Re: Best Way to Hardening of Plants??

Hi, Margot.  

I have the same situation.  Starting over 500 seedlings under lights in my
living room, to plant out in my east end garden.  

I'm planning to put them on the roof, in their flats, under plastic
sheeting covered with a white bedsheet (propped up on milk crates).  After
two days, I'll give them an hour of early morning sun. The next day, I'll
give them two hours of early morning sun, or maybe one in the morning and
one in the late afternoon.  Gradually, I'll give them a little more sun
each day, working toward the middle of the day.  

You could probably also do this on your fire escape if you don't have roof
access.  Keeping them watered is going to be the key thing, because they'll
dry out much more quickly outside.

In past years, I have tried leaving them outside in the country, in part
shade, during the week, but some dry out and others get sun scalded.  Most
do survive, and grow new leaves, but it sets them back.  So I'm going to
try for a more controlled approach this time, and harden them off here.

Good luck!  

Jennifer


At 04:15 PM 4/3/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I have a problem in figuring out how to harden off my seedlings.  I grow my
>seedlings in the city under lights to be planted at the appropriate time on
>the East End of Long Island where we spend weekends.  How do I harden them
>off when I am only out there on Saturday and Sunday during the day?
>
>TIA!
>Margot Kane
>Zone 7
>
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Jennifer Scanlin, zone 7
jscanlin@earthlink.net
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