Great information as always, Dawn! I'm gonna have to restart on mine tomorow, it got too cold to do it the past couple of days. I've been rotating my seedlings under the brightest lights I've got, and I put them up on books so they're closer to the lights. I also bought a BUNCH of containers this past weekend, I figure I'm gonna have alot in pots for a little while... LOL!

Growing from seeds is a bit time consuming, but I'm having fun with it! THANKS TO YOU!

Beth

Thanks, Dawn. Those first couple days, when you leave the seedlings on your screened back porch, do you leave them out most of the day? Or for just a couple hours?

Oz,

It depends on the sunlight.

If you can picture the back porch, it is at the rear of an east-facing house, so the east wall of the screened-in back porch is a two-story house and that shades it until noon. The north wall of the back porch is a real wall with two real glass windows I can open for venting. The south and west walls are half walls and half screens, with the screens covered in greenhouse plastic. The door that leads outside is on the south wall. Thus, I can control how much light they get just by where I place them.

On their first couple of days out, if it is very warm and sunny, I put the flats on a bench along the north wall, so they get no direct sunlight but lots of indirect light, and I open the windows to give them some air movement and to help vent the heat. I leave the walk-in door open too.

If it is partly cloudy or cool, I put the flats on tables alongside the west or south wall for about a half day where they get diffused sunlight through the layer of opaque greenhouse plastic and the fiberglass screens. If the sun comes out, I move them to the north wall for the afternoon. If it stays cloudy, sometimes I leave them on the south wall and sometimes I move them to the north wall.

I like that they get some natural light but not strong sunlight. If I am using the front or side porch, I sort of move them around the same way--letting them get some wind and some direct light early, early in the day but mostly indirect light. After 2 or 3 days of that, I can move them outside with less fear of sunburn or windburn. Of course, if the wind is wild and rowdy, as March winds often are, I set the plants up against the south wall of the house to they get mostly indirect light and have some wind protection from the house, the porch railings and the shrubbery.

If I worked away from home all day, I would probably leave them on the east-facing front porch where they'd only get a little direct sun early in the day. If I have to leave in a hurry to go to a fire once they are already out on the screened-in porch, I move them to the north wall if time permits. It is usually just a few flats, so moving them can be as simple as dragging a table from the south or west wall to the east or north wall.

If you don't have a porch that offers shelter, you can create a hardening off area with shadecloth, lattice, several layers of inexpensive cheesecloth, etc.

Back when I lived in Fort Worth and worked full-time, I started hardening off plants by giving them their first hour of sun late on a Friday after work, then gave them 3 hrs. on Sat., 5 hrs. on Sun, and placed them in dappled shade, or on either the west or east side of the house where they'd get 4-6 hours of sunlight but not 8-10 hours of sunlight. I had to have a back-up plan in case the weather suddenly turned violent (hard rain, hail, extreme wind, etc.) and, in my case either my parents or sister, all of whom lived nearby were able to go move the plants inside if I called and asked them to.

I still have issues with birds (wild, not the domesticated poultry), deer, rabbits and other wildlife thinking the fresh-from-the-house seedlings are a salad bar for them, and that is why I often put them on the porches early in the process. Even when they are out on the patio, I try to arrange patio furniture around the plastic folding table the seedling flats sit on so I can keep at least the deer away. Sometimes, when they are out on the patio, I throw bird netting over them somewhat loosely.

Hope this info helps.

Dawn

I started out doing it the way you describe, Dawn, then my lazy gene took over. Now, I just stick them right outside and leave the there from day one. Of course, mine are started from seed in the greenhouse where I try to abuse them with sun, fans, and temp swings from the beginning so there's less hardening off to do. I do put the store-bought plants directly outside as well and haven't encountered any problems with them, either. (I've just jinxed myself and will lose every plant this year from lack of hardening off. ;-) )

I'm so incredibly lazy so try to always find the easiest way in most everything I do. LOL

Dawn, I must confess, I didn't read your whole post.

But, I wanted to offer another tip.

Turn a fan on your seedlings. First just for 10 minutes or so, on low. Slowly increase the time, and then the speed. That will get them ready for the Oklahoma Wind. :)

Moni

Moni,

That's a good tip. I do use a fan inside near the plant shelf once the plants have a couple of true leaves. The "wind" exposure helps build stronger main stalks too.

Once the plants go outside, the wind still can be brutal and sometimes it is hard to work around it. Sometimes I'll put the plants inside the garage with the garage door open so sunlight reaches them, but they still have some shelter from the wind. My plants can handle winds under 20 or 25 m.p.h. pretty well, even on their first day out, because the use of the fan has toughened them up. On those 30-40+ m.p.h. days, though, they take a whipping.

We have had very mild March wind this week, so it has been a great week for hardening off plants. It was 84 degrees here yesterday and that was a little warm for them, but they did OK.

Dawn

I think one of the toughest challenges in hardening off is just being there. Dawn's Friday, Saturday, Sunday method is a great option for working folks. There's another suggestion at the Growing from Seed forum which uses upside down laundry baskets. I've provided a link to the FAQs. The one which addresses hardening off is about 2/3 down on the page. I've not used it myself, but it seems like a viable option, assuming there are rocks heavy enough to hold down laundry baskets in Oklahoms wind!