Seedlings started indoors live a very sheltered life for the first few weeks. There's no wind to contend with, minimal UVs, and temperatures are a consistent 70 degrees. In order to adjust to outdoor growing conditions, tender seedlings need to gradually adapt over a period of days. Skip this all-important step and it's welcome to Scorchville, population your plants.
Feeling the burn
Many "experts" say you need to harden off tomatoes over 1-2 weeks, gradually building the time each day until they can stay out all day. One guy wrote that he does 2-4-6-plant (measured in hours per day). It would be a catchier phrase if "plant" rhymed with "8". I've been doing something similar to that for the past few years, and it seems to get the job done. I usually try to plant the plants in the afternoon also, so they have the cool of the evening to recover from transplanting shock.
What do you do?
Been a weird few weeks to "harden off". I've had mine out in the various elements (mostly cool, cloudy, breezy) when it felt right. Other than that, I've had then in a really hot morning window that I open for them to get a breeze and hopefully a good dose of sun. A couple of mine have fairly stout stems but leaves still a little thin and silky for my liking...not sure I'll get them there by this weekend with this weather!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I don't have a cold frame (yet!) but I am also trying the water starvation method of hardening off on a sample of my plants. That's supposed to toughen then up although still not quite prepare them for the June sun that could be.
ReplyDeleteI try the water starvation method every time I forget to water my plants for a few days. I'd like to say that it's intentional.
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