Hardening Off Pause?

[zeuspaul]

I have some seedlings that have already been hardened off. I brought them back inside and under the grow lights for about a week due to cold rainy weather. Do I have to harden them off again? or can I plant them in the garden as soon as the weather clears up?

[Ginger2778]

I have some seedlings that have already been hardened off. I brought them back inside and under the grow lights for about a week due to cold rainy weather. Do I have to harden them off again? or can I plant them in the garden as soon as the weather clears up?

How big ard they, and for how long were they hardened, was the hardening off completed, and how long have they been back inside?

[worth1]

Any new growth under the lights won't be hardened off.
That's my idea anyway.

[MissS]

After a week I would take a shorter period of hardening off just to be sure that I wouldn't burn my plants after all of my hard work. I would place them in the shade with about 2 hours of direct sun on the 1st day. Increase the direct sun to 4 hours on day 2 and then in they were okay, I would give them 6 hours on day 3. Then I would plant them in the ground.

[zeuspaul]

I have some seedlings that have already been hardened off. I brought them back inside and under the grow lights for about a week due to cold rainy weather. Do I have to harden them off again? or can I plant them in the garden as soon as the weather clears up?

How big are they, and for how long were they hardened, was the hardening off completed, and how long have they been back inside?

I have a mix. The hybrids (Better Boy, Big Boy, Early Girl) I got at the nursery and I presume they are hardened off because they were outside. My own seedlings are hardened off from day one. Once they sprout I move them outside in full sun every day and bring them inside at night. Sometimes if it is too windy I bring the larger ones inside in the afternoon.

My own seedlings range in size from just sprouting up to 4 inches.

The ones I am concerned about are the larger ones I got from the nursery. They range in size from 4 inches to 12 inches. Some are in 4 inch pots and others are in 1 gallon pots. No six packs. I went to 3 nurseries and the only thing they had were singles I need to get these in the ground ASAP because I don't want them to get root bound. This is the 5th day of rainy cold weather. Only small amounts of rain and partly sunny to sunny in the sixties predicted after that.

[eyegrotom]

Hi zeuspaul I am in So Cal also. I have about 10 plants that range from 6 inches to 12 inches that were hardened off that I would have planted a week ago if not for the rain coming. I have them out now, as it looks like the rain is over. I will put them back out tomorrow for 4 or 5 hours, on Sunday they will get planted. Mike

[Ginger2778]

I have some seedlings that have already been hardened off. I brought them back inside and under the grow lights for about a week due to cold rainy weather. Do I have to harden them off again? or can I plant them in the garden as soon as the weather clears up?

How big are they, and for how long were they hardened, was the hardening off completed, and how long have they been back inside?

I have a mix. The hybrids (Better Boy, Big Boy, Early Girl) I got at the nursery and I presume they are hardened off because they were outside. My own seedlings are hardened off from day one. Once they sprout I move them outside in full sun every day and bring them inside at night. Sometimes if it is too windy I bring the larger ones inside in the afternoon.

My own seedlings range in size from just sprouting up to 4 inches.

The ones I am concerned about are the larger ones I got from the nursery. They range in size from 4 inches to 12 inches. Some are in 4 inch pots and others are in 1 gallon pots. No six packs. I went to 3 nurseries and the only thing they had were singles I need to get these in the ground ASAP because I don't want them to get root bound. This is the 5th day of rainy cold weather. Only small amounts of rain and partly sunny to sunny in the sixties predicted after that.

Good info. I think you don't have to reharden. I think if you simply put them out in tge sun andbkeep moist, they'll be just fine.

[EdieJ]

We have the sort-of the same issue. My seedlings were hardened off and ready to go in the ground. Then the weather forecast all changed. Extremely severe weather tomorrow (oh Happy Easter to us ) followed by 3 nights of frost/freeze warnings. Looks like it's going to be next Friday before nighttime temps are back in the lower 50's. So I made the mistake last night of telling DH that the plants will have to come back in Saturday night so of course he jumped up and brought them in right then. I swear this stupid stuff is only happening because I'm not physically able to do like I'm used to. So hopefully starting back Monday I can put them outside for a few hours and build back up without too much loss of growing time.