Hardening off tomato seedlings!

Anyone have a good step by step procedure for hardening off pampered tomato seedlings? Should it start in the early morning or late afternoon? How long should they be protected from direct sunlight? Once they are hardened off, and then spend another week under the lights, will they need to be hardened off again.

I grew some rather large plants during the winter to experiment with. I took them out side for about an hour in the direct winter sunlight and they got sunburned. I want to be careful with the seedlings I will be planting in the garden to prevent sunburn.

Thanks

Ted

[les matzek]

hey ted,
as soon as my seeds sprout i put them in direct sunlite i have a 28"x48"glass mini greenhouse i put them in i set them in it about
8:00 untill about 5:00 p.m. after 7 to 8 weeks i put them in there
finale home, best of luck.

les

[kath]

I don't have a step-by-step same thing every year plan, but if they haven't been outside at all yet, I'll put them out in a shady place or on a cloudy day the first time and even try to shelter them from too much breeze AND still keep an eye on them so they don't wilt.
The next step would be dappled shade, before trying full sun.
I've had luck draping shadecloth over the wind break set up also.

The best was last year when I started seeds in May because my plants got wiped out from frost and I didn't have backups. They grew outdoors the entire time (except for night time) and no hardening off was needed...it was a beautiful thing.

[sfmathews]

Ted, my plants are about 4"-6" right now. I put them outside when it's nice and leave them out all day, with no ill effects. And this week is predicted to be warm and sunny/partly sunny, so they will be staying out 24/7. Even some of my pepper sprouts/seedlings, are going out all day. I haven't had any problems with them burning up or drying out.
Susan

Originally Posted by sfmathews

Ted, my plants are about 4"-6" right now. I put them outside when it's nice and leave them out all day, with no ill effects. And this week is predicted to be warm and sunny/partly sunny, so they will be staying out 24/7. Even some of my pepper sprouts/seedlings, are going out all day. I haven't had any problems with them burning up or drying out.
Susan

Did you start putting them out in the shade or in direct sunlight?

Ted

[organichris]

My seedlings are small right now, but I take every opportunity to supplement the fluorescent light with sunlight, whether indoors or out. The weather was nice yesterday, so they stayed out there protected in their mini-greenhouse virtually all day. The same went for today and tomorrow most likely.

[ssi912]

I PUT THE PLANTS OUT SAT. MORNING AROUND 9 A.M. THAT IS WHEN MY FRONT YARD IS IN FULL SUN. 30 MIN ON SAT, THEN BACK UNDER THE PORCH. 1 FULL HOUR OF DIRECT SUN SUNDAY. 2 MON., 3 TUES. INCREASING AN HOUR OF EXPOSURE EACH DAY UNTIL IM BACK AT SAT., WHICH WOULD BE 7 HOURS EXPOSURE. DONT PLACE THEM IN THE SHADE FOR A FEW DAYS AFTER HARDENING OR THEY WILL REVERT BACK, DONT ASK HOW I KNOW. TAKE CARE.

[RinTinTin]

Hardening off is just what its name implies. You are trying to get them used to the conditions they will grow in. If you have cool, cloudy days now, some direct sun won't hurt them. If it is hot & sunny, they need to be in filtered sun. Once they are ready for hardening off, they shouldn't need supplemental light. Hardening them off means it is time to quit pampering them. If you keep pampering them, you will need to pamper them all the way to first frost and beyond. You just need to get them ready to survive on their own.

[svalli]

In my experience the indoor grown plants will suffer as much from wind as from sun when moved outdoors. That is why I use an oscillating fan indoors to blow on my seedlings. For hardening off outside I use the light weight row cover fabric to protect the plants from sun exposure. In our earlier place in Wisconsin I used to stack two wooden pallet collars on our patio and put the plants in there. Then I covered them on the top with the row cover. Once moved there I did not usually bring them indoors any more. For cold nights I used to put a string of C7 lights or a 40W light bulb there to provide heat and throw a quilt on the top.
Here I have been hardening the plants in a small temporary greenhouse, which I also cover with the shading cloth in the beginning. It is -29°C (-20°F) here currently, so it is long time before I can do any hardening.

Sari

[sprtsguy76]

I use my lattice covered patio to harden off my seedlings. Its really nice because my seedlings do very well with the transition from inside to outside without ever having to be brought back inside again.

Damon

[feldon30]

Here's what I have written about Hardening Off:
http://www.settfest.com/2010/06/star.../#hardeningoff

[sfmathews]

Yep direct sunlight. They were under fluourescent lights prior.

Originally Posted by tedln

Did you start putting them out in the shade or in direct sunlight?

Ted

Okay, I wanted to get my seedlings outside and out from under the fluorescent lights. I was concerned about putting them into direct sunlight from the start so I constructed a mini greenhouse by wrapping a couple of screen doors in two layers of clear plastic and leaning them against one of my trellis. I attached clear plastic on the back side in order to enclose the greenhouse if we get a frosty night. We are supposed to have low 70's daytime and low 50's night time temps for about one week and the wind is blowing in gusts up to 25 mph. I felt like I needed to protect them until they get acclimated to the sun and the wind. I will start removing a layer of plastic every few days and then remove the screen doors.









I've also enclosed my tomato cages in clear plastic 18" high to protect the young seedlings from our high spring wnds after I plant them out in early March. If we get a forecast for a late frost, I can fill each cage with Oak leaves to insulate the plants from the frost. When the frost danger is over, I simply remove the leaves. It works. I've done this before.





If it works, I can get a one month head start on planting my tomatoes out and hopefully get some blooms and fruit set before the summer heat arrives.

Ted

[sfmathews]

Nice set up!! I bet your plants will be ready for direct sun in no time!!
I'm leaving mine out 24/7 since there's no cold weather in the forecast. I can definitely tell the peppers have grown.

[organichris]

I agree. Nice set up, tedln.