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Is there an alternative to hardening?

misterbrownstone06

misterbrownstone06

I know that before the pepper plants can be exposed to 12 hour sunlight, you need to harden them by giving them 1 hour of sunlight everyday. But here in Miami, they plants start to wilt almost to the point of death in just under 15 minutes. Maybe it's to hot and humid or something. But I take them outside and the leaves start to curl upward really fast so I bring them back inside and they go back to their merry selves. Is there another way of doing this? Is there some type of oil or nutrient I can spray on them to promote hardening?
 
Are you putting them in the shade? If you don't have any shade make some with shade cloth or something similar. It will help them harden off. I keep my plants in a spot where they are in the shade of a tree for most of the day. They thank me for it.
 
No there aren't any alternatives to hardening them off, except for just leaving them out there and hoping they make it without too much damage, but that's not really possible with that kind of heat because they'll die. I would just try to do it as slowly and carefully as you can. Try putting them them out on cloudy/cool days or a couple hours before sunset. Or very early in the morning before it gets really hot, and keep them under shade at first.

It's ok to let them wilt a little, it's part of the process...
 
What time of day are you putting them out? It's best if you can start in the early morning, before it's too terribly bad, then build up a bit at a time from there. As others and you have noted, keep them in the shade a while, too. The weather this year is just nutzo.
 
I harden mine off by placing them under a large white maple tree. It cuts down the sun exposure to about 40%. Ten days or so and they're good to go. If you burn some leaves it's no big deal, they'll grow new ones. You need to make sure they're watered enough, but not too much. I cut off all damaged leaves so the plant's resources are used to generate the new ones.

I had a bout with some very strong winds that stripped some of the plants down to nothing. The important thing was the stems were dark green and very healthy. The newly formed leaves are very durable to the sun light and will recover in time to produce a nice harvest. All those plants seem to be turning around nicely.

There is no other way, its tough love!!

Good luck!!
 
I stick all mine on my covered front porch and leave them there for about 2-3 weeks. It gets sun from about 3 till sunset on one side and 5-6 till sundown on the other. 2-3 weeks up there and they are good for all day with a little wilting for a little bit.
 
I have same problem down here in South Texas. My plants just cannot take the sun all day. They have to be moved after one hour of direct sun. I just leave them on my back porch
 
The only way to get around harding off that I know of is to sprout them in the ground to begin with. even then they need some shade to grow in.
 
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