geeme said:As already noted, it's not really a question of sunlight alone, per se, but the combo of sunlight and heat. Where are you in Slovenia (closer to the coast or mountains)? It sounds like, from the reading I've done, your weather is roughly similar to ours in Ohio. You are further north than we are, but have different geology in the surrounding area. Most of the people who have posted here so far are much closer to the equator then you are, and likely get higher heat for longer periods. They also rarely (compared to here and there), if ever, get snow. (Houston, TX is my hometown, so I am very familiar with the differences.)
If your weather is more like ours in OH, you are only occasionally going to have days hot enough that your plants will suffer from the heat. Even at 30C (86F), your plants should be able to handle sun all day, assuming they have sufficient moisture in the soil. Your plants are still very small right now, so will be more sensitive to sunlight and wind until they are fully hardened off. Just be patient with your hardening off, and they'll be fine. Keep in mind that chiles need a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight to produce well and that they are native to areas that get and stay as hot as some of the hottest days you and I have for longer periods of time than we get. They do best in the tropics and subtropics, so they can definitely handle our summers.
tsurrie said:I had peppers every summer (for a few years now) on full sun, through entire day, and never had any problems with burns. The temps here are moving from 25 to 35°C in average in june/july/august (speaking of inshade temperature) and the humidity is around 40 to 50 when dry. I don't know how hot it gets on the sun (maybe near 45 to 50), but sometimes there is no way to look at peppers for a long time during the day or there would be a significant increase of beer consuption
It looks like you live somewhere near (hey neighbour ) so if you harden them first, they will be ok. Yes, you need to harden them exactly because of the light/temp difference of indoor/outdoor planting...
Yes - because they were started indoors. Plants started outdoors are typically fine - think of all the plants that start out in the wild with no human intervention. As long as they get sun and wind from the get-go, assuming sufficient moisture, there is no need to harden off. When you start indoors, however, they have no wind (unless you put a fan on them) and definitely no light as strong as the sun. I'll reuse a human analogy here - think about yourself at the beginning of summer, after you've spent most of your time indoors through the winter. If you go spend an entire day in the sun right away, your skin will be burned - quite badly if you really went out all day. But if you go outside just a bit to start with then gradually increase your outdoor time, you will tan and over time be able to spend much longer periods of time outside without burning. Plants are no different in this way.future_man said:
I live close to mountains/hills, inland Slovenia. Thanks to all of your for your answers I learned a lot. I will take care of the excessive soil heating and I will slowly adjust plants to sun. Why do I need to adjust them so well though? Is it because they were started indoors in the months we had mostly cloudy weather with low sun and now all of a sudden sun started heating like crazy?
Streamer said:Maybe this can help you realize the importance of the all important CLIMATE that is so necessary for the propagation of plant life around the World.
Sure don't. AND, I haven't noticed any "rising temps". I'm a life long resident of my locale too.plaisir8 said:Streamer, you know how often they update this chart? Wondering whether the boundaries for some climes are moving given the changing weather patterns and rising temperatures.
Streamer said:Sure don't. AND, I haven't noticed any "rising temps". I'm a life long resident of my locale too.