Hardening off...for a second time!

[Mamsoth]

Hi all, during an unseasonable bout of sunshine we had here last month, I started the process of hardening off my plants, however, before they could get fully hardened off the weather slumped back to what is more typical for this time of year in the South East. I got them almost fully hardened, but then had to take them back inside where they've waited patiently for the last 4 weeks. So my question is, do plants revert back to their pre hardened off state if left indoors? When I start the process of hardening off again, will they be less prone to sunburn than the first time round or will they have reverted all the way back to their original state?
Cheers

Matt

 

[geeme]

Sorry - you've got a do-over to do..... start at the beginning, just like you did before.

 

[Mamsoth]

Oh bother!!! I had a feeling that would be the case. Thanks for the reply geeme, I'll have to do a better job of it this time to as I burnt the sh*t out of them on the first go by trying to rush the procedure, if I'd known how short lived the good weather was going to be I would have just left it til about now anyway.

Matt

 

[AlabamaJack]

or you can just put them out, let them get sunburned, then the new growth that comes out will be bushier than before...the plant WILL totally recover...I know it is hard to put them outside and just leave them, especially when they are so pretty, but sometimes when I don't have time to futz with them, I put them out and just leave them alone...

 

[fireface]

or you can just put them out, let them get sunburned, then the new growth that comes out will be bushier than before...the plant WILL totally recover...I know it is hard to put them outside and just leave them, especially when they are so pretty, but sometimes when I don't have time to futz with them, I put them out and just leave them alone...

glad to see im not the only one that takes this approach. I've always just thought of it as killing off the weak winter leaves that can't take the intense sun and kind of kickstarting the spring growth. Peppers are resilient plants, they will survive a lot more than most people think.

 

[Mamsoth]

or you can just put them out, let them get sunburned, then the new growth that comes out will be bushier than before...the plant WILL totally recover...I know it is hard to put them outside and just leave them, especially when they are so pretty, but sometimes when I don't have time to futz with them, I put them out and just leave them alone...

Good to hear you can do it that way, if they will survive the sunburn I'd rather just put them out and let them do their thing rather than obsessing and fretting about them 24/7. I think I'll do it like that then, put them out in all but the worst of weathers and bring them in at night until it gets a little warmer. The problem is I need to get them into the earth soon as some plants are becoming root bound, I have no space to pot them up so am eagerly awaiting the day I can plant them outside



Thanks for the input guys

Matt

 

[Emu]

or you can just put them out, let them get sunburned, then the new growth that comes out will be bushier than before...the plant WILL totally recover...I know it is hard to put them outside and just leave them, especially when they are so pretty, but sometimes when I don't have time to futz with them, I put them out and just leave them alone...

How big of a plant do you do this to AJ? Just after they pop or after the first set of true leaves, etc??

 

[AlabamaJack]

lord no Emu....they are about 8 inches tall with 10-12 sets of leaves...pretty healthy plants...if you put very young seedlings out, it will kill them....

 

[Mamsoth]

Mine are about the same size so by the sounds of it they should be ok to leave out...that is, if the stupid weather wasn't such a massive pile of crap!!! We are forecast a dip in temeperature for the next week at least, yesterday was about 18 C, tomorrow will be 7 C. So yesterday I put them out to start hardening them off again, but now I'll have to abort till a later date. I'm so pissed off with our poxy weather!!!

 

[AlabamaJack]

patience there Mamsoth, mother nature will do what ever she wants....for me, I just pick a date and go for it...I planted out some of mine March 7th this year (4) but they are under 50% shade cloth...growth will be slow for them but I'm in no hurry...7 C is about 45F and I don't think that will hurt the plants...mine have seen temps down to 4-5C and are still healthy...but.....my weather now is lows 21C highs 32C

 

[POTAWIE]

I actually brought a lot of my plants outside last night with a low of 7C and rain. Great time to harden them off for wind/rain etc. is when there is a mild, cloudy day

 

[Mamsoth]

patience there Mamsoth, mother nature will do what ever she wants....for me, I just pick a date and go for it...I planted out some of mine March 7th this year (4) but they are under 50% shade cloth...growth will be slow for them but I'm in no hurry...7 C is about 45F and I don't think that will hurt the plants...mine have seen temps down to 4-5C and are still healthy...but.....my weather now is lows 21C highs 32C

Ahem (Mamsoth composes himself and ceases his assault on mother nature...for now ). It is frustrating though, the weather here in England is sooooo changeable, this last week we've had glorious unbroken sunshine, torrential rain, galeforce winds, and last week we had hail!!! Tomorrow night we are predicted a frost overnight. One night it's too hot to sleep and the next, literally, we have frost. Hot, cold, wind, calm, rain, hail. AAAAAAAAAH!!! Lol, hehe , no its not that bad, but it is a sodding pain in the arse.

