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Hardening off question

G

G_Dogg

Hi everyone,

I am going to be putting my 50+ plants outside sometime this week or weekend. I am waiting for an overcast day as to minimize the effects of them receiving too much sun. I am also planning on stringing up a cheesecloth or a white sheet as shade. I am way too lazy to bring in 50 plants in 3 gallon grow bags each night. Do you think the white sheet and cheesecloth will provide enough shade?

Thanks,

Greg
 
Ya, I second luckydog. They're first taste of wind could be a little much, so try to shelter them as much as possible and keep an eye on the weather forecasts.
 
if you're talking about the plants in your other thread, then I cant believe you never put a fan on those plants to strengthen them up to prepare them for the wind outside (when you knew you're gonna bring them outside)
me personally I tie all my chile plants to a stake for added protection.

can you get some carts or something with wheels on them & place the plants on them & just wheel them in/out until they are hardy & temps are right for keeping them outside.
I do this wheeling them in/out on some carts w/shelves to harden them.

as for the sun ? I dont know but the sun shouldnt be that harsh since you're in canada, meaning the closer you're to the equator harsher it'll be.
 
Thanks for the responses,

Chilehunter, The plants from the other post will be staying inside under my 430 watt HPS for the summer.

The plants that I am putting outside have been under fluorescents for 2 months and I have an 18 inch fan blowing on high 24 hrs a day. I alternate which plant is closest to the fan every few days and so far all of them have been subjected to the fan at least once. Hopefully that will be enough to strengthen them up.

I also plan on buying some bamboo sticks from the dollar store to support the tall and lankier varieties. When its all said and done I suppose i can enlist the help of my two roomates to move them in at night if it gets too cold.

Cheers
 
G_Dogg said:
Hi everyone,
I am also planning on stringing up a cheesecloth or a white sheet as shade. I am way too lazy to bring in 50 plants in 3 gallon grow bags each night. Do you think the white sheet and cheesecloth will provide enough shade?
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I think that will work pretty well. I put a lot of things in my cold frame to harden them off. It has a green web-type texture to the covering, and I've never had anything get sunburned in it.

As to the stakes, consider the small, cheap tomato cages that you can get at most big box stores. They're only 3 feet tall, max, but they work very well for lanky peppers, and they last more than one season.
 
Pam said:
As to the stakes, consider the small, cheap tomato cages that you can get at most big box stores. They're only 3 feet tall, max, but they work very well for lanky peppers, and they last more than one season.
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In my limited experience I would recommend using both. Last year I only had limited supplies and used mater cages on some and stakes on some others. If you use a cage with a center stake you can tie up the main trunk of the plant AND have the support of the cage as well when it gets really breezy, or to help support the branches of a fully loaded plant.
 
g dogg - if those plants have been getting wind from a fan for some good time then I wouldnt worry about the wind (but still have a stake or cage for added protetion)

stakes can last several years (if not 20 years) just dont buy the wood kind, I got sick of using the wood lathes & bought driveway markers ( 4' fiberglass 1/4" stakes & cut them in half)

as for cages they're a blessing & a curse, yea they hold the plant in but for certain tomatoes & pepper plants its a big hassle to harvest the fruit from within the cages, & with tomatoes when reaching inside those cages for the ripe ones you then knock off some green ones that might not ripen because of no longer on the plant.

if you want to have cages another thing you can do that might be cheaper (depending on where you buy it) is to buy concrete wire rolls (the stuff they lay down before pouring the crete for a driveway)& make your own cages for whatever dia./heigth.
 
i knew that all those years of saving my old arrows would pay off someday. i would think that a archery shop in your area would have arrows that they throw away sometimes might be a good place to check and they will last forever. I think that I may also put tomato cages on some also along with the arrows.




Pictureofpepperstakes.jpg


Dale
 
The arrows are a really cool idea. Not only are they functional they are really cool looking. I am definately doin that next year. Far cooler than my steel re-bar.
 
gardenkiller I would also think that if you have any archery clubs or shooting ranges around you could leave a flyer with that organization and you could really score big.

Dale
 
I can't take full credit though because i saw it On another forum somebody had one arrow sticking out of one plant and I knew right then that that was the reason that i saved all those hundreds of arrows.

Dale
 
gardenkiller said:
In my limited experience I would recommend using both.
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For peppers? Really?

I can see doing that for tomatoes, but most of my peppers only need a cage to keep the dogs from stepping on it. A few, like the Corni Di Toro can use a little support for the branches as they get long and the peppers large and heavy. Most of my peppers don't need any staking, though.



Except, you know, the ones that get bitten by vampires.
 
Arrows, now thats a cool idea. Recycling at its best. I have decided to stake the lankier peppers with some 3/8" wooden dowels I bought from the store. the short squat varieties had really thick stems so I am not too worried about them falling over.

I am also keeping an eye on the leaves for sun damage as it is somewhat overcast today. I still might shade the plants with the white sheet depending on the weather.

Thanks for all the suggestions, this season is shaping up to be a good one.

Greg
 
thepodpiper said:
i knew that all those years of saving my old arrows would pay off someday. i would think that a archery shop in your area would have arrows that they throw away sometimes might be a good place to check and they will last forever. I think that I may also put tomato cages on some also along with the arrows.

Dale
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That's fabulous!

If you could organize your fletching colors you could use it indicate pepper variety or heat.
 
podpiper - I wish I thought of keeping my old broke arrows for staking & collecting other arrows at the range, but it never occured to me until last year :P even though I dont destroy many arrows I could of still had a shitload of arrows from the ranges instead of buying driveway markers at the last moment.
now I save all my old arrows :lol:

as for refletching for color coding for the plants, to me that seems kinda spendy vs just using a marker & write the name on the container or write it on some duct tape & stick the tape on the arrow.

but to others, podpiper is right go to any archery range & you will find broken arrows & when I mean broken it means either end of the arrow is cracked or broke off about 1" max. just check the trash barrels
 
The bad part about the arrow thing for me is i only saved the perfectly good arrows so that I could refletch them for my sons or my friends to use them. There are about 9 dozen arrows in the garden at between 65 and 85 $ a dozen. Damn those are expensive stakes. As far as the fletching part it's not a money issue I also have more fletchings than I could use in a lifetime. If I get around to it in the off season I will just put two fletchings per arrow when I figure out a color coding system. Maybe a different color for every species and three different colors for heat.
 
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