Brad,

There's several variables that will determine if they make it, including their size, how many leaves burnt, whether the leaves are universally burnt (as indicated by a general bleaching out of the entire leaf) or if the burn is spotty in little patches all over the still mostly green leaves, etc. If the plants are still upright and the leaves are not totally and completely wilted, they probably will make it.

Do you know about how many hours they were out? If it was their first day and they were out for more than 4 hours of direct sunlight, they might not make it. If they had already had several days of ever-increasing sun and wind exposure, they ought to bounce back.

When I begin carrying veggie seedlings outside, I only give them one hour of sun the first day, two the second, etc. If I am moving them out on a very windy day I try to protect them from the wind even though they are getting sun. If the temperature is over 80 degrees (on one of those abnormally toasty hot days in Feb. or Mar.), I won't put them in full sun on the first day out, but will put them in dappled shade.

As they recover, do not overfeed or overwater because right now their energy is going into recovering from the stress of the sunburn. If you happen to have liquid seaweed handy, when the plants need water, give them liquid seaweed diluted to 1/2 the strength recommended on the label. I consider liquid seaweed somewhat of a "miracle drug" for plants as it often helps sick or damaged ones perk up. Just don't overfeed them because the act of overfeeding stresses a sunburned plant.

I hope your seedlings recover.

Dawn

Mine went out today for their first day of full sun until noon and shade there after... with all this wonderful weather... and the weather channel saying nothing this week... I am sooo tempted but I keep saying Dawn said wait... Dawn said wait... Dawn said wait....

Mitch,

Only once have I planted in early March and not regretted it. So, go ahead and plant now and there is a 10% chance your plants will be fine. : )

Believe me, I am so eager to get the plants into the ground that you wouldn't believe it, but I know better. I think we've had a pretty bad cold spell around Easter 8 out of the 10 years we've been here, and one of them lasted three weeks. (That year, I had about 90 plants in the ground and had to build hoophouses over every row and take extraordinary measures to keep the plants from freezing.)

So, patience, my friend, patience. It is a HUGE pain in the you-know-where to have to cover up the plants early in the spring night after night and uncover them every morning.

If you use Wall-O-Water or similar plant protectors, though, you could plant now.

In Love County our "official" last freeze date is about March 27th, but our "actual" last freeze, as observed by me here in my garden, usually occurs in mid-April. Those later freezes are sometimes unique to our very low-lying microclimate here in the bend of the Red River, but sometimes they are widespread across the county too. So, you just have to decide how much of a gambler you want to be! I don't gamble on the last freeze as much as I used to.

Dawn

They were out for 4.5 hrs or so. The leaves are burned in spotty patches. Should I not put them in sunlight anymore until they have recovered/put on new leaves? I have been looking for liquid seaweed for a while but have had no luck finding it around Stillwater. Where do you find it?
Thanks for the help.

I've ordered a bottle v liquid seaweed off amazon..coming tomorrow 👍👍