I have a problem. I need to harden off my tomato plants. After two rather pleasant months in my bay window, they need to be prepared for the grim realities of a south London allotment.
Most books I’ve read about hardening off recommend a complex ritual of opening and closing cold frames, moving plants indoors and outdoors, and applying fleece and blankets, according to a highly scientific timetable. Unfortunately, I don’t have a garden, and it’s not really practical for me to travel to my allotment twice a day just to ventilate the cold frame.
So I’m trying to think of an alternative.
I heard a theory (possibly an urban myth) that you can harden off plants by subjecting them to mechanical stress, e.g. by shaking, brushing or fanning them, and this will have the same effect as exposure to cold temperatures.
Has anyone else heard of this? Has anybody tried it?
Quotemechanical stress, e.g. by shaking, brushing or fanning them, and this will have the same effect as exposure to cold temperatures.
you could try speaking harshly to them-should toughen 'em up-
i was beaten twice a day!
didnt do me any harm!!!!
seriously.....any balcony?can you open a window for them for a while every day ?
either that or take them to the lottie and make them a fleece tent with quite a few llayers..then slowly unwrap the layers-bit like the dance of the seven veils...only with fleece.....and tomatos......
thats all i can think of...i think the tent fleece should work-tis may after all......
kitty
Quote from: kitty on May 02, 2006, 16:17:58
you could try speaking harshly to them-should toughen 'em up-
I’ve told them off most severely, and I’ve even stopped their pocket money, but, frankly, the plants are appallingly spoilt. I’ve always catered to their every whim, and I’m worried that a fleece tent might be a bit too much for the poor dears.
Mind you, we’ve got a good forecast here, at least for the next few days. How much weather do you reckon they will take? Some of them are a foot tall.
Bend them over, give them six of the best, and make them stand in a cold frame for a while. That'll be a halfay house between indoors and the garden.
Quote from: cowpie on May 02, 2006, 16:11:08
I heard a theory (possibly an urban myth) that you can harden off plants by subjecting them to mechanical stress, e.g. by shaking, brushing or fanning them, and this will have the same effect as exposure to cold temperatures.
Has anyone else heard of this? Has anybody tried it?
I
have heard of this method cowpie, but never had the courage to try it. It described an experiment undertaken in controlled conditions, the treatment used was gentle brushing of the leaves prior to planting out. I seem to remember it was written about by someone like John Seymour or Pauline Pears, i.e. an author I'd trust, but I can't find the reference grrr. You're not alone in wondering if there's an easier way :)
i got the OH to sit on them. THAT toughened them up ;D
seriously ( ::)), i just had them sitting on an unheated bedroom windowsill. they got some sun til mid morning when we had any, then were in shade for the rest of the day.
then when they were big boys and girls, i chucked them out in the unheated greenhouse. i take a random guess whether to leave the doors open or keep them closed before i go to work and so far, they've survived.
it does mean me scanning about 3 weather sites every morning before i leave but it beats looking at the news which is always so depressing.
;D
All the poncing around with cold frames is OK if you're at home all day and anyway who has a coldframe with the same capacity as their green house? Not me for a start >:(
Seriously though, harsh realities mean that most of my stuff doesn't get hardened off before being planted out, it's not been a problem so far.
QuoteAll the poncing around with cold frames is OK
as the archbishop of canterbury said to me the other day.... ;)
poncing about?
;D ;D ;D
kittylol!
a very useful technical term. 8)
I thought anything born in South London was already hardened off ;D
Can you remember the last time East Dulwich had a frost at this time of year??
I would be inclined to take them to the lottie and fleece them.
Mine have been in the mini greenhouse for 3 weeks now and no problems, but then I am in West London, Daarling ;D
Good luck and if all else fails I noticed that Homebase are selling a range of tender veg for 99p per plant ::)
Joy Larkcom covers it briefly in her book "Grow Your Own Veg", it's on page 106, if you can get your grubby mits on a copy. She describes a method similar to what you described:
" 'Brushing' is an alternative method of hardening off, developed by the Japanese, which saves moving the plants outdoors. Seedlings are brushed or stroked to produce the toughening effect of exposure to lower temperature and wind. Using a piece of paper or cardboard, literally brush the seedlings backwards and forwards for up to a minute a day over the normal hardening-off period. I believe a special brush is used commercially."
If anyone else had've said this to me, I'd have said they was barking! ::) Am going to give it a try though, purely in the interests of scientific research, you understand. ;)
Hope this is of help! ;D
Dave
cowpie,
i have had my tomatoes, peppers and aubs on the balcony for the last two weeks. (or is it three)
anyways, they all look fine, the green stems turned puruple and gone chunkier, and now they have started growing away wildly.
they can take it.
if you dont even have a small balcony, then i would take them to the allotment as soon as you can, and while the weather forecast is fine (and for warmish nights, too), just leave them out there. a bit of wind shelter may be in order.
when colder nights are forcast, make them a fleece tent.
i garden in walworth, and at a push i could even plant them out already (which i dont want to do) as central london never gets very cold.....:)
PS: dont forget, mother nature is a grand thing. to be honest, they will even grow upside down :D they are much hardier than you give them credit for
I stick a plastic bottle over them for a day if I can. Can't be bothered to beat them up!!
I love the sound of this Japanese method. I wonder how they found it out.
My plants have ended up quite large and leafy, so they’re possibly too big to brush. But I might point a large electric fan at them once a day, which should give them a decent bashing about.
As the forecast for this week is friendly, I’ve already put a few plants in the cold frame, which I’m keeping propped open. I’m thinking of bunging a couple more pots straight out on the allotment, to see what happens.
Well my plants are in three pots and are about 5 inches tall but the stems are not quite chopstick size,They are tumblers and I plan tob put them into hanging baskets.
Shall I wait till their about 6-7 inches high and chopstick thickness before I plant into baskets?
Speak roughly to your baby toms
Beat them, and give them squeezes
They'll never grow up big and strong
If they can't stand the breezes
(With apologies to Lewis Carroll ;) )
Brilliant DenBee ;D ;D ;D
Hi Cowpie,
I live just up the water to you near the Dartford bridge so our weather is the same, I have never hardened mine off. I wait 'till about the middle of May and then plant them out on the lottie. :-\
The temperature in my (unheated) greenhouse today was 90 degrees so they are well pampered but in the 5 years I have been doing this, they have always been fine.
I try to follow the old 'never cast a clout 'till may is out' thing but never manage to get to the end of May! ;D
Good luck with them, they sound very healthy, mine are only about 6" so far and I started them well early! ;)
Is this 'brushing' thing a wind up! Sounds fascinating and like MutantHobbit, I only believe it 'cos it's on here! ::)
Donna.
the brushing works, really
other than hardening, you also get close to your plants and can check on their health etc. makes for hapier plants all round. :)
however, like i said, mine have already been out on the balcony for three weeks.