hardening off instructions

Does anyone have written instructions on how to harden off my indoor charges to live outdoors now the frost date
has passed?

I do poorly with transistion and cannot find any specific details to help

Thanks for any help

what i do for mine is take them to a well shaded area for 15 min then bring them back in. then every day add like 15 -20 minutes to it. then when i know they are safe after about a week of this theni leave them in the shade and start them to the sun if they need it like 20 minutes at a time. its time consuming but it works for me. that way if they dont do good i can rush them back in the house and water and baby them.

make sure everything has first set of true leaves if from seeds this year.

hope this helps. Marie

too attention intensive - I work during the day
Any other ideas?

I took them out last week for a while and they looked wilty
so I took them back.

My new plan is to have them outside but cover them with
remay during the day and cold frame at night

I had to figure something out too, since I'm in class all day.

What worked for me so far, is to take them out one night, and put them in a spot that will be shady all day. Then the next day, they'll be in shade and for some reason being in the slowly changing temperatures doesnt make them wilty. Then when I get home from school, I go put them in a spot that gets light evening sun and keep a watch on them.

Maybe that will work?

Easiest would be to put them in the shade and out of the wind.

Here is what I did this year and it worked very well. I also work full time so I had to come up with an alternative. I bought a canopy tent at Welmart for 35 bucks. I also bought two rolls of plastic that one uses to cover furniture when painting. Another 10 bucks at Walmart. I put up the canopy outside. I secured the plastic on the inside walls of the canopy. (By the way, the canopy has "netting" sides). At night, I dropped the plastic down to protect the plants a little from the cold. In the morning, I pulled up two sides so that it would not get too hot in there and so the plants could start getting used to the sun and wind. As the days go by, I pull up more and more of the plastic so that the plants get more and more sun and breeze. Finally, after a couple of weeks I moved all the plants under a large tree and let them sit there for a week. This worked great for me. Not one plant suffered during the process, and I had over a hundred. I plan to use this canopy plan again next year.

rylaff...what a good idea, using the canopy and plastic to make your own little green house! That would be great for winter protection of my frost sensitive plants! Brugs! Thank you for the idea!

I put mine on my porch on the east side of the house. They received morning sun only and didn't suffer any ill-effects. They stayed there about 2-3 weeks before going in the ground.

I did the same thing as Kaufmann, only I draped row covers over them for the morning sun for about a week :-)
Lea

Row cover is great for hardening off plants. Leave them on your porch, or anywhere that is protected from the harsh sun and wind. Cover them with row cover when you are away from home, or if the wind kicks up, or if the sun becomes intense. If your night temps don't drop extremely low, the row cover should protect them from the frost or cold, as well.

Yes that is what I eventually did. I got my little 20 dollar Big Lots green house and used row covers to cover them during the day and the plastic cover that comes with it overnight. Worked great