Broccoli Hardiness
Recently on one of the Mother Earth News forums, people were discussing hardening off seedlings prior to planting them in the garden. It turns out that many of the experienced gardeners who post there do not harden off their seedlings.
I had six broccoli seedlings with two or three true leaves that were ready to be transplanted into the garden. I set them out yesterday, planting them about one inch deeper than they'd been in their seedling cell pack. It was in the 60s yesterday, but dropped to about 31 last night.
When I set them out, I considered putting a plastic "tent" or row cover over them, but then I decided I'd rather see how they coped with moving from indoor grow lights at 70 to outdoors with low 60s to freezing. I know that broccoli planted directly in the garden doesn't mind a light frost, but these were coddled little seedlings.
As you can see from the photo, they had a light frost on them this morning when I checked on them (had to use the flash, it was still pretty early) and they look none the worse for wear. I'll monitor them over the next couple of days to see how they do with direct sunlight.
Labels: garden
posted by Leslie @ 12:27 PM
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I never hardened anything off, either. Usually there was just the ONE day that I could poke everything in; right after a week of cold rain or something. Almost everything did fine!
Did it look as good when it thawed out?
This is very interesting. Please continue to post how they do. Is there much of a possiblilty of a hard freeze in your climate from now on? I think that in my Belmont, Massachusetts zone 6 climate, I need to wait a little longer before setting broccoli out. From what I can determine, I'm a few degrees cooler on average here than you are.
I never harden them off either, we just don't get the super cold that other areas might recieve.
I'm setting out broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage this afternoon/evening. Set out lettuce yesterday and the day before. Keeping my fingers crossed and worrying plenty.
When I brought out my lettuce flats two days ago, I set them down in the sun for about an hour and a half while I went in and ate lunch. Temps were in the mid-to-upper 50's with intense, direct sun. The lettuce wilted (but didn't die--but ALMOST looked like they would). Not sure if the soil got too dry or if they just couldn't take so much intense sun. Some brassicas were in the same flat, but didn't react that way; they were fine.
While transplanting the lettuce, because the sun was beating down right on the bed, I rigged a lean-to tent by lopping a blue tarp over the privacy fence adjacent the bed and propping it up on 1x2's on the other side while I did the transplant. When I was done, I took the tarp off the fence and rigged it into a sort-of floating row cover using short 1x2 stakes with 6' 1x2's laid horizontally over the tops of the stakes to form cross-pieces the tarp would rest on (using duct-tape to fasten the horizontal pieces to the stakes). I've been keeping them under the tarp when at night and when the afternoon sun is most intense. I think in the next day or two I can remove it completely when they've acclimated and grown a little. Temp's are expected to be unusually warm here for this time: it didn't even frost last night! (but that's THIS WEEK--I wouldn't say we're out of the woods yet, though)
I think the lettuce is a lot more delicate than the brassicas. Brassicas seem pretty tough.
Leslie, the forecast says tonight is going to be 50, tomorrow is 70 and rain, then 70 on Thurs. I think right after the rain would be a great time to set some more things out.
UA, it looked perfect when it thawed out! It wilted during the day and I watered it. Four of the six perked right up. Two are looking awfully puny and the jury is out on them. I think if I'd watered well when I set them out they'd be fine. I thought the moisture from the seedling packs would be enough (they were pretty wet) but I was wrong.
FC, quit gloating :P
Wannabe, that is more work than I want to do :) Brassicas have leathery leaves and lettuce is more delicate. I plan on direct sowing my lettuce... need to do that soon so I get a decent harvest before hot weather. Maybe after the rain rolls through. Not sure, as we'll probably get some more freezing temps yet. Probably some now and some a couple of weeks from now.
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