When can Seedling be moved outside

[DeanRIowa]

I planted my seedling about 3 1/2 weeks ago. I would like to re-pot them in large containers as they are currently in a 2-72 pack cells, 1 1/2" by 1 1/2" cells. I problem is if I do re-pot them into larger containers, I will not have enough room under my current light setup for all of the plants. I am not planning on buying more lights this year.

When can I move some of them outside?

Dean

[MikeH]

What you could do is build you a make-shift cold frame out of say straw bales and a few old storm windows on top and put them out now.

I have 3 72 cell flats out in mine as we speak,and they are looking mighty happy.Don't know what the temps are like there,but mine has worked well for me even when the temps get down in the upper 30's in the past.

[Granny]

I currently have something on the order of 400 tomato plants plus more than 150 peppers and dozens of marigolds - plus other stuff - that I'm getting ready for the garden. I started hauling stuff outside for the day as soon as the weather got over 50 regularly.* I do have a small grow light set up that is optimal for at best 4 trays but I have 17 trays, so I've been putting the trays in sideways when I must and running the lights non-stop (we're having a couple of days of rain) while switching the plants around every 12 hours or so.

*I live in Vermont, so there is no way the babies can live outside overnight yet. We haul them out every morning and drag them back at sunset.

[feldon30]

If I go forward with growing 300-400 plants, I'll have to buy a large 5 shelf rolling cart with casters, or build something. Either way I need to roll out during the day and back under the canopy at night, potentially rolling into the garage if it gets cold.

[Granny]

Originally Posted by feldon30

If I go forward with growing 300-400 plants, I'll have to buy a large 5 shelf rolling cart with casters, or build something. Either way I need to roll out during the day and back under the canopy at night, potentially rolling into the garage if it gets cold.

A five shelf rolling cart? I would love such a thing. Unfortunately the garage is not heated and you can't roll a cart up stairs.

[gardengalrn]

Dean, if your forecast is above freezing at night then I think you should be OK. I would still be a bit iffy in zone 4 with the weather as it has been. Mike has an excellent suggestion, though and would offer a great amount of protection from cold and wind.
Feldon, sounds like a great idea! I am going to plot all winter on a better way of doing things here. My plants are out to stay right now, I've found that the bench seating under my lattice patio provides the perfect amount of sun/wind protection. It is literally a gale outside right now and my plants seem pretty safe. When the weather was still too cool to leave them out there, however, it was a real pain to cart all that in and out each day. Like Dean, I don't have the room under the lights once every thing is potted up even with (2) big shelving units with a total of 8 shelves under lights. I was doing the rotation of my peppers every 12 hours or so. So, a major pain in the butt to contend with and I sure hope to come up with something a little better for next spring.

[elkwc36]

Like I've stated elsewhere I have the same problems. Did build on 9'x4' cold frame. Out of used 2x12's I got for hauling off and two window frames I gave a dollar for. It has worked great but won't hold all my plants. And some are way out of the 12" height. The straw bales mentioned would work great. I have extra plastic I can stretch over them. Make sure it doesn't touch them. My plan next year in to have at least 3 cold frames and dig the dirt out so I can handle bigger plants and also build a small greenhouse. Last night is was 36 for several hours. And several I just had either close to cedar trees or under the carport. All survived but some don't look as bright today. My direct sown in plastic containers are still doing fine without all the hassle. JD

[Sherry_AK]

My flowers are on a wire shelving unit on wheels. It is fabulous to be able to roll them in and out as needed. Before hardening off time, I use it as a light stand in the garage. My tomato plants are already too big for that by the time I can start putting them outside.

After the season is over, I store my grow lights on it as well as other seed-starting supplies.

I used to put my tomatoes in the back of the pickup truck for hardening off. I could move the truck around to follow the shade, and could just drive right into the garage if it got too cold or windy. Now I have too many to fit in the back of the truck!

[feralcatfriend]

Sherry,

Where did you buy that cart?

I've seen a couple of carts online that also have plant lights but their reviews say they are flimsy. Also, they are in the $400-$500 range. Since there aren't many models of these, I figured most people jury-rigged shop lights on shelves from one of the discount stores.

I'm in the same boat--more plants than lights. I did find some really cheap shop lights and fluorescent tubes at Wal-Mart, but then I would have had to buy more shelves than I really wanted to. (If you check Wal-Mart for the shop lights, make sure the model you buy has the kind of switch you want--for example, pull chain, or whatever. ) I also discovered our basement only has one electrical outlet--for the sump pump--and I didn't want to overload it. I decided to take my chances with moving my boxes of plants out in the day and in at night. This is not working out well because we are having a long run of cloudy, rainy weather with temps in the 60s during the day and lower 50s and upper 40s at night.

But it does my heart good to find out I'm not the only one with this dilemma and I'm delighted to read the solutions being suggested.

Cynthia

[Sherry_AK]

Cynthia -- I bought this one (actually I have two) at Costco for about $89. Very sturdy. Two light fixtures can fit on each level. Well, actually the way we have it configured, I can only use 4 levels for growing with lights. I use the shorter shelf for storage.

Sherry

[svalli]

When we lived in Wisconsin I hardened my plants outside in a self made cold frames by the south side wall of the house. I used wooden pallet collars from our factory as the frame and put clear plastic and/or the light weight row covers to cover the plants from cold and give them shade. With that setup I did not have to bring the plants in, once I moved them out. During cold nights I used to put strings of holiday lights inside the frames to keep the plants warm and put a quilt over the frames.

One year my peppers got so tall that I had to construct a taller enclosure over the pallet collars from parts of a temporary greenhouse frame and the row cover.



This year I built the whole temporary greenhouse and used the plastic tent which came with it. All my plants are now there and I used the light weight row cover to shade them during sunny days and for nights I have a small 400 W heater in there. So far no sun or wind damage, even I moved the plants there without any hardening procedures.