Setting out plants: problem

17 years ago

I ran into a problem this week where I put pepper plants outside in full sun and they immediately wilted. This was despite plenty of water in the pots. I am wondering exactly what happened and what I should do to prevent this. The plants were started by me from seed indoors. Initially under fluorescent light but they grew so quickly (flowers after 1 month) that I moved them away from the fluorescent light. I have brought them back inside.

I should note that I didn't have this problem with romaine lettuce, onions, celery or cilantro but I brought those from direct fluorescent light exposure to outdoors rather than from my potting bench where the peppers were (which is several feet from the fluorescent lights).

I should also mention that the peppers did abort all the flowers they had been growing after I had moved them away from the fluorescent light but that didn't bother me because it was February and the plants were healthy otherwise.

Any advice you can provide on how to make the transition to the outdoors would be greatly appreciated. After 12 hours the plants have not come back yet. The stalks are not wilted and the upper (smaller) leaves are still ok but alot of the lower larger leaves are completely limp. Pepper types are Corno di Toro, Locoto, Red Bell, Jimmy Nardello's.

Thanks in advance.

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Comments (5)

User
17 years ago
Being inside, the leaves on the plant haven't had enough of a chance to build up environmental barriers which help the plant hold water (avoiding excess transpiration of the water from the leaves).

Take them out in the shade of the day to begin with...putting the plants under a little wind movement stress (you don't have to do anything special to get that movement, it doesn't take much). You can gradually introduce them to full sun once they get "stronger."

You can use a small fan set a bit away on your seedlings inside to help this along while growing your seedlings, but it's not required...it might save you a little headache or a few days of moving plants around for hardening off.
rdback
17 years ago
Hi Wayne,

There's also some info on hardening-off your plants in the FAQ section here.

Good luck!

Rick

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQ Re: Hardening-off plants
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vic01
17 years ago
Sounds pretty normal to me, they need hardening off to get used to being out in the sun. Do it gradually and in a shaded area for a while and when you place them out for good they will thrive.
wayne_perrier
Original Author
17 years ago
an update:

well, I brought the peppers inside again. The Locoto seems to have recovered although it lost about 5 leaves. My Corno Di Toro died. I don't think it is coming back although I'm not going to dump it yet. I am very sad as this was a fabulous producing pepper last year for me. I had a Fatalii wilt slightly but it came back strong. Put it out again in the shade for an hour or so and some leaves started to wilt, brought it back inside and it has recovered.

Interestingly, I did the same thing with some tomatoes and there is some necrosis on some leaves. They have not died but are definitely losing some leaves. This is a really interesting thing. I have not had such sensitive plants before. I am not sure whether they have been "babied" too much but it is proving to be quite a challenge. I am going to set them out for longer and longer durations and hopefully they will acclimatize. I have been putting them in shaded areas but it has been kindof cold and windy here lately. Time will tell.

Thank you for all the suggestions and please keep them coming.

Wayne
smokemaster_2007
17 years ago
I've been hardening off my plants by cutting the top and bottom off cans and putting them over my plants for a week or two outside.
It seems to work pretty well.
Cans with white insides seem to work the best.
I think the white reflects the light but not reflect the direct suns rays like the silver or brass colored cans.

I wanted to find a way to set my plants out without having to keep taking them in and out(300 plants).

It lets them also get used to wind without knocking them over.
Haven't had to stake any that were hardened off in cans.
I think it also protects them a little at night from cooler temps.
Might be worth a try.