Does erratic hardening off still "work"?

RomanX · April 7, 2015

my 'mater seedlings are gradually being hardened off this last month. . . erratically tho. Inescapable causes means they don't get out EVERY day, but still MOST days they get outside for increasing amounts of time . . . . usually. . . but sometimes only for a lesser, limited amount of time.

Question: will this erratic hardening off "work"? If they eventually get outside for 8 hours of sun, even if this isn't every day before planting out, will this prevent the dreaded sun scald??

(Just in case the answer is NO, I'm saving plastic milk jugs to use at planting out.)

Starlight · April 7, 2015

My seedlings go in and out. The weather down here is so erratic. One day it's 80 the next barely out of the 30's. So I put mine out when it is nice and sometimes if the weather is oing to be too cold I may have to bring them back in for several days.

Preventing sun scald. I don't think so. That just me. I wouldn't move them from inside the house and straight into the sun til they had several days to acclimatize. When I take mine back out after several days in the house, I can put in full sun, but I put a piece of cheese cloth over the top of them. It light weight, but does provide just enough shade to keep them from burning til they can handle the full sun on their own.

Redbaron · April 7, 2015

Does erratic hardening off still "work"?

Yes

Stvrob · April 7, 2015

Try not to drag it out too long. The sun is getting higher and more intense every day.

rhines81 · April 7, 2015

Mother nature usually does the planning for us. Erratic is better than nothing. Once the plants are big enough and they have survived a few days with 6+ hours of sun outside, they are usually good enough. I don't get much choice in the matter due to the weather here. My plants might get 1 or 2 days a week in mid-May. Getting 3 consecutive days of 60-70F weather in late May is still a challenge here so they take what they can get and are planted in the garden by the 1st week of June --- (unless there is a known frost coming).

Cole_Robbie · April 7, 2015

All my stuff I start inside gets sunburn when I take it out to the greenhouse, but the plants always recover.

Mike723 · April 23, 2015

I've had the same experience as Cole.. I'll get slight twisting but they recover within a week or so.. It's just such a pain in the butt to haul the flats in and out..

April 7, 2015	#1
RomanX Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: North Carolina Posts: 119	Does erratic hardening off still "work"? my 'mater seedlings are gradually being hardened off this last month. . . erratically tho. Inescapable causes means they don't get out EVERY day, but still MOST days they get outside for increasing amounts of time . . . . usually. . . but sometimes only for a lesser, limited amount of time. Question: will this erratic hardening off "work"? If they eventually get outside for 8 hours of sun, even if this isn't every day before planting out, will this prevent the dreaded sun scald?? (Just in case the answer is NO, I'm saving plastic milk jugs to use at planting out.)

April 7, 2015	#3
Redbaron Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 4,488	Does erratic hardening off still "work"? Yes __________________ Scott AKA The Redbaron "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; & of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system." Bill Mollison co-founder of permaculture

April 7, 2015	#2
Starlight Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: AL Posts: 1,993	My seedlings go in and out. The weather down here is so erratic. One day it's 80 the next barely out of the 30's. So I put mine out when it is nice and sometimes if the weather is oing to be too cold I may have to bring them back in for several days. Preventing sun scald. I don't think so. That just me. I wouldn't move them from inside the house and straight into the sun til they had several days to acclimatize. When I take mine back out after several days in the house, I can put in full sun, but I put a piece of cheese cloth over the top of them. It light weight, but does provide just enough shade to keep them from burning til they can handle the full sun on their own.

April 7, 2015	#4
Stvrob Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Jacksonville, FL Posts: 1,413	Try not to drag it out too long. The sun is getting higher and more intense every day.

April 7, 2015	#5
rhines81 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Zone 5A, Poconos Posts: 959	Mother nature usually does the planning for us. Erratic is better than nothing. Once the plants are big enough and they have survived a few days with 6+ hours of sun outside, they are usually good enough. I don't get much choice in the matter due to the weather here. My plants might get 1 or 2 days a week in mid-May. Getting 3 consecutive days of 60-70F weather in late May is still a challenge here so they take what they can get and are planted in the garden by the 1st week of June --- (unless there is a known frost coming).

April 7, 2015	#6
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	All my stuff I start inside gets sunburn when I take it out to the greenhouse, but the plants always recover.

April 23, 2015	#7
Mike723 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: CT Posts: 290	I've had the same experience as Cole.. I'll get slight twisting but they recover within a week or so.. It's just such a pain in the butt to haul the flats in and out..