It's good to know that the plants will take temps a bit below 10 C without any adverse effects, I had heard to keep them in if it was anywhere below 10, the thing I must ask both of you guys is how long would you say you could keep them at those temps for? It's just it looks like we won't be getting above 10 degrees for the next week at least and probably longer!

If I had space indoors I'd just pot up all the plants, no worries about them getting root bound and then I could wait till the weather picks up, but space inside is very much at a premium and I really do need to get them out (they're in pots which are far too small for them).

 

[AlabamaJack]

I can't speak for Potawie, but once my plants go outside, they stay outside...I always have backups though...

 

[POTAWIE]

Mine will likely stay outside until things get cooler here, which looks like Friday night -2C but mine are sorta hardened a bit already for the cold. I may start rotating other plants outside but I'm hesitant since I'm finally starting to get a lot of ladybug larvae in the greenhouse and I don't want them to go anywhere

 

[pepperjoe]

Mine will likely stay outside until things get cooler here, which looks like Friday night -2C but mine are sorta hardened a bit already for the cold. I may start rotating other plants outside but I'm hesitant since I'm finally starting to get a lot of ladybug larvae in the greenhouse and I don't want them to go anywhere

'Sorta being hardened off' is like being 'sorta pregnant'.
They either are hardened off or they are not.
I have a lot of customers in Canada and I urge them that it's better to be a week or twoo late than a week or two early to bring their chiles outdoors.
I agree with Alabama Jack.....patience always pays off.
PJ

 

[Avon Barksdale]

The indoor/outdoor shuffle is way too much work. I just stick them under a tree for a few days and then gradually pull them out into the sun.

 

[Mamsoth]

Thanks for the input everyone, I think I'll put the peppers out soon and see how they get on, but the Aubergines are staying put for the time being, they are far less tolerant of the cold

Cheers Matt

 

[POTAWIE]

'Sorta being hardened off' is like being 'sorta pregnant'.
They either are hardened off or they are not.
I have a lot of customers in Canada and I urge them that it's better to be a week or twoo late than a week or two early to bring their chiles outdoors.
I agree with Alabama Jack.....patience always pays off.
PJ

And you're sort of being an idiot
Of course its best to wait as long as you can but I have them outside temporarily while its nice outside to get used to outdoor conditions and hopefully this will help my pest situation too. As I already said, when it gets too cold I bring them back in the poly-tunnel. If you wait for a bright sunny day you'll risk burning the plants. I usually don't plant chiles until almost July

 

[PIC 1]

I agree with leaving them out.........and at this point I have to. Even though we've had perfect conditions for the process ( overcast for a week with sporatic rain ) It was the one day of cloudy bright sun that caused some transparent leaves... Even last night with the pea size hail, there was some damage either holes in the leaves or missing new growth. As AJ said let MN do her thing. The new growth will come in and most likely be more robust.

Greg

 

[Mamsoth]

Of course its best to wait as long as you can but I have them outside temporarily while its nice outside to get used to outdoor conditions and hopefully this will help my pest situation too. As I already said, when it gets too cold I bring them back in the poly-tunnel. If you wait for a bright sunny day you'll risk burning the plants. I usually don't plant chiles until almost July

Yeah, I hear that about the sunburn, we had a blisteringly hot few days here a couple of months ago (mid 20's which is unheard of for the time of year), I treated my little darlings to a full day of unbroken sunshine (yup I kno), needless to say they got absolutely molested by the sun. Thankfully they just about recovered but it did set them back quite a bit. Thats why I'm being a bit more careful this time round and trying to gather as much info as I can to avoid another near massacre.


I heard on the weather forecast this afternoon that its now colder here than it was at Christmas!!! it looks as if from wednesday onwards it might start to warm up a bit, but it really is impossible to tell, it could just as easily plummet into siberian style blizzards, burying this fair island under 40 fathoms of snow! ... ...

Also, I will consider letting mother nature do her thing but if she continues to misbehave she may well need to be disciplined

Lol, thanks for the useful info guys, wish me luck