I'm not Dawn, but I've always liked digdirt's replies. He seems to know what he's talking about.

Leslie

I'm not Dawn either, but i agree with most of what he said. The hardening off responce was not the best example.

Personally. the hardening off is to get the plant time to adjust so it can handle the new climate with less stress.

We all know how tender they can be and our sun and wind will destroy them if not conditioned.

That is why i keep a fan on mine to help strengthen the stem. the gentle waving helps them to grow stronger.

The problem with digdirt is that, much of the time, he comes across as less than cordial. Sometimes I feel that he and Carolyn could have a gripe party with each other.

I am not going to quarrel with anything he says because, first of all, there's more than one way to skin a cat. Different strokes for different folks and all that. Secondly, most of what he says is based not only on decades of gardening, but also on his training as a master gardener. Who am I to disagree? He also backs up what he says with research. Having said that, I advocate doing what you have found works best with whatever conditions you face in a given year because everyone has to deal with the conditions they have....which are not often (or maybe not ever in OK) textbook perfect.

I have hardened off plants all kinds of ways the last couple of decades, and generally agree with his comments. Having said that, I carefully evaluate our weather conditions and do what works best in the conditions we have, and what works best in one year (like last year when we could plant the first week in March) may not be what works best in another year. We have to know and understand our own individual microclimates and make adjustments as needed in order to get the best possible harvest in the conditions in which we garden.

In some parts of the country, you can pretty much take your time and harden off your plants whenever (at dates that seem horrendously late to us Okies) and then put them in the ground and they'll do fine all summer, will set lots of fruit no matter how late they go into the ground, etc. For those of us here in this state, we know from experience that the temperatures that shut down fruit set, which normally arrive in late June or early July for most of the state (maybe in May for Leslie in SW OK)in a so-called normal year, sometimes arrive in May (like in 2011) in an abnormal year, so we have to take some risks and push our plants into the ground as early as possible in order to get fruit set for a summer harvest and not have to wait for a fall harvest. I think people who do not grow in our specific erratic heat-challenged, drought-challenged and sometimes wildly erratic climate may lack I am sure that is true of people in other states too---we likely don't understand what works best for them and why they do the things they do because we've never gardened in their specific conditions.

While I respect the experience of gardeners in other states, if they haven't grown tomatoes here, then what they say may be less relevant to our situation than it is to most gardeners who have a milder summer. We have to make a lot of adaptations to standard growing procedures some years because our weather can swing wildly for 90-something degrees to 30-something degrees with snow all in the same week. Sometimes it is a wonder we get tomatoes at all.

We all have to do what works in our climate. Our spring weather is so erratic here that we often do start hardening off plants at the "usual" time, only to have winter weather return and blow up our plans to plant at the usual, OSU-recommended times. That doesn't mean we started too early or shouldn't have been hardening off the plants at that time---it just means that the weather threw a money wrench into timing that generally works.

Like Robert, I work to toughen up the plants before they even go outside. Most of us here have to deal with ridiculously strong wind at times, and it helps if you prepare your plants for the stress of hardening off by giving them wind exposure indoors. It also helps them form bigger and stronger main stems which makes them less likely to break when you put them outside to harden off and then they get hit by 50 or 60 mph wind gusts.....or even 40 mph wind gusts.

Many gardeners do believe bigger is better in terms of tomato transplants, though research does not support that as he explained in the linked thread, and I have noticed that a lot of folks in other states who cannot transplant their plants until May or even June will have plants 2 to 3' tall at transplanting time. I try to keep mine smaller than that because the bigger they are, the more adjustment time they need after being transplanted. It also can be hard to protect taller plants early in the season. Once a plant is too tall for a wall-o-water and freezing nights hit, then what? However, if they like big transplants and it works for them, then more power to them. I'm not going to tell someone not to do what they have found works for them in their specific location and with their weather, climate, soil, etc. I know the standard recommendation for proper transplants is 6-8" tall, but have found that doesn't work well for me with the wind I have. I prefer transplants 12-18" tall, and as long as it keeps working for me, I'm going to keep doing it, no matter what someone else says. : )

There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same. Y'all just aren't going to find me telling people there is only one path or only one best path.

Reed, I understand your comment totally on the less-than-cordial part, but I probably have days where I am less than cordial too, and I hope y'all overlook it on days when I am.

Dawn

Dawn, I have never known you to be anything BUT cordial! I think it's just when someone responds in a manner that appears less than kind. Rather than being helpful, it comes across as derisive.

I'm sure he knows what he's talking about but hey, I'm not dumb, I'm just on a quest for my own personal truth, tyranny aside........

Thanks for input..all of you!

Susan