You’re going to have to feel your situation out.Īllow your seedlings to harden off or acclimate outside for 2-3 hours per day to begin. On the other hand, if you’re in the middle of hardening off starts and you have an unexpected drop in temperature, it’s going to be best to give them an extra week to acclimate. They may be stronger plants at that point that don’t need as many days. Or, perhaps, you are transplanting them when they are outgrowing 4” sized pots. While that sounds like a wide range, it really depends on what is happening in your area and under what circumstances they are being transplanted.įor example, for plants that will be situated in a spot that only sees morning sun, they may only need seven days of acclimations because they will never be in full direct sun anyway. The hardening off process takes anywhere from 7-10 days. There’s more than one formula to harden off seedlings, and all gardeners have their own specifics. The unpredictable outdoors can have wild temperature fluctuations which can be disastrous for young starts. But for a baby plant, it’s a death sentence. A few sun-burned leaves may be unsightly on a mature plant. Tiny seedling leaves that are immediately exposed to a full day of sun will have you purchasing more seeds tomorrow. No, the best way to prepare tender seedlings for their permanent home is to ‘harden them off’ (acclimate) them first, and here’s why. As the person who lovingly reared them to this stage, the last thing you want to do is to toss them out into your Square Foot Garden all willy-nilly. They will be facing new high temperatures, low temperatures, as well as leaf-nibbling critters. For seedlings that began life indoors under lights, there comes a time that they will need to leave the coddled, and climate-controlled protection of your home (or greenhouse) into the harsh elements of life outdoors.
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