The Morning After the First Night Outside

[TheClaw]

Well, I lost a couple dozen to the wind a couple of weeks ago trying to harden them off, so they came back inside, and this week we are trying again.

I decided to leave them outside overnight to see what would happen. Happily there were no casualties and they all needed a drink.

Looking at the forecast I am growing confident that they will remain outside for the duration.

[Crandrew]

As they should be Hardening off is 80% about UV light conditioning and only 20% temperature related. So the overnight issue is far less shock than say 8 hrs straight in full sun.

Looking good.

[tam91]

I'm just moving my seedlings out to the greenhouse. No worry about sunburn at the moment - doesn't look like there will be any sun for a week!

Curious - does a greenhouse somewhat shelter them from the sun? I've not really fussed over hardening them inside the greenhouse before, I just made sure to put them out on a cloudy day.

[Crandrew]

Depends on what the greenhouse cover is made from. There is another thread discussing it, but IIRC it could be anywhere between 25-75% UV filtering. So you would want to know the material.

[tam91]

Ah, I see. It's pretty heavy plastic, and has some sort of cross-hatching that I can't really see through, so my guess is it does filter a fair bit. Probably explains why I had no problems last year, just put them out on a gloomy day and they carried on fine from there.

[ddsack]

Several times I have gotten a sunburn transplanting in my plastic greenhouse early in the season for a few hours in the middle of the day. I was always surprised when it happened, but it's so warm in there that I have to go sleeveless and it didn't occur to me that I would need sunscreen under plastic.

[Worth1]

I'm lucky the sun is weak in the winter and I just put them outside as soon as I can.
Never have many problems just wind protection is all I need.
Many times they stay out as long as it doesn't freeze.

Worth

[Crandrew]

Same here, I experience very little sunburn to do a 4hr morning marine layer.
The greenhouse is nice though, because it can act as a middle stage before full exposure.

Any cool projects this year worth? I feel like you always have something cool up your sleeve