seeds Hardening Off Seedlings for Transplant

[AlabamaJack]

I know it may be early for a lot of folks but I have started hardening off my larger plants getting ready for planting out the week of 17 March (planned date but I will have to watch the weather closely). I found an article on the net that explains hardening off better than any other article I have read. I will start hardening off my smaller seedlings next week weather permitting.

I also learned a new word.. thigmomorphogenesis – wikipedia definition - "the response by plants to mechanical sensation (touch) by altering their growth patterns. In the wild, these patterns can be evinced by wind, raindrops, and rubbing by passing animals. M.J. Jaffe discovered in the 1970s that regular rubbing of bending of stems inhibits their elongation and stimulates their radial expansion, resulting in shorter, stockier plants. Growth responses are caused by changes in gene expression. This is likely related to the calcium-binding protein calmodulin, suggesting Ca2+ involvement in mediating growth responses."

http://www.gardenguides.com/how-to/tipstechniques/seedsbulbs/hardening.asp

Is this close to what everyone that starts from seed does?

 

[Pepperfreak]

AJ, That was such a great article that I printed it up for future reference. Thanks for sharing and by the way, that new word...I bet you can't say that three times fast

Paul

 

[wordwiz]

AJ,

But what about the music? Music is supposed to help plants grow, though I suppose hot peppers might be more into hard rock than Beethoven.

Shaking plants and similar stuff being productive doesn't surprise me. When I was kid (sometimes it seems like that wasn't long after Moses was wandering the desert!) mom gave me a job. We had a new tree planted in the yard to replace one lightening destroyed. It was my job to take a large, rolled-up newspaper and smack the tree with it. Several times, all four feet of it. I don't know if it helped or hurt, but the tree did great until it was felled in a huge storm. These days, we keep the tree that was planted to replace the other trimmed!

As an aside - and I can say this now because dad is enjoying Garden of Eden settings, where the tobacco, potatoes and tomatoes always turn out great - it was the only time in my life my mom stood up to dad. She wanted the tree replaced so I went out and dug one up. Not something that was two-foot tall, but a decent size tree. We planted it and dad got mom - real mad. Mom let him know that it was not his and his alone house but theirs. My siblings and I all aligned with mom (gotta love the momma) and dad not only relented, he made it his business to make sure that tree prospered.

Ahhh,,, memories.

Sorry for sort of hijacking the thread but I feel happier now.

Mike

 

[AlabamaJack]

Mike....memories are what makes life worth living...making new memories each moment we exist...

Anyway, got home from work and immediately went to my plants...I thought they would be wilted and ready for a break...but to my surprize they all looked very happy to be outside....it was 84F here today and they were in the full sun for about 3 hours or so...wind was blowing hard but I had them in a sheltered area and just the tops were moving around....cold front coming in tonight with a freeze expected Wednesday morning....back in the grow area they go...

 

[Pam]

My...but wasn't he wordy.

But yeah, he hit the high points. If you're using very intense lights, you can probably start with filtered or morning sun right off the bat.

 

[AlabamaJack]

He was wordy Pam but I just hit the high spots...

When is your average last frost day Pam?

I have a spot on my back porch that gets about 2-3 hours of early morning sun then is shady for the rest of the day....guess where I am going to start my seedlings hardening off?

 

[Pam]

When is your average last frost day Pam?

The first week in April is the traditional plant out date. After last year's late freeze, though, you can betcha I'm not rushing anything outside.

I have a spot on my back porch that gets about 2-3 hours of early morning sun then is shady for the rest of the day....guess where I am going to start my seedlings hardening off?

My eyes tend to glaze over during all the light talk, but aren't you using some high-ish intensity light? That should make hardening off go faster.

 

[AlabamaJack]

The first week in April is the traditional plant out date. After last year's late freeze, though, you can betcha I'm not rushing anything outside.

My eyes tend to glaze over during all the light talk, but aren't you using some high-ish intensity light? That should make hardening off go faster.

We had a freeze last April also and I will keep an eye on the weather...the only problem with waiting until I plant out is I will have to find more area for the plants (mind starts churning to think of where/what to build)...

I may have been two weeks early planting seeds..

Pam, I am just using fluorescent shop light fixtures with a mixture of 4100K and 6500K bulbs (one each per light) and I have two fixtures per 16" wide shelf. I wouldn't call that high intensity...we will see this weekend, freeze Wednesday morning then Sunday supposed to be back to 65.

 

[Pepp3rFreak]

Thanks for sharing the article!