Jennie,

Do you happen to have any large windows you could put them near? Once you get home, you could set them out of course for a couple of hours. Then when they are used to that, you could probably sit them out somewhere shady before you leave perhaps? Would be kind of difficult I agree if you don't have someone that can do it for you while you are at work. Another thing you could do is sit them somewhere that is shady until high noon and go from 2 to 4-5 hours.

Like.. for instance my house and the building I keep most of my stuff in sit side by side, so it gets shade up until 11 pm or so. then sun till 2-3 or a little later. I know it's terrible explanation lol but that's what I'll probably do. And honestly they can probably handle a jump in a couple of hours. I only had one or two get sunburn and I had them out 5-6 hours all at once, with a mix of full sun and occasional cloud cover and it was very windy. It was risky but you'd be surprised at what the little guys can live through.

Start off like normal and then you could go from there. Like I said once you get them out a few hours after work a few times, they'll probably be okay imho.

I'm curious to hear what others would say about your predicament though.

I think the mindset to have is that hardening off is not an all or nothing thing. If you did no hardening off at all, you would probably still have a successful crop. Any amount that you do will be beneficial to your plants.

If you did no hardening off at all, you would probably still have a successful crop

I beg to differ.

Just locate various areas around your property that get different amounts of shade and use them to your advantage. For example, start by putting them somewhere that only gets early morning or late evening sun. Once they are used to that, move them where they get a bit more sun, and so on. A tree can work perfectly because at the start you can put them near the trunk where they will be shaded most of the day, then gradually move them further from the trunk so they get a bit more sun each day.

jennie,

Good advice from don555.

Keep in mind that acclimating them to the wind is as important as their getting used to the sun's rays.

You mentioned that you have a while before your plants are ready for hardening off. Why not space it out over a couple of weeks or so? You have one day a week off so you could plan it so that you can be there when they get that last full day out.

Thanks for the advice - I'll start to look around for places that will work. I do have a front flower bed that has two big oak trees - I have trouble getting anything to grow because it is shaded most of the day - that might work well. Could I also put them under a picnic table or something like that?

BTW, these are the same peppers that I almost lost due to soil/peat pots. The orchid mix and new pots is working well - this forum saved those plants!

The most important aspect (aside from the plant's ability to take full-on mid-day sun) is getting the plants used to wind.

Most indoor grown annual veggies, unless they're seedlings exposed to a fan, will lack a strong outer layer of wax/hair/protection. This makes the plant not only prone to sun burn, it makes water run through the plant a whole lot faster.

The good thing about wind is that it's available almost all the time. You can start your hardening off process at the end of the day if you just move them outside to be exposed to some wind in order to get the plant to start to build up it's natural outer-layer protections. This will have a compounding effect later with sun protection.

Yes, nc-crn has an excellent idea there. You can still "wind" harden them when you get home from work.

What about hardening off super hots in Canada? Not sure if it's different than the posts I've read. I have a greenhouse that is not heated but lost many tomato seedlings last year from not understanding this concept. Want to get them planted directly into the greenhouse first week or two of May, possibly earlier if the snow melts. Can anyone answer these questions?

-Overwintered Bhut & Hab: Can they have blossoms on them during hardening off or planting stage? They have tons I keep snipping.
-Do you harden off overwintered peppers any different than seedlings?
-Any other steps when moving overwintered plant to outside?

-Scorpion seedling starting to blossom. Do I cut them off until planted in the permanent container and can develop root system?
-Harden off in warmer greenhouse with little shade & direct sun or outside with more environmental factors and much cooler? Currently indoors at about 72 degrees with 8-10 hours fan, growlux bulbs supplemented by a south facing window. All lush green and healthy.
- When should I start to harden off? Daytime temps are supposed to be +7 to +12 in the next few weeks but still a foot of snow. Greenhouse will get much warmer than that, usually 5-10 degrees in spring.
-How much time outside, how do you increment and how often. Days, weeks? I really have no idea in our climate that will range from zero to +15 over the next month.

I don't want to loose these peppers. Thanks!

You could use shadecloth, aka screen door mesh. Get one of those round wire tomato cages, and put a layer or two of screen door mesh over it, then put the whole thing over your small peppers. They will get early and late day light, but direct noon day sun will get filtered by the mesh.

This thread really helps. I started hardening off my peppers yesterday afternoon but I'm currently trying to figure out how to keep it going over the next week or two.

Edymnion, so you never brought them back inside at night? And how old were your plants when you started hardening them off? Thanks for the info so far!

robeb, you are in perhaps zone 5. jennieboyer is in zone 8. Many people do not do the hardening off thing and all gardening is local, Be careful when you tell someone that far removed from you what will not work.

I brought them back inside whenever the temperatures dropped down into the mid 40's or lower. Long as the lows were in the low 50's or high 40's, I left them out.

As for how old they were, lemme check the blog...

Post where they sprouted went up on Feb 23rd, and I started setting them out for short periods on... March 12th it looks like, with them being out overnight regularly on the warmer nights by around the 20th.

So while they'd go out for a little sun half way through March, they didn't really stay out full time until nearly the end of March. Even then I brought them back in as recently as this last Friday and Saturday night.

If it was warm, they'd go out for a few hours and then come back in soon as it started to cool down again. Then they got left out overnight when it stopped being in the 30's.

Calling in sick could work. (Only Kidding, I have not used a sick day at work in 8 years so far.)

If you can not monitor things as you feel you need to a simple cardboard box to start things with can help. It will shield the leaves from the wind. Here the wind does more initial damage to the plants than the sun does. The 15 - 30 mph sustained wind is not nice to seedling leaves at all.

Start it on the weekend then as Don suggested find a place with few hours of sun an defused/ indirect light.

Calling sick s also an alternative, as Nate mentioned. LOL

Seysonn