Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old April 4, 2017   #1
pipefitter508
Tomatovillian™
 
pipefitter508's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Seekonk MA
Posts: 55
Default Hardening off

I buy all my garden supplies from a farm near by they have 9
Greenhouse were they grow thousands of tomato plants to sell
So I asked about hardening off so many an I was told what they do is
With hold watering till they wilt then water this hardens them off they also use this method when growing the seedlings instead of grow lights this prevents them from stretching
Has anyone here heard of or used this method
Bob

Last edited by pipefitter508; April 4, 2017 at 03:14 PM.
pipefitter508 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 4, 2017   #2
BigVanVader
Tomatovillian™
 
BigVanVader's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Greenville, South Carolina
Posts: 3,099
Default

Yeah, a lot of wholesale plant distributors do this. I toured a facility that showed us the same method. They used misters and only gave the plants enough water to survive until ready to ship.
BigVanVader is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 4, 2017   #3
KarenO
Tomatovillian™
 
KarenO's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Vancouver Island
Posts: 5,918
Default

Reducing water, never to the point of wilting, is one of the steps in the hardening off process which is the term for the process of transitioning seedlings grown indoor to prepare them for transplant into an outdoor garden.
There are slight variations in methods and there is a lot of good information online regarding how to do it properly to give seedlings the best chance of adjusting well from a sheltered environment with controlled conditions to the temp swings, full sunlight and wind if outdoor conditions.
Commercial greenhouses restrict water and fertilizer prior to shipping to dramatically slow the growth so that the seedlings don't get leggy in transit in dark semi trailers.
Many folks think seedlings they buy are ready to plant but unless those seedlings purchased were grown outdoors, all purchased plants should undergo the same hardening off process that homegrown seedlings need.
I have a firm belief that there is a vast difference between reducing and stopping watering and that at no time should seedlings be allowed to wilt. I believe drought to the point of wilting stresses them, causes nutrient uptake issues and sets them back needlessly.
KarenO

Last edited by KarenO; April 4, 2017 at 04:58 PM.
KarenO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 4, 2017   #4
Cole_Robbie
Tomatovillian™
 
Cole_Robbie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by pipefitter508 View Post
With hold watering till they wilt then water
I treat all of my plants that way. It keeps me from losing plants to damping off.
Cole_Robbie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 5, 2017   #5
Worth1
Tomatovillian™
 
Worth1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
Default

To me hardening off is simply getting them used to the UV rays of the sun nothing more.
You can (harden off) all you want with water, they will burn up if hauled outside and left after growing a month or two in the house and never seeing UV light.
The later in the spring this is the worse the effect due to the intensity of the sun being greater.


Worth
Worth1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 5, 2017   #6
Worth1
Tomatovillian™
 
Worth1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
Default

I know a guy that stays in the house all day and sleeps never sees the sun.
Fish belly white.
He would need hardening off.
Worth1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 5, 2017   #7
Father'sDaughter
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: MA/NH Border
Posts: 4,917
Default

Unless we spend winters visiting tanning booths, we northerners have to harden ourselves off every summer with a backyard base tan before hitting the beach, otherwise we'd turn as red as a boiled lobster in just an hour or two.
Father'sDaughter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 5, 2017   #8
brownrexx
Tomatovillian™
 
brownrexx's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Southeastern PA
Posts: 1,420
Default

Withholding water may toughen them up for the stresses of shipping but I do not see how it would harden them off to living outdoors in bright sunlight.

It seems like unnecessary stress for home grown plants to me.
brownrexx is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 03:18 AM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★