It's April and I keep thinking to myself "this weather can only be a joke". For us it goes from 6°C & rain to 22°C & sun and back in one week. This is not only stressful for us, but also for our plants.
But can you prepare your plants for the conditions outside? Yes, this is called hardening off!
You heard right, you can also harden off plants. This is a common practice to increase the durability and vitality of plants.
Hardening off plants is a process in which plants that have been grown indoors or in a greenhouse are slowly acclimatized to outdoor conditions. So this also applies to the plants from our GreenBox.
The purpose of this process is to make the plants more resistant to environmental influences such as temperature fluctuations, wind and sunlight.
It's kind of like taking a cold shower, taking an ice bath after a workout, or just venturing out to the park with the first spring sunshine.
Here are some tips on how to harden plants:
- Start early: The hardening-off process should begin at least one week before the planned planting. However, depending on the plant species and weather conditions, it may make sense to start earlier.
- Start slowly: begin by putting the plants outside for only a few hours a day and gradually increase the time. The first day, they should only stay outside for an hour or less. Don't overwhelm your fledglings!
- Pay attention to the weather: avoid putting the plants outside in very cold or windy weather. It is also important to protect the plants from strong sunlight by placing them under a tree or pergola, for example.
- Control watering: When plants are placed outside, the soil in their pots or root ball dries out more quickly. Make sure the plants are adequately watered, but avoid overwatering as this can lead to root rot.
- Watch for signs of stress: watch the plants closely and watch for signs of stress, such as drooping leaves or brown spots. If you notice such signs, move the plants back indoors and reduce time outside.
- Fertilize the plants: A week before planting out, it may be a good idea to fertilize the plants with a balanced fertilizer to improve their nutrient supply. Simply add a capful of our GreenBox Booster to the water. This will give your plants all the nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) they need.
By following these tips and slowly acclimating plants to outdoor conditions, you will increase their chances of growing successfully outdoors and staying healthy.
We wish you much fun and success in hardening off your plants!
If you want to learn all about transplanting, check out our previous blog post on this topic!
Also, for convenient seedling production, we recommend our GreenBoxes - unbeatable incubators, as well as our PlantPots sets - high-quality clay pots from Germany with peat-free coconut fiber substrate for optimal results.