First year superhot pepper grower here, and had a question for the season veterans....I know ideally when your trying to harden off your plants you want to put them out everyday increasing the amount of time by an hour each day. Now i know i cant be the only person with this problem but having to work during the day makes it hard to keep to such a schedule. Ive been able to increase the time by leaving the plants out for 8-10 hours against the west side of our house, giving the plant only about 2-3 hrs direct sunlight. Only a few leaves showed some bleaching...but anyways my question is how do you know the plant is actually hardened off. Do the leaves actually get tougher? After putting them out for the past week, the plants dont look as lush as they did before and the leaves actually seem dryer....
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Hardening off question...
- Thread starter badnews222
- Start date
do you have any trees ? you can get yourself a shade cloth off of amazon.com , you can use cheap white sheets . 
I needed shade and didn't have a shade cloth bUT I did have a piece of window screen in double folded it and used it. It worked ok for my plants
badnews222 said:
This is my first year growing supers from seeds and I am in the same boat. I used weekends and direct Indiana April sun to harden mine off. I would also run home for lunch and put them outside while scarfing down a sandwich. They seemed to like the second half of the day.
I didn't notice any changes other than they grew more (and drank more) in sunlight than under my T8's.
A couple options to consider:
- If you have a tree whose shade you can put them in, do that, gradually moving them from more coverage to less coverage where more light gets through the branches.
- Watch the shadows from the structures around your yard - not just your own house, but your neighbors', too. Look for areas that get more or less shade and move the plants around accordingly. ie - If next to the garage gets 2 or 3 hours of sun but is shaded the rest of the day, start there. Then, a couple days later, find a place that gets more sun and move them there. This is what I do.
Generally once your plants can tolerate 8 hours of direct sun they're ok to be out in it full-time.
- If you have a tree whose shade you can put them in, do that, gradually moving them from more coverage to less coverage where more light gets through the branches.
- Watch the shadows from the structures around your yard - not just your own house, but your neighbors', too. Look for areas that get more or less shade and move the plants around accordingly. ie - If next to the garage gets 2 or 3 hours of sun but is shaded the rest of the day, start there. Then, a couple days later, find a place that gets more sun and move them there. This is what I do.
Generally once your plants can tolerate 8 hours of direct sun they're ok to be out in it full-time.
Hello and welcome.I believe this is to gradually get young plants adjusted to the BRIGHT SUN and HEAT.I'm not too sure if everyone steadily increases this acclamation an hour at a time though this may indeed be ideal.I think you'll be ok with some morning sum and afternoon shade.Just watch your plants and shift them around as needed.Good luck.
Well, as a second year grower, I started them by putting them out after work daily for about 3-4 days, followed by all day on the weekend, and then if time permits out before work now daily. I too place mine on my deck facing west like you. It is supposed to get to -1 on Thursday night I believe here. So, just daily for the next while again.
ooof!obchili said:
Best to place them in a shaded area where they only see direct sun in the early morning or the evening. Never during mid day. Hardening off is determinant on several things, one being the intensity of the light they were grown with. Last year, my plants were ready for direct sun within the week they went outside But they spent 16 hours a day under 1000w hps the last month before the move. This year will be different in that last year they were in 1 gal plastic grow bags, this year they are in 14oz solo cups.
Badnews, what Geeme said is one of the things I do. Under a tree. They get none of that noon sunlight what so ever, but they get some AM and some PM light. Then I move them out of the shade a bit each day or two and replace the inner area with the next wave. Maybe a week and they are fine, but I grow under HIDs and I think that gets them solar hardened a bit ahead of time. Not cold though, that is just the opposite cause my grow room is too damn hot.
Capcom, same observation here with HIDs. Went from 24 hour HPS to in the sun with no hardening to test. Not much of a problem at all but for the test, had the light bout 3 feet off the plants. Curious, did you step up the time in an effort to decrease the hardening off time? Had the same thought.
Capcom, same observation here with HIDs. Went from 24 hour HPS to in the sun with no hardening to test. Not much of a problem at all but for the test, had the light bout 3 feet off the plants. Curious, did you step up the time in an effort to decrease the hardening off time? Had the same thought.
Under a tree can be good - or bad - you have to consider the individual tree's foliage at the time of year and also all plants and structures around them. Only you can decide, through good observation, if any given area is optimal for your plants' needs at a given time.
During the cold months, my south-facing window gets flooded with sunlight. It's still somewhat filtered by the window (it has no intentional filter, just plain glass), but it can get upwards of 90F on a sunny cold day. That's where I put my sprouts until they're ready to go outside, as the sunlight in that window is still stronger than any man-made light. That plus a fan helps keep the hardening off time pretty low, but I am still careful about gradually exposing them to the outside elements.
Coachspencerxc - keep in mind he's in Manitoba, where they use celsius instead of fahrenheit. -1C is still too cold for chile plants, but it's not the same as -1F.
During the cold months, my south-facing window gets flooded with sunlight. It's still somewhat filtered by the window (it has no intentional filter, just plain glass), but it can get upwards of 90F on a sunny cold day. That's where I put my sprouts until they're ready to go outside, as the sunlight in that window is still stronger than any man-made light. That plus a fan helps keep the hardening off time pretty low, but I am still careful about gradually exposing them to the outside elements.
Coachspencerxc - keep in mind he's in Manitoba, where they use celsius instead of fahrenheit. -1C is still too cold for chile plants, but it's not the same as -1F.
Great advice from everyone...thank you. Up here in toronto the trees are only now starting to get some foliage...so shade is at a minimum for the next couple of weeks. ill just have to keep them at the side of the house under the stairs where they will get minimum direct sun for the 3-4 hrs. I tell you i dont know how you guys with 30+ plants do it. hageeme said:
