Hardening off short cut???

AJ Drew

AJ Drew

Put black plastic up on one side of high tunnel so plants are only getting half a day sun.  They did droop a bit on transplanting, but came right back the next day.  Since they are hardening off in place, there is no extra step.  Thinking next year, will come up with some way of draping and pulling back shade cloth like a curtain.

Thing is, now that the high tunnel is full where I have shade, I am itching to try something else.  Have three cloudy days coming and parts of the garden around trees that have shade.  Thing is, the sun that the plants in the high tunnel get the sun threw plastic.

So what do you think.  Can you skip hardening off if you plant into an area that is shaded half the day but gets direct sunlight the rest of the day?
 
 
Maybe I am just negative about the whole hardening off concept, but I never have good luck. 
 
I hardened off some super looking peppers about 3 weeks ago and then planted them and they still look like garbage. 1/2 the leaves are sun burned and falling off, the other 1/2 are just stalled out. Nothing looks full of life or growing. 
 
I go through this every year with both peppers and tomatoes. Maybe I plant too early, maybe I don't harden off right, maybe my expectations are too high. 
 
Too respond to your question, my garden is 1/2 shaded in the early summer before the sun shifts enough over the pine trees to be full sun all the time. I still get sun burnt leaves when moving things from inside to outside. It seems like even the mostly shaded area still has enough light to just destroy the coddled indoor seedlings. 
 
TW
 
I would be reluctant to skip hardening off. I have been putting my plants out in the shade for a couple hours the past couple days to begin hardening them off and by the time I bring them in they are all drooping. They perk up quickly once indoors but I have a feeling that they would be toast if I left them out there.
 
SavinaRed said:
are you talking about hardening off seedlings grown inside the home under lights ?
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Yes.  Normally I put them on the car port for a week then move them to a less shaded area for a week.  Being able to just go right into the high tunnel is nice.
 
jacqui276 said:
I would be reluctant to skip hardening off. I have been putting my plants out in the shade for a couple hours the past couple days to begin hardening them off and by the time I bring them in they are all drooping.
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Odd.  Here I have no problem moving them from under lights to shade and just leaving them.  I am fairly sure the big boys leave the plants where they are and adjust the sun by using different shade cloth or different sheeting on their green houses.  I can not imagine them moving that many plants.  Now wondering if maybe the big green houses start under the sun so they do not need hardening off.
 
If done properly, hardening off will render noticeable results vs. not properly done. Last year I used a shade cloth(my #1 choice). the prior year I placed all my plants on the north side of the house where the mid day sun threw a shadow on the plants while the morning and evening sun gave them all a dose of full sun. The later is still iffy and may produce burnt leaves including some loss of foliage. The plants generally bounce back but do incur a retardation of growth. I have even put them out without hardening off,(only once did this happen).
 
Having hardened off in many different scenarios my recommendation with most favorable results in mind as well as least amount of work is utilizing a shade cloth. One in 30% should be a nice choice if only one can be afforded. Two different densities would be optimal though.
 
Capcom, I am thinking of getting shade cloth the size to cover high tunnel for next year.  Will help when it gets too hot too, but my main goal is making the hardening off process much easier / involve less moving and walking.  Also to make me less a part of the picture.  Telling wife put into high tunnel and leave them is much easier than saying first put them here, then there, then there.
 
I have around 200 plants still in the house and have moved 50 of the most mature plant to my growing partners home that has s huge east facing window(morning sun). We leave them there for a week. After that week baby sit them outside in full sun until they fall all over themselves. Then we bring them out of the sun for a bit and keep repeating the process till they can stay in full sun. I have used shade cloth 80 then 60 then 40 for two weeks to do the same think. Take your pick
 
96strat, my main goal is decreasing walking.  So am thinking my trays go into the high tunnel, then I change the shade cloth over the plastic.  Move them once.  I am also trying to figure out a way to get rid of the indoor grow entirely so I do not have to go up a flight of stairs with each tray.  But I have trouble walking, so making things easier is kind of a necessity.  I really am moving towards the changing shading on high tunnels idea.
 
Not quite the same thing, but here is what I have been doing since my plants arrived last week and I've had no burned or white leaves:
- Put them in full sun 1/2 hour in the morning, put them in full shade outside an hour, then back in the house for several hours. Repeat outside time then back in the house overnight. (It's still too cold here at night.)
- Repeat process on the next day.
- Full sun 1/2 hour then filtered shade sun 1 hour, then full shade several hours. Repeat in the afternoon. My filtered shade is a mesh lounge chair - it works!
- Full sun 1 hour then filtered shade 1 hour then full shade, repeat in afternoon.
- Full sun 1 hour then filtered shade the rest of the morning. Repeat in the afternoon.
- Full sun 2 hours then filtered shade in the morning, repeat in the afternoon.
 
And so on. My plants were outside all day yesterday, and had 6 hours of full sun. Not bad for a one-week period of hardening off. 
 
