Here's a little info I found online: Young, pampered seedlings that were grown either indoors or in a greenhouse will need a period to adjust and acclimate to outdoor conditions, prior to planting in the garden. This transition period is called "hardening off". Hardening off gradually exposes the tender plants to wind, sun and rain and toughens them up by thickening the cuticle on the leaves so that the leaves lose less water. This helps prevent transplant shock; seedlings that languish, become stunted or die from sudden changes in temperature. Hardening off times depend on the type of plants you are growing and the temperature and temperature fluctuations. So be flexible when hardening off your seedlings and be prepared to whisk them indoors if there's a late freeze and snow. 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. After all your hard work and effort caring for your seedlings, it would be a shame to see them all shrivel and die from exposure. Hope this helps!

I'm glad you clarified that, because I thought the same thing Larry did, Susan, and I was horrified....thinking to myself "No, Susan, No." Now I am ROTFL because I knew that you knew better than to put a poor, unsuspecting plant in a Topsy-Turvy thing and I couldn't figure out what in the world was going on. Forgive me for thinking you'd lost your mind. : ) I'd move those plants back inside because you cannot count on a forecast to be that precise and if they are saying 40 degrees now, it could go lower. Last week our forecast low was for 36, and then the forecast dropped to 34, and our actual temperature was 28. This week, it was for 39, and then they dropped it to 37 yesterday and now it is 34....so maybe we'll see 28 again if the skies are clear. When they keep dropping the forecast low as the cold night approaches, it makes me nervous to the point that I cover up everything I possibly can within reason. Even 40 degrees is a temperature the plants won't like, even though it won't cause freeze damage. Remember, though, that frost can and does form at above-freezing temperatures up to 39 or even 40 degrees (a hard lesson I was slow to learn after we moved here because it never happened in Fort Worth) so don't take any chances with your plants. Dawn

I left mine in the shed yesterday so they had very little sunlight and still got whipped around by the wind because I had to leave the big double door open so they could have sunlight, but less wind exposure than they would have had outdoors. Today I had them out for 4 hours this morning and the wind was beating them up, so I took them into the garage at lunch time where they're relaxing under the fluorescent lights. The garage is warm enough that they can stay there tonight. All the flats of pepper plants are on the unheated sunporch, and we're supposed to go down to 34 degrees tonight, so I'll bring them back inside before sunset. All my seedlings are fully hardened off so I can begin planting whenever the cold nights end, though not tomorrow because I have a full day of other activities scheduled. Maybe Wednesday. My plants are like Jo's and need to go into the ground ASAP because they've outgrown their cups. It is ridiculous. Yesterday the plants endured 90 degree heat and wind gusting into the 30s. Today they've only had to endure high temps in the 60s but the wind is gusting into the 40s. Tonight it will be near freezing. Then, in a day or two it will be in the 80s. Our weather always yo-yo's up and down in spring, but this is ridiculous. Dawn

digdirt wrote: There is no need to harden off until 7-10 days before planting out as once hardened off they need to be able to stay out. Can you elaborate on that? Will a hardened off seedling not continue to do well if brought back inside? I've been taking my seedlings outside on warm days, thinking I was helping them along. Is that a mistake? I'm still 2-3 weeks out from planting. Sure. Taking young plants out for an hour or so to get some sun and fresh air is one thing. Is it necessary? No. Is it beneficial? Maybe, if done very carefully. Can it be risky? Yes. But that is not hardening off. The process of hardening off is done to permanently adapt the plants to the totally new and different environment they will now be living in. Take them in and out and in and out over long periods of time and they never adapt because the environment is constantly changing. Think of it as moving. You bought a new house, go through the process of gradually moving all your stuff to it a little at a time, and 1/2 way live in both houses for a week or so with all those frustrations. Finally you settle in to the new house. Are you then going to go back to the old house to live when everything is over at the new house? Nope, once you are moved, you are moved, right? So when it is getting close to planting time they need to adapt to that environment. Gradually they go out into it, learn to live in their new house. Now if you take them back to the old house for any length of time after they have adapted to the new one, they have to re-adapt all over again and again. Make sense? _________________ Daniel - if she needs to repot later on that is fine but she sure doesn't need to do it now. And a 2" seedling would be over-whelmed in a 6" pot. And how much growth the plant has in 1 month all depends on the growing conditions provided. If they are given the proper cool growing conditions with plenty of light then a 4" pot will be fine for a month and the plants will be approx. 7-8". Will it be rootbound? Possibly but plants can survive just fine for a brief period until they can be planted. If they are exceptionally warm conditions with not enough light then yeah they will be taller and lanky. But even transplanting to a larger pot won't prevent that from happening. If you are happy with cow fiber pots that's fine but I have tried them and been sorely disappointed. The issues associated with using them are well documented and have been discussed here may, many times. The search will pull up all sorts of discussions about them as well as Jiffy pots, many with pics of the problems. They do not compost in the soil unless you have lots of clay that will retain water for a long time around them. Folks have posted pics of them in the soil a year later. Roots do not penetrate them as advertised unless the pots are kept overly wet. Folks have posted pictures of pulling up plants with the pot still intact and filled with roots but none outside the pot. To keep the pots wet enough that means the plants have to be kept overly wet since the pots pull the water right out of the soil. That leads to root rot and stunted plants, yellowing leaves, fungus gnats, etc. It's your choice but IMO plastic pots will always outperform any of the fiber pots. If one wants truly direct planted pots of some kind use newspaper pots. Dave This post was edited by digdirt on Mon, Apr 29, 13 at 18:39