mine are working on their second set of true leaves but they look so tiny. They have been out on the porch in their pots for a week so they are hardened off, just tiny.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Apr 4, 2019 19:31:57 GMT -5
It depends on the rain, brownrexx. I 'tilled the row for the greens, and laid the T-tape down the center of the row, so it's ready, assuming it's not muddy out there. I would have done it today, but it got too late.
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