Something to keep in mind is that the hardening off process is not only to get them used to the sun, but also to get them used to the wind. If you've had an oscillating fan on the seedlings while indoors the wind is less of an issue. But if you haven't had a strong fan on them you need to gradually introduce them to wind, as well.
 
geeme said:
Not quite the same thing, but here is what I have been doing since my plants arrived last week and I've had no burned or white leaves:
- Put them in full sun 1/2 hour in the morning, put them in full shade outside an hour, then back in the house for several hours. Repeat outside time then back in the house overnight. (It's still too cold here at night.)
- Repeat process on the next day.
- Full sun 1/2 hour then filtered shade sun 1 hour, then full shade several hours. Repeat in the afternoon. My filtered shade is a mesh lounge chair - it works!
- Full sun 1 hour then filtered shade 1 hour then full shade, repeat in afternoon.
- Full sun 1 hour then filtered shade the rest of the morning. Repeat in the afternoon.
- Full sun 2 hours then filtered shade in the morning, repeat in the afternoon.
 
And so on. My plants were outside all day yesterday, and had 6 hours of full sun. Not bad for a one-week period of hardening off. 
 
Something to keep in mind is that the hardening off process is not only to get them used to the sun, but also to get them used to the wind. If you've had an oscillating fan on the seedlings while indoors the wind is less of an issue. But if you haven't had a strong fan on them you need to gradually introduce them to wind, as well.
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This would never work for me as I leave for work at 5:15am and dont get back home till 4:15pm. 
 
The only way to really do what you want and reduce the labor of walking plants back and forth is to start them in a heated greenhouse. Or you may reduce the time by growing them under 100,000 watts of hps lighting.
 
CAPCOM said:
The only way to really do what you want and reduce the labor of walking plants back and forth is to start them in a heated greenhouse. Or you may reduce the time by growing them under 100,000 watts of hps lighting.
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I am moving towards starting in a heated green house, but I do think there is another solution.  Go from indoor grow to high tunnel / poly tunnel.  Put shade cloth over the tunnel, change the shade cloth periodically to allow more sun.  What I am doing now with a few plants to test, I put black plastic over the high tunnel and I adjust it to allow different amounts of sun vs. shade.

Do you know if commercial green houses go the route of heated green house and starting under natural light.  If so, do they supplement the sunlight?  I gotta figure they do because moving that many starts would be a major effort.
 
geeme said:
Not quite the same thing, but here is what I have been doing since my plants arrived last week and I've had no burned or white leaves:
- Put them in full sun 1/2 hour in the morning, put them in full shade outside an hour, then back in the house for several hours. Repeat outside time then back in the house overnight. (It's still too cold here at night.)
- Repeat process on the next day.
- Full sun 1/2 hour then filtered shade sun 1 hour, then full shade several hours. Repeat in the afternoon. My filtered shade is a mesh lounge chair - it works!
- Full sun 1 hour then filtered shade 1 hour then full shade, repeat in afternoon.
- Full sun 1 hour then filtered shade the rest of the morning. Repeat in the afternoon.
- Full sun 2 hours then filtered shade in the morning, repeat in the afternoon.
 
And so on. My plants were outside all day yesterday, and had 6 hours of full sun. Not bad for a one-week period of hardening off. 
 
Something to keep in mind is that the hardening off process is not only to get them used to the sun, but also to get them used to the wind. If you've had an oscillating fan on the seedlings while indoors the wind is less of an issue. But if you haven't had a strong fan on them you need to gradually introduce them to wind, as well.
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 Similar to what CAPCOM said, for the average person, no way this works. 
 
Not trying to be prying, but what do you do for a living that you can afford to do a hardening off scheme like this? Most people leave for work between 6-8AM and get home between 4-6PM. What you are proposing would require you to take a week off of work to accomplish. 
 
Whatever you do, wait until they have some 'real' leaves.  The cotyledons are hopeless in full sun.  Even an hour or so of direct morning light fried a number of my tiny sprouts.  :confused: 
 
pa1966stang said:
Not trying to be prying, but what do you do for a living that you can afford to do a hardening off scheme like this? Most people leave for work between 6-8AM and get home between 4-6PM. What you are proposing would require you to take a week off of work to accomplish.
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 I am self-employed, mostly as an independent computer consultant, so I work from my home office as much as possible. I do go to client sites and yes, those days would be difficult to work this type of schedule. However, one of the definitions of an independent consultant is that they control where and when they work. The first week of hardening off, I tell my clients that I will join meetings via conference calls rather than in person. But if something comes up that really needs my presence, I will go and put the plants in an area that gets consistent partial shade - the space between my and my neighbor's garages is backed with trees, so the area gets minimal sun through the foliage.
 
Geonerd said:
Whatever you do, wait until they have some 'real' leaves.  The cotyledons are hopeless in full sun.  Even an hour or so of direct morning light fried a number of my tiny sprouts.  :confused: 
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Geonerd, given where you live, you might really consider direct-sowing outdoors. Plants that sprout outdoors in full sun don't need to be hardened off. When I lived in the Houston area, I never started seeds indoors and only had a problem if I forgot to water. Which, yeah, happened from time to time! Think of all the farmers of acres and acres of crops - it would be insane for them to try to sprout seeds indoors then transplant to outside. 
 
I spend a week or so throwing them out in the evening or morning sun for a few hours. Then I'll put a sheet over the green house for a day or so until they seem happy with the sunshine.
 
Geemee, what type of night temperatures were OK to sow outdoors?  I am in KY and most peppers that I grow are long season, but watching night time temps on poly tunnel and thinking maybe heating it just to start seeds would be preferable to indoor starts.  I imagine if started in the sun, they would grow faster too.

Gotta figure hardening off, no matter how it is done, slows things down.  Also, the indoor part of the grow can not possibly be as fast as outdoors unless you are willing to pay the electric bill to bring the sun indoors.
 
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