![]() We provide in-depth guidance on this topic here. If you can’t heat that greenhouse, you really need to wait until low temperatures are consistently warm enough so as to not harm your plants. If you can heat that greenhouse, you can harden off earlier in the season and allow your plants to live in that heated greenhouse. The exact timing, for us, is often dependent on the weather.Ī big part of it depends on what your goal and gardening capabilities are, though!įor example, if you want to go straight into your garden, timing your hardening off processes would be better aimed around your last frost.Īnother example would if you have a greenhouse. Some seasons simply don’t support an “early” hardening off, whereas some do. We’re looking for solid days in the 40 degree range. Ultimately, we are looking at the weather. We offered you some general timing guidelines above, but there is a bit more nuance to it. The Truth About Timing For Hardening Off! ![]() This is highly dependent on weather conditions as these plants really shouldn’t be outside when temperatures are below 50 degrees. We typically start hardening off these plants about 3 to 4 weeks before last frost.įor our warm loving plants, we typically wait until 1-2 weeks before last frost. We start with our cold hardy and frost tolerant plants as we want to get these outside as soon as possible.Īs the weather warms up, we continue the hardening off process with frost sensitive plants such as flowers, herbs and others that fall into this category. Typically, we start the process about six weeks prior to last frost. We have a continual hardening off schedule that is based entirely on the temperature tolerance of each type of plant. They should be relatively close together, but you can skip a day here or there to account for weather conditions or personal schedules. ![]() The days where you harden off your plants don’t necessarily have to be consecutive. Few will take less time as there really aren’t great ways to short cut the process. The process of hardening off usually takes a minimum of five days. (Or don’t want to afford!) How Long Does It Take To Harden Off Plants? This is an advantage they have with large, heated greenhouses that most of us “common-folk” don’t have. In many cases, these nurseries allow their plants to grow under sunlight for most of their young life. Thus, practically all nurseries build hardening off into their processes. If they didn’t harden off their plants, they would have many unsuspecting, unhappy customers! Nurseries have all the incentives to make sure plants they sell you will survive. In most cases, all nurseries will ensure that plants they sell are properly hardened off, prior to selling them. What? I’ve Never Had To Do This With Store Bought Plants? Once this damage gets severe enough, the plant is no longer able to photosynthesize and will sometimes perish. If a plant hasn’t yet developed the needed protections, the plant’s leaves will usually develop white spots that progress to becoming all white. But, it takes a little bit of time to develop these protections. Plants can create sort of a natural and permanent sun-tan lotion, if you will. If you don’t harden off your indoor grown seedlings, it is almost a certainty that they will die.Įssentially, the sun will “burn” your plant’s leaves. ![]() The process helps prepare them for the “ real world” where they must depend on their built-in protection for survival. Hardening off also deals with acclimatizing your plants to outdoor conditions. In general, we recommend daytime temperatures in the 50’s, but you can get away with the mid to high 40’s for most plants. In northern climates, we want to use “ good, warm days” for hardening off.
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