![]() Method 2: Harden Off Seedlings In A Cold Frame Or A Mini Greenhouse Congratulations! Transplant seedlings on a cloudy day and water them well before they go in the ground. After your seedlings have been spending at least 10 hours outdoors per day and have spent a couple full nights outside, they will be ready for transplanting. Transplant seedlings after 10-14 days of hardening off.Make sure they have already been spending at least 6 hours outdoors and that temperatures are forecasted to be well above freezing. After around a week, if temperatures are over 50℉ (10℃) at night, you can leave your seedlings outdoors for the night. If temperatures are warm enough, leave the seedlings outdoors overnight.But if there is a storm or a cold snap, don’t put them out at all- that will be too much stress and could kill them. By the third day, move your plants into a less sheltered spot where they get more exposure to wind and direct sunlight, and continue to slowly increase the types of conditions they are exposed to each day. Gradually expose seedlings to more wind and sun.On each subsequent day, increase the amount of time your seedlings spend outdoors by about one hour, so they gradually begin to spend more and more of the day outdoors. Increase the time they spend outside each day. ![]() ![]() After an hour, bring them back indoors or into your greenhouse again for the rest of the day. On day one, bring your seedlings outside for just one hour in the afternoon and place them in a spot where they are sheltered from the wind and shaded from the sun, like against the wall of your house. On the first day, place seedlings outdoors for an hour.Ideally, the first few days you harden seedlings off the weather should be mild, cloudy, and temperatures need to be at least 45℉ (~8℃). About 10- 14 days before the date you plan to transplant out your seedlings (often sometime in May/June), you should begin the hardening-off process. Schedule your hardening off and transplanting dates.Method 1: Hardening Off Seedlings By Gradually Exposes The Tender Plants To Outdoor Conditions Most seedlings can only be hardened off and transplanted after the last frost of your area, so plan ahead and take note of when that date is for you. The second technique can be done more quickly, but will require you to invest in some equipment. There are two main techniques you can use when it comes close to your transplanting date, the first of which is the more traditional, old-school way to harden your tender plants, and takes around 10-14 days to complete. Now that you know the whats and whys about hardening-off, let’s get to the how. Just imagine if you had been in a warm, sheltered, temperature controlled room your whole life and then were suddenly thrown outside with no preparation? You would probably get a shock too! 2 Ways to Harden Off Seedlings for Successful Transplanting The exposure to intense, direct sunlight commonly gives leaves a “sunburn” where silvery patches will develop on leaves that have been shocked. So young, vulnerable plants without a fully developed cuticle are much more susceptible to being beat about by the weather and can become highly stressed and even die. The cuticle “skin” prevents evaporation from the outer layer of the plant (called the epidermis) and repels water, dirt, and potential disease pathogens from entering the plant due to its slightly hydrophobic nature. Seeds that are sprouted and cared for indoors have not yet fully developed the protective, waxy layer that plants have called a cuticle. Seedlings that are germinated and raised indoors need to be hardened off so that they can acclimatize to the weather conditions of the outdoors.
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