Omg thank you for including that celsius conversion! We thank you 🇨🇦❤

Additional tip: If you are unable to harden off, transplant them right after sunset when the next day or two are expected to be somewhat cool and cloudy.

Just started hardening off my plants pleased to know a can take longer than a week still got cold weather here even if it is sunny.👍

Great advice! I made the mistake of going in to work after putting my plants outside on the first sunny day. Scorched! They outgrew it, but may be a little stunted this season. Folks, listen to Pepper Geek and don't make the same mistake as me!

Thanks for yet another awesome video! I have about 8 or 9 weeks left before my peppers get into the garden but we have a few days of 70's coming up so I'm planning to give them about 20 minutes of sun a day just to get them used to it before a full on hardening off process.

thank god that you exist,.... keep it going !!!

Last night it got down to 38F and I forgot them outside on a shelf but sheltered. This morning the poor things were all limp and sad looking. But I brought them into my heated garage, turned the ol' 4ft fl tubes on and within two hours the were all standing at attention. It's been in the 50's to 70's day time highs but the nights still get frigid, especially if it's a clear night. Disaster averted. Going to be in the 50's next couple of days for the low so back out they go...so many trips in and out. Great video!

Great tips, thank you & happy growing!

Great video. Very important and useful!!

Middle Georgia. It’s warm! I’ve had mine outside for the daytime hours. They’re doing great!

Thanks for all the great info!

Thanks again, pepper geeks!

Very helpful videos. I just picked up some new pepper plants and hoping for a great harvest.

Thanks for another great information video.

Thank you, you are a superb teacher! 🌶

Your plants look beautiful. Mine are at first set of true leaves so not ready for hardening off yet but thanks for the good info. Your little tortie cat is beautiful as well😊

God Bless You 🥳

Love your videos, keep it up😇❤❤

Just wanted to let you know I followed your advice, and it was indeed sunscald on my reapers from putting outside too soon. Now they are fully recovered, and I already have peppers growing.

Yea i do this methode good tips 💞

Very informative! Thank you! Could you also discuss the different illnesses and pests that pepper plants may experience? And if you could provide tips on how to prevent and treat them. Thanks!

Peppering from seed for 20 years and use two things -early exposure and clouds / pool umbrellas. (I go about two weeks since this brings maximum growth.) Exposing pepper plants VERY early is preferable because these leaves are tougher. I set up umbrellas and follow the sun. I can start with 100% shade and air then expose 30 minutes, 1 hr, 2 hrs, etc My little pots sit in a pan with water at the first. When planting I shield the afternoon sun with mustard, sun flowers or shrubs. Even so I had sunscald this year on my ornamental peppers.

Hola from Tijuana love your videos

Very interesting the style's of nurturing seedlings. I actually have mine outside from the start of seeds to seedlings and transfer to larger beds later. Mine though start life under a veranda of our house

I recommend on my (sub-par) channel, hardening off temperatures 8°C and up, and as early as possible. The sooner you start peppers, the sooner you can harden throughout the spring on the random warm days. The sooner the plants get direct natural sun, the stronger and more productive it will be later in the season. 2-3 hours to start, building up an hour or two every couple of days Not disagreeing with you on any point. Just my take here in zone 3 💨🌨️☀️🏜️🌦️🌨️❄️

Awesome video! I just started this season, and you've helped a ton! I live in a colder area in Canada, can you readjust plants back inside for the winter?

Despite