Terms of Service apply. A couple didn't survive. Turn off any heating cables or open the cold frame cover for gradually more prolonged periods each day. Pepper plants require a period of hardening-off whether you grow your own or purchase bell pepper seedlings. To harden off your seedlings, gradually introduce them to the outdoors. Pepper seedlings are not hard to start, but they are somewhat picky. This is why I grow in containers, bringing them inside is much easier than building shelters over them! When the week of your average last frost rolls around, you may begin hardening off your pepper plants. When you plan your garden, put okra, eggplant, and peppers where they'll receive the maximum amount of direct sunlight. It also didn't help that I am not using an indoor lights... just a small window. At the end of the first day’s hardening off time, put your seedlings back inside. Repeat this each day, gradually increasing the amount of time they're outside. Good simple guide thank you! Continue to close the cover and resume heating during the night if the temperatures dip too low. It was very windy early in the week and the plants took quite a beating. One of the most important steps in planting comes before your plants get near the garden. Cookies help us deliver our Services. On their first day outdoors, go slow and cool. This allows it to get accustomed widely fluctuating climate conditions. Here are some tips for getting your pepper seedlings off to a healthy start. About 10 days before you intend to plant, put your transplants outdoors in an area where they'll be protected from the direct sunlight and wind. Put them outside for an hour and then bring them back in. Your plants have spent their short lives in a warm, sunny, protected place and need to get used to the outdoors gradually before they can be planted safely in your garden. THE WORKAROUND: In my growing zone at 40°N latitude, I've found ways to make hardening off easier or even unnecessary. While i don’t usually bemoan good weather it is a bit frustrating to lose some plants to an unexpected sunny day. #HappyGrowing Most of the pepper plants went outside on May 6th and 7th. The proper method is to gradually keep the plants outside for longer and longer each day. I nuked most if not all of my seedlings this year and had to buy some. If you do it gradually and add more sun to the hardening off area each day, they should be able to take full sun, rain and gentle winds after this. Hardening off plants, is the process of exposing an indoor grown plant to the outside elements gradually, over a period of time. Sigh. Do NOT put them out in direct sunlight on their first day out and do not put them out on a windy day. It's def. slowed down growth too. These steps are not absolutely necessary, but they help. And how slow they are dying now. Each day, increase the number of hours they are exposed to sunshine until finally after 3 or 4 days you can leave them out all night. Looks like you're using new Reddit on an old browser. Plants grown in a greenhouse or indoors are not used to the direct sunlight or harsh temperature changes between day and night. Weather permitting that is! Start with 3-4 hours and increase the exposure to outside temperatures 1-2 hours per day. Important: Hail and strong (and/or) cold winds will probably damage your plants, no matter how careful you have been in hardening them off. To harden seedlings, bring them outside for 1/2 an hour under dappled light on the first day. Partly cloudy days are perfect for hardening plants. The next day, leave them out for two more hours, with perhaps an hour’s direct sunshine in the morning. This transition period is called "hardening off." Direct sun or wind (warm or cold wind) will do them in. Sunshine is important for these heat-loving crops. See our video on how to harden off plants. Posted on June 15, 2011 by fruitslaborious. As long as the spot is semi-shady and the weather is still they should be fine; make sure they don't need to be watered before putting them out. Potatoes love more acid conditions between 5-5.2. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Symptoms: Lower leaves dying at random; Yellowing color on just a few leaves It usually takes about 7-10 days to get pepper plants nicely hardened off. The site may not work properly if you don't, If you do not update your browser, we suggest you visit, Press J to jump to the feed. Crazy how fast it happened. Leave them out for a few hours and bring them back inside. Eggplant and peppers don't necessarily have to be planted in the vegetable garden. Start off by placing the plants outdoors … It usually takes about 7-10 days to get pepper plants nicely hardened off. Plants in a greenhouse are protected from natures fury. 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