Ok, it’s finally time to transplant my seedlings outside. The final frost date in my area was this past weekend, but I had forgotten to harden off my plants & till the garden (so I’m doing that this week).
I want to know, with those weekend emperatures, is it ok to move my plants outside? Do I need to do something like keep them outside a few hours in the night? Or am I being hasty, and need to do what some other resources I found say, and wait until 3 weeks after the last frost for temperature sensitive plants like Tomatoes?
by realpinkmonster
7 Comments
Three weeks after the last frost is a little excessive but a safety measure to make sure you don’t set yourself up for failure. Making sure that they are properly hardened off is the main thing you want to focus on. Making sure that they are properly transplanted in a hole twice the size of the container with loose soil is a must as well. What zone are you in?
The frost date is fine. You need to harden them off. I started hardening mine off a couple of weeks before the frost date. Only brought them in for a few days weather was so nice. I planted mine a week before the frost date because it’s been so nice. Tomatoes are pretty hardy down to just above freezing.
I don’t trust mother nature, I would wait.
I would but I’m a risk taker install staggger then and do three and then do a few more a week or two later
Yep they’ll be fine. Those 40’s are going to keep them small but once you hit 80’s they’ll shoot up like a rocket.
You can begin the hardening off process if it’s after your last frost date. That takes a week anyway. Keep row covers on hand and extra seedlings just in case.
Need to start putting them out in the sun gradually.