Hardening off question

[Rymerpt]

I'm in California. Our temps are gonna be great from now on. Do I need to harden off? I have seedlings in solo cups that are doing awesome and I would like to get them out side in 3-5 gal pots. I can wait till they are a little bigger if need be, but am not very patient.

 

[JutsFL]

You can start now in the cups, and you definitely need to. You'll see why if you leave those in full sun for about an hour! Hardening off goes both ways - for sun and temps. It took mine around a month to acclimate to full days in bright FL sun (6+ hrs). Start off with them getting filtered sun if you can, from say a screened in porch and it will significantly reduce your hardening times.

 

[juanitos]

you would probably want to harden them off in terms of sunlight. Sticking plants from growlights to sunlights can bleach / kill the leaves.
 
Just do like a 2-4 hours in sun for couple days, then 4-8 hours couple days, then full sun or something like that.

 

[Proud Marine Dad]

I agree with the above. Put them in filtered sunlight for a couple of hours and extend the duration a few days and then acclimate them to full sun.

 

[Noah Yates]

Yeah, after letting them sit in the shade for a few days to adjust to being outside in the wind/elements, just incrementally increase the number of hours they are exposed to full sun by something like 1 hour a day over the course of 2 weeks, ideally.

 

[geeme]

As Noah mentioned, hardening off also applies to wind. Start in shade or filtered shade also protected from much wind, gradually move to more exposure. 
 
Patience? Try moving here. We are on the Spring rollercoaster ride - we may get a couple days of beautiful weather, then BAM back down to too cold for the plants. I'm hauling them in and out, so my patience is being tried. 

 

[Rymerpt]

Thanks guys. I thought I was special here in California. I'll do as advised.

 

[Proud Marine Dad]

Those are small. I would keep them under the lights for another 3-4 weeks personally.