Hardening off ups and downs

Jaysan · April 29, 2014

I had my seedlings up to five hours of sun and they were doing well. Now we are having a stretch of rain that looks to last 4 or 5 days.

Should I redo from the beginning or maybe start with 3 or so?

How do you handle it?

KarenO · April 29, 2014

If it's not really cold or windy, they can still go outside someplace out of the rain. They will still get a lot of light ,much more than indoors even on the cloudiest day. If not, then ease back into full sun over a day or two.
Karen

Jaysan · April 29, 2014

I should have mentioned I do have grow lights so they will get their light.

Yes it's breezy and cool out.

greyghost · April 29, 2014

This is what I've been doing...

I raise plants under 6500k lights ( a large amount of fixtures that can handle plants until
a final one gallon plant up--they seem to do better than sticking them in the ground too
early). Since we're in the mid-Atlantic region and I'm retired, plants go out into sunlight
whenever possible and are returned to lights until 10 pm. First exposure and any exposure
after a day or more inside is in filtered light (breaks in sunlight from bare tree branches)
plus an hour or so in direct sunlight ---they're very well watered at this point and nothing
more than a light breeze. The older, dark green plants I'm less concerned about but I
really hate to see them wind burned or sunburned.

After 4 or 5 days of nasty weather and plants inside-even under lights, I'd be extremely careful about sun and wind exposure. Our trees are filling out now (we're at most southeastern tip of PA) and it's going to be more of a challenge to find filtered light.

Mine went back under lights about 4 pm yesterday Mon.(they're about 8-10" tall). It's very
chilly, windy and lightly raining today; tomorrow will be windier and heavy rain so the
first they'll go out will be Thursday. I'll definitely put them out if it's overcast or in filtered
sunlight if the trees haven't leafed out too much or at the mouth of the garage where they
can be sheltered from wind and easily pulled in before they sunburn. If Friday is decent,
I'll return to normal exposure about 10am to 4 pm in a sunny area. I'm expecting some people to pick up plants Friday--I'll tell them they still need to be hardened off (these people
live more south than us and usually plant the end of April.)

I'm hoping nighttime temps will soon approach 50 degrees or more; I'll pot mine up to gallon
pots and they'll start to be outside all day, every day unless a very windy, hard rain is predicted. If nighttime temps fall to low forty's, I'll bring in peppers but will probably leave
tomatoes out. A predicted night time low, even in the high 30's will cause me enough concern I'll bring the pots in (I'll use a wheelbarrow as this deck is quite a ways from the garage.

I'll probably plant out about May 15th-around that time when the prediction is for definitely
50+ nights and the soil is around 60 degrees. Even then, it's not unusual to have a frost
or frost scare-I think last year that happened on May 21st.

One thing I've noticed in the past. I've planted my tomato plants in the garden, held back a
few in one gallon black pots for a week or so for friends. The ones in the dark pots ended
up being larger and healthier looking than the ones in my garden. Now, I'm just not in that
big of a hurry to plant---it's harder, of course, for someone who's working and has less time.

KarenO · April 29, 2014

No matter what kind of artificial light a person may have, it is no match for our mother star the sun even on a cloudy day . The best can only begin to approximate the full spectrum of light plants receive outdoors. Part of hardening off is exposing plants to some weather, including cool weather in addition to direct sunlight.
I agree that tomatoes (and eggplant as well) like a dark pot. In my area, at the start of the season, the soil is cold even when the air temperatures are warm and the warm roots in a dark pot seems to help and my potted deck tomatoes grow faster initially than the ones in the ground too.
karen

Jaysan · April 29, 2014

I am going to get them back out asap. I was hoping to plant them Saturday but it looks like they are going to have to wait.

heirloomtomaguy · April 29, 2014

All my seedlings are under hydrofarm fluorowings rated at 6400k. When i put my seedlings out on day 1 i put them in shade all day. Day 2 morning sun. Day 3 half day. Day 4 full sun. I have taken them right out from under the lights and right into full sun as an experiment and they did just fine but not recommended. For me it is the varying temperatures from day to night that effects them the most. I might also mention it does not get cold in southern california anymore. It hit 48 the other night and people around here were "freezing".

April 29, 2014	#1
Jaysan Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 167	Hardening off ups and downs I had my seedlings up to five hours of sun and they were doing well. Now we are having a stretch of rain that looks to last 4 or 5 days. Should I redo from the beginning or maybe start with 3 or so? How do you handle it?

April 29, 2014	#2
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,932	If it's not really cold or windy, they can still go outside someplace out of the rain. They will still get a lot of light ,much more than indoors even on the cloudiest day. If not, then ease back into full sun over a day or two. Karen

April 29, 2014	#4
greyghost Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: southeastern PA Posts: 760	This is what I've been doing... I raise plants under 6500k lights ( a large amount of fixtures that can handle plants until a final one gallon plant up--they seem to do better than sticking them in the ground too early). Since we're in the mid-Atlantic region and I'm retired, plants go out into sunlight whenever possible and are returned to lights until 10 pm. First exposure and any exposure after a day or more inside is in filtered light (breaks in sunlight from bare tree branches) plus an hour or so in direct sunlight ---they're very well watered at this point and nothing more than a light breeze. The older, dark green plants I'm less concerned about but I really hate to see them wind burned or sunburned. After 4 or 5 days of nasty weather and plants inside-even under lights, I'd be extremely careful about sun and wind exposure. Our trees are filling out now (we're at most southeastern tip of PA) and it's going to be more of a challenge to find filtered light. Mine went back under lights about 4 pm yesterday Mon.(they're about 8-10" tall). It's very chilly, windy and lightly raining today; tomorrow will be windier and heavy rain so the first they'll go out will be Thursday. I'll definitely put them out if it's overcast or in filtered sunlight if the trees haven't leafed out too much or at the mouth of the garage where they can be sheltered from wind and easily pulled in before they sunburn. If Friday is decent, I'll return to normal exposure about 10am to 4 pm in a sunny area. I'm expecting some people to pick up plants Friday--I'll tell them they still need to be hardened off (these people live more south than us and usually plant the end of April.) I'm hoping nighttime temps will soon approach 50 degrees or more; I'll pot mine up to gallon pots and they'll start to be outside all day, every day unless a very windy, hard rain is predicted. If nighttime temps fall to low forty's, I'll bring in peppers but will probably leave tomatoes out. A predicted night time low, even in the high 30's will cause me enough concern I'll bring the pots in (I'll use a wheelbarrow as this deck is quite a ways from the garage. I'll probably plant out about May 15th-around that time when the prediction is for definitely 50+ nights and the soil is around 60 degrees. Even then, it's not unusual to have a frost or frost scare-I think last year that happened on May 21st. One thing I've noticed in the past. I've planted my tomato plants in the garden, held back a few in one gallon black pots for a week or so for friends. The ones in the dark pots ended up being larger and healthier looking than the ones in my garden. Now, I'm just not in that big of a hurry to plant---it's harder, of course, for someone who's working and has less time.

April 29, 2014	#7
heirloomtomaguy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: glendora ca Posts: 2,560	All my seedlings are under hydrofarm fluorowings rated at 6400k. When i put my seedlings out on day 1 i put them in shade all day. Day 2 morning sun. Day 3 half day. Day 4 full sun. I have taken them right out from under the lights and right into full sun as an experiment and they did just fine but not recommended. For me it is the varying temperatures from day to night that effects them the most. I might also mention it does not get cold in southern california anymore. It hit 48 the other night and people around here were "freezing".