How to Harden Off Seedlings

Give your baby plants a great head start by acclimating them to the great outdoors before transplanting them in their permanent garden bed.

“ Hardening off ” is all about getting seedlings that weregerminated indoorsacclimated to the environment outdoors where they ’ll know out the eternal sleep of their animation . Even industrial plant that are considered “ hard to kill ” will need to make some adjustment when going from the protection of your homeor a greenhouseto the abrasive realities of the outdoors . The just - toss - them - in - to - the - cryptic - end - of - the - consortium theory does n’t work well in this character ( probably in many slip ) .

The first problem with transpose seedlings now into the garden bottom without indurate off first is tiny seedling leave and the sun . A dyad of burnt leave of absence may translate to a minor injury on a mature plant life . But for a child works , it could equal a stagnant industrial plant considering seedlings have very few leaves to begin with .

The sunlight is n’t the only concern here ; temperature fluctuations can be all over the position and are n’t inevitably predictable — especially when it comes tospecific micro - climates . Temperatures inside your habitation ( and possibly under lights ) are much more controlled compared to the outdoors ( particularly at night ) , which can be disastrous for tender seedling .

One Way to Harden Off seedling

Through your own experimentation in your specific zone you ’ll derive up with your personal technique for hardening off seedlings , but until then here ’s what I do :

Do youalwaysneed two weeks to get the chore done ? Probably not all the time . It ’s going to count on your acquire zone ( outdoor conditions ) , what type of seedlings , and where they ’ll finally reside . For instance , if I ’m plant them in a blot that sees only morning Dominicus then many times I do n’t involve to get past a week or so because they ’re never go to take to acclimatize to full Lord’s Day anyway .

I promise you this : it is a big , fat lease - down when you step alfresco to insure on your future garden only to find that the little favourite you coddled and nurtured from seed for weeks and weeks have been fry to death because they were rushed along too quickly .

ok Gardening recommend production

Berry & Bird Rabbiting Spade , trench Shovel

Fine Gardening invite a commission for items buy through connectedness on this situation , include Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs .

The New Organic Grower , 3rd Edition : A Master ’s Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener , 30th Anniversary Edition

Fiskars Garden Tool Caddy with Removable Small Tool Storage for Indoor and Outdoor Gardening Use , Made with Recycled Plastic

Get our latest tips , how - to clause , and instructional telecasting place to your inbox .

How to Thin Herb Seedlings

Get Those Seedlings in the Ground

5 Tips for Transplanting Vegetable Seedlings

Seed Starting 202 - Preparing Seedlings For Outdoors

Join Fine Gardening for a free engaging live webinar featuring Dr. Janna Beckerman , a famed plant life diagnostician as well as prof emerita at Purdue University and the ornamental expert manager …

When I spotted a exceptional sand dollar sign cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few months ago , I knew I was in trouble . With a delightful color pattern …

When we only prioritize plants we want over plants our landscape painting needs , each time of year is filled with a never - end list of chore : pruning , pilfer , watering , treating , repair , and fertilizing , with …

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be careful when you enter the backyard of garden clothes designer Jeff Epping — not because you ’re likely to trip on something , but because you might be dive - flush it by a pair …

4 Midsummer Favorites From a Plant Breeder’s Garden

Episode 181: Plants You Can’t Kill

Episode 180: Plants with Big, Bold Foliage

4 Steps to Remove Invasive Plants in Your Yard

All Access extremity get more

Sign up for afree trialand get access to ALL our regional content , plus the rest of the phallus - only subject matter subroutine library .

Start Free Trial

Get complete site access to expert advice , regional cognitive content , and more , plus the print magazine .

originate your FREE trial

Already a member?sign in

Seedlings that have been germinated indoors need to be hardened off before transplanting planting in the garden. Photo bytamadhanavalunder the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0.