Hardening Off - Weather Fluctuation

[pdxwindjammer]

Since I am new at growing tomatoes by seed I am cautiously trying to protect my babies. We have had decent weather in the past week so I have been bringing my pepper and tomato seedlings outside each day for an extended period of time.

Yesterday it was 70 degrees and they were out for about 5 hours. Today it is fairly windy and 50 degrees!

Can I still put them outside today or should I keep them under the lights in my garage? I have read that the "cold treatment" helps plants develop into strong prolific producers but they are barely getting their true leaves and I don't want to shock them into submission.

I did just put them outside but if I get a few quick replies advising against it I will bring them back in.

Thanks!

[matertoo]

Windjammer: I am also new to growing tomatos from seed. I started mine 2/13/10 and have been hardening mine off for the last few weeks. I am sure some of the "old hands" would've chimed in by now, but since they hsven't, here's my $.02.

The purpose of "hardening off is to acclimate the plants to outside conditions so they can survive. My plants have been toughened up enough that I felt they were ready. I planted 8 of them yesterday and they are still looking good. Will start gradually planting the rest over the next few weeks.

Happy Matering,

Paul

[pdxwindjammer]

Thanks. I have left them out and now they are getting some rain.

Lucky for you that you live in a climate where you can plant out early. If we did that here in Portland we would be a tomatoeless city!

[nctomatoman]

Folks, probably no one responded yet because there is just so much info on germinating and hardening off in other threads here - lots of good stuff to read that will answer many of your questions.

[pdxwindjammer]

nc tomatoman, sorry if you felt I was repetitive about my question. I DID do a search but didn't find an answer to my specific question. Please be forgiving to newbies such as myself who are trying to succeed in growing tomatoes by seed. There were a couple of people who provided helpful answers and I thank you who did.

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

Folks, probably no one responded yet because there is just so much info on germinating and hardening off in other threads here - lots of good stuff to read that will answer many of your questions.

[amideutch]

The way the weather has been acting the past 6 months I'm not taking any chances. I'm planting out 15 May. Ami

[Marko]

Originally Posted by pdxwindjammer

Today it is fairly windy and 50 degrees!
Can I still put them outside today or should I keep them under the lights in my garage?

Wind is good, but at 50 degrees tomatoes don't do any progress. Under the lights they may become leggy. My choice in this case would be the lights.

[b54red]

I guess it would depend on how hard the wind is blowing. I personally would leave them out during the day at least. The wind and extra light will help get stockier plants. In the past I have left tomatoes and peppers inside too long and once they get leggy they are more difficult to work with; they break easier and you have to work much harder planting them. If I get a day that is above the mid 40's I will even set my baby seedlings outside for a good while it seems to give me stouter plants and they won't be nearly as delicate when potting up.

[Wi-sunflower]

There are lots of ways to harden off plants. That's probably why you didn't get answers at first.

Taking them out will help as long as that wind isn't TOO strong. A little wind, sure. Hard cold wind, NO. But if you can protect them from the brunt of the wind then go for it.

Almost anything that will stress the plant somewhat will harden them off. Moving in and out works for those with small numbers of plants. For someone like me with thousands of plants, that's impossible. But the sometimes rather harsh conditions in my manual control greenhouse does the job too.

Letting it get hotter than it should before venting is often something I can't avoid. Especially if the cloudy day gets sunny before I can get back home. Or vice versa - opening while it's still rather cold/cool because you know it will be sunny but you have to leave for a while. Letting the plants start to wilt before watering is also good as long as they don't turn crispy.

Lots of things to try.

Carol

[rxkeith]

i don't like windy.
i like light breeze.
temps in the 60s or 70s with light breeze is good.
temps in the 50s with 15 or 20 mile winds is bad.
my plants would be under the lights.
harden off gradually. time is on your side.

keith

[pdxwindjammer]

Thanks! I was just concerned about having them out one day when it was 70 and then putting them out the following day when the absolute high temp reached 50. I did have them out for a few hours on the cold day and they seem no worse for wear.

Most have a set of true leaves so I will start to repot this weekend after a stop to my local nursery for some potting soil.

Cheers!

[TheClaw]

Overnight low of 49 predicted for tonight, and I can't decide whether to leave the flats out or bring them in again. It was in the 80's here today, and will climb to the high 80's again tomorrow.

Any and all comments welcome. The seedlings were originally planted 3/17 and 3/21 and only a few have true leaves at this point.

Thanks!

[nctomatoman]

All of mine have been outside for some time now....even down in the mid 30s. The really warm weather we are experiencing is good to a point, but thickly planted cells dry out quickly - I get them into semi shade if I won't be around to keep an eye on them.

Windjammer, I didn't mean to come across snarky. The point I was trying to make (and maybe this will be a bit snarky as well!) is that quite a few people have put lots of time into creating quite a body of information in this thread, so it is well worth spending some time not just doing searches, but opening up threads and having a good read. Just that one thread I started in dense planting, as well as the thread on critical success factors in germinating seeds, has loads and loads of info to read through that will help.

The nice thing about Tomatoville, when comparing it to Garden Web, is the opportunity to have sticky threads for good general reference info, as well as a format where things don't immediately scroll off the front page. It makes it much easier to find things.

[amideutch]

This is why I'm not in a hurry to get my seedlings outside. I'm at 49.26"N and 07.36"E. First picture is 09 Apr 09 and the second is 07 Apr 08. This morning it was 0 degrees with frost on the ground. Can't afford to take chances or I might not have a growing season. And you don't want to start the cold treatment until AFTER you have you first set of true leaves. Get yourself a greenhouse if you want to try second guessing mother nature. Ami

[attilla1000]

Ami, how are your seedlings this year?