planted out without hardening... did I hurt them?
Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 3:03 pm
This year, I tried starting seeds indoors for the first time. I ended up with some pretty good looking plants, not leggy at all as far as this noob can tell. I got to the point where they'd need to be planted out, but with our toddler to take care of and a bunch of other stuff taking up my time, I just didn't have time to properly harden anything off.
It got to the point where I really had to get them out or they were going to become too root-bound to be any good. I still didn't have time to harden them, so I decided I'd just throw caution to the wind and plant them out, and if they died, I'd go from starts again. I did it in the afternoon and evening over a couple of overcast days.
Surprisingly, they did just fine! I didn't have a single one wilt or fall over. One tomato didn't really seem to thrive, so I pulled it and replaced it with a start. The onions didn't do well, but they weren't doing well inside, and I sowed a bunch more anyway. Everything else, including broccoli, summer squash, and lettuce, seems to have done fine. I even managed to transplant a watermelon... I didn't know they didn't like that.
My question is, did I hurt these plants in ways I can't tell by looking a them? They all seem to be doing fairly well, but perhaps they'll develop problems? Anything I can do to up my chances?
It got to the point where I really had to get them out or they were going to become too root-bound to be any good. I still didn't have time to harden them, so I decided I'd just throw caution to the wind and plant them out, and if they died, I'd go from starts again. I did it in the afternoon and evening over a couple of overcast days.
Surprisingly, they did just fine! I didn't have a single one wilt or fall over. One tomato didn't really seem to thrive, so I pulled it and replaced it with a start. The onions didn't do well, but they weren't doing well inside, and I sowed a bunch more anyway. Everything else, including broccoli, summer squash, and lettuce, seems to have done fine. I even managed to transplant a watermelon... I didn't know they didn't like that.
My question is, did I hurt these plants in ways I can't tell by looking a them? They all seem to be doing fairly well, but perhaps they'll develop problems? Anything I can do to up my chances?