![]() ![]() Hardening off plants involves a routine that lasts for 1-3 weeks and involves three methods: sitting plants outside during the day, placing them in a cold outdoor structure, and/or covering them with horticultural fleece. If it is very wet, blustery, or chilly, choose to wait until the conditions are less extreme. The weather determines when to start hardening off. Start the process 1-3 weeks before you intend to transplant seedlings or cuttings outside. In cool, temperate climates (such as the northern US and the UK), hardening off usually begins in April although in cold regions, it starts in May. (Image credit: Deborah Vernon/Alamy Stock Photo) When do you harden off plants? But that is a very small proportion of people, and I think the problem is that if you suggest something for a very small minority of exceptional cases, then before you know it that's become a general rule! I would advise saving time and effort by choosing not to harden off most plants.’ ‘The only time hardening off could be necessary is if someone has raised plants in the house with artificial light because such plants can be a little soft. ‘I do not harden off plants and enjoy 100% success with new plantings,’ says gardener and author Charles Dowding, who teaches edibles gardening in Somerset, UK. However, top gardeners who choose not to harden off young plants argue that standard practice isn’t always best practice. ![]() ‘The effect of hardening off is to thicken and alter the plant's leaf structure and increase leaf waxiness. ‘Young plants bought from nurseries or grown from seed or cuttings at home for summer display outdoors when the weather improves often need to be hardened off,’ says the Royal Horticultural Society. ![]() Hardening off plants is standard practice. (Image credit: GKSFlorapics/Alamy Stock Photo) Do you need to harden off plants? ![]()
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