I began hardening off my plants on Monday. It's been pretty overcast here until yesterday when the sun came out & the wind picked up. After only a little bit of time outside, they started looking sad & droopy so I'd bring them in. I'm no expert, but I'd say you should harden off as much as possible outside. Lights & blowing can't truly simulate wind & heat. But, like I said, I'm no expert. Just muddling along.

Hi dragon49,

Recalling back to my first years experience, 100% chance, no. More like 80% wonÂt make it. Some (20%) will make it and 10-20% of those that do will produce well.

The biggest issues, in my opinion, are light intensity and wind. There really isnÂt a convenient way to simulate the intensity of sun light indoors. As for wind, oscillating fans help but donÂt simulate natural wind conditions very well.

Unfortunately, in my experience, there are no real shortcuts. I understand time constraints and practicality issues associated with hardening off plants. In the end, we all have to do the best we can and count on using up some of our karma to get us through.

Just my experience, your results may vary.

Best of luck whichever method you use,

Bill

I am no expert, but I am about a week into hardening off around 30 pepper plants. They were raised from seed in a very pampered environment, with flourescent lighting right over their heads, a fan blowing them around just a bit, and heating mats to keep the temp just right day and night. These strengths all turned into weaknesses on their first day outside. They were not ready for sun and wind. I got them out of there after 2 hours; some leaves were burned, most plants were droopy and unwell. They all recovered, but the weeklong process has been difficult for them. They are really toughening up now, though. Though I am a first-year pepper grower with minimal knowledge, I have to say this experience taught me how very important it is to set aside a good-sized block of time for hardening off, and to do it right - a little bit more each day as the plants adjust, while keeping an eye on weaker plants to make sure they are dealing with it. I also recommend you put your spindlier or otherwise more at risk plants more in the shade or part shade, and leave the full sun only for plants that are robust and strong. Please keep in mind that it does not take a lot of sun to overwhelm a plant that has been coddled indoors. One hour of strong direct sun can discolor leaves and leave the plant a mess, and it even killed a few of my tomatoes - just one blazing hour of sun. Gotta be careful when hardening off.

Chloroplasts establish differently n fluorescent light (large, stacked cells with thin walls) grown vs sun (small, spread out cells with thick walls) grown plants. Running the fan on the indoor seedlings helps to strengthen the stem, but will not totally prepare the plant for life outdoors. The hardening off process allows the plant to develop new tissues suited for life outdoors. This process occurs slowly and is absolutely necessary, unless seeds are started outdoors. No way to rush it either - I tried this year and my plants suffered; some even died. Your exposed, toughening plants will grow new leaves, discernibly different, and the stem will generate a waxy surface.

Thanks for all of the advice.

I'm going to start giving the plants some outdoor time tomorrow. I have 3 weeks before they go into the ground. I'm going to start the process very slowly and gradually increase the outdoor exposure.

I agree that it seems like a balancing factor between indoors and outdoors in which all conditions are completely different. Luckily I still have 3 healthy plants left after all this drama. My biggest mistake was over exposure to the sun in the early spring and over watering.---NITRO

When work and other things get in the way of hardening off, I attempt to make an outdoor place that is somewhat like the indoor growing area. I'll use a shaded porch with walls on the side toward the prevailing wind. Or I'll set plants out in the shade of a tree and set a patio chair on its side to block the wind. Day by day I'll take away some of the protection. Usually this works out okay. The biggest problem is usually the increased water needs of the outdoor plants. Ones in small cell packs usually don't do well without a midday drink...but if necessary, I'll soak them before leaving early in the day and make sure they get water as soon as I get home. Sometimes you have to improvise or they would never get hardened off. I do try hard to have the first day of two out be at times that I can monitor them frequently.

Will you loose them all if you don't harden them off? Can't say for sure, but I would definitely try to do some hardening even if life made that hard.

I started hardening off today. The plants got 30 minutes outside. I'll gradually increase the time.