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Sad plants..
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Posted by
jared515 4 (
My Page) on
Mon, May 18, 09 at 13:54
| I started 10 tomato plants from seed, and I started to harden them off yesterday by putting them outside under a white towel for 30 minutes. Brought them inside. This morning they are all looking droopy. What can I do to help them? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Sad plants..
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- Posted by kandm 8b coastal alabama (My Page) on
Mon, May 18, 09 at 14:28
| I remember mine doing the same sort of thing every time I took them out. They would pick them selves up by the next day. Maybe give them a drink of water and put them under your grow lights until they look better. |
RE: Sad plants..
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RE: Sad plants..
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| Aright, I brought them inside under the lights and they spruced right up. This morning, I took them out in front where there was no sun, and put them under an awning. Left them out for 45 minutes, brought them in, and now they are starting to droop again. I not sure what to do now. Lights again? And try again tomorrow? (Putting them back under the lights after every night just starts them back to day 1 with hardening, correct?) Thanks! 
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RE: Sad plants..
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- Posted by kandm 8b coastal alabama (My Page) on
Tue, May 19, 09 at 17:53
| Even after 2 and a half weeks of gradual hardening off my tomatoes still droop the first day or two after being planted in the garden. Your seedling look really healthy so I wouldn't worry too much about them drooping, esp if they pick themselves up as quickly as you report. "Putting them back under the lights after every night just starts them back to day 1 with hardening, correct?" I don't believe this is true. The hardening off process (ie gradually exposing seedlings to longer periods of mechanical stress) is triggering actual cellular level differences in the plant. I don't see why these changes would be stopped by placing the plant under grow lights as long as you continue exposing them to the outside environment. There is more info about this if you search Garden Web for thigmomorphogenesis. |
RE: Sad plants..
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*"back to day one".
No, I would say back to day one plus 45 minutes. Each time you should gain a bit. Keep it up. Try a shady spot at first, direct sun is a killer.
I have a back porch with a lot of light that drops to outside temperature at night. It helps a lot. Kind of a "half-way house".
Kenny |
RE: Sad plants..
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| They look just fine to me. If the weather is still bothering you, place them indoors in a sunny location (windowsill or whatever). |
RE: Sad plants..
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| Thanks for the advice. I will put them outside in the mornings for 30 min.(shaded), and then throw them back under the lights if they are looking droopy again. |
RE: Sad plants..
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| I don't know about that plan. The 30 minutes outside is probably a fine part of the plan for the first few days, but then it will need to be increased daily unless you want to be hardening them off all Summer. What zone are you in? Now I know your problem with these plants..."then throw them back under the lights if they are looking droopy again" "The lights" do not come even remotely close to getting anywhere near "the sun". Turn the lights off for this year. When you bring them back in after their daily hardening off time, put them in a sunny (not lights...actual sun) location. They will straighten back up & take off. Then, a week from now you'll probably post asking if you should pot them up & the answer is yes. :) |
RE: Sad plants..
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| Tomatoes really are big babies some times. What you're describing sounds quite similar to how tomatoes react to water stress -- I.e., if they're in the garden, and they haven't been watered recently enough, they droop and act like they're dying, but then you water them and they look all happy again. I'd wager that your tomatoes don't have a good enough root system, and thus are unable to get water to the leaves as fast as the sun is evaporating it. The good news is that, assuming there's enough room in the cup, your repeated water stress (if that is the case) is probably encouraging your plants to grow a better root system. |
RE: Sad plants..
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| Veggie_Gardner: If I put them in a sunny location after hardening off, won't that burn the leaves a bit, and put extra stress on them? From what I've gathered from the nice people on the forums is something of a schedule like: Day 1- shady spot outside for 30 min.
Day 2- 35 min shady spot outside
3-a littl bit of sun 45 min.
4-5 about an hour a day
and so on..... As for the watering, I'm doing it at least once a day. Once before they go out, and then about half way through the day. |
RE: Sad plants..
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| jared: No...not an indoor sunny location. Follow that plan if you'd like, but sometimes too much planning is not a good thing. |
RE: Sad plants..
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| I've concluded I'm more stressed hardening off seedlings than the seedlings themselves! I've been putting seedlings back under lights when I bring them in from shaded porch outdoors. I couldn't decide if they'd had their required hours of light in the shade, particularly on cloudy days, or if they needed additional although admittedly much weaker "light" from lights. So back under lights they went for some hours. Poor little seedlings probably don't know if it's day or night I've so screwed up their natural rhythms. |
RE: Sad plants..
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| Yea...newbie...artificial light will do that. Grow lights are awesome for seed starting & early seedling stages. After that, they must start getting used to normal sunlight (and sunlught schedule/hours) even if indoors, or they'll have a hard time outdoors no matter how much hardening off is done. |
RE: Sad plants..
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| Update: I put the plants by a shady/windy window for a day. They looked down, but I left them there overnight, and in the morning they were looking better. Put them outside for a while today (cloudy day), and they are still looking fine:) |
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