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Need tips on how to harden off

Pepperfreak

Pepperfreak

I have been reading scores of articles about the importance of hardening off plants before planting out and there have been many threads about it here. However, I have so many plants that the 1 day that I actually took them all outside, it nearly took a full hour and that is a full hour of going up and down stairs.

I need some advise/guidance on how to make this process easier when there are so many plants involved, like 75 plants all in 8" pots.

Thanks for any help, guidance and or advise you all can give.
 
Could group them up. Group them however you want, and set a day each group is to be outside, that way instead of having to move 75 plants at a time, you are only moving 10/15 plants
 
Thanks for the sugestion...I'm about a mounth away from planting out. How soon or when should I start hardening my plants?
 
With a quick g00gle search and finding about 12,523,124 sites of info, here's someone's method:


There are 3 approaches to hardening off:

1. Gradually Longer periods of Time Outdoors
2. Place in a Cold Frame
3. Withholding Water


Gradually Longer periods of Time Outdoors

1. Begin 7 - 10 days before your transplant date.

2. Place plants in a sheltered, shady spot outdoors. Under a tree or even on your back porch is fine. Leave them for 3-4 hours and gradually increase the time spent outside by 1-2 hours per day.

3. Bring plants back indoors each night.

4. After 2-3 days, move the plants from their shady spot into morning sun, return them to the shade in the afternoon.

5. After 7 days, the plants should be able to handle sun all day and stay out at night, if temperatures stay around 50 degrees F. Keep an eye out that the soil doesn't dry and bake the plants, if the weather is warm.

6. After 7 -10 days your plants are ready to transplant. Try to do so on a cloudy day and be sure to water well after planting.


Place in a Cold Frame

1. Begin 7 - 10 days before your transplant date.

2. Indoor grown plants can be moved and left in a cold frame, for hardening off.

3. Turn off heating cables and/or open the cold frame cover for gradually longer periods of time. Start with 3-4 hours and gradually increase the exposure time by 1-2 hours per day.

4. Close the cover and resume heating at night, if temperatures dip below about 40 degrees F.

5. Plants should be ready to transplant in 7 - 10 days. Try to do so on a cloudy day and be sure to water well after planting.


Withholding Water
Allowing seedlings to wilt has the same effect as gradually exposing them to the elements.

1. Starting about 2 weeks before your transplant date, don't water your seedlings until they start to wilt.

2. At this point, water normally, then wait for them to wilt again.

3. After 2 weeks of this process, seedlings should be ready to transplant. Try to do so on a cloudy day and be sure to water well after planting.
 
Personally, I'm doing the withholding water and then placing them in a spot on the one side of the house that gets next to no sun at all until the end of may. I'll leave them there for a few days before moving them to partial shade, then planting in full sun.
I did this last year with some bell peppers and other plants. They did fine.
I absolutly refuse to run 46 pepper plants and 34 tomato plants in & out of the house, up & down stairs every day.
 
Try doing 400.

Pepperfreak, First off how big are your plants that you have them in 8 inch pots? In my opinion that is overkill for just starting plants that are going to be put in the ground. That being said you could build a pot holder such as the ones that AJ built for his seedlings you could make one that maybe holds 5 or 6 pots.

Dale
 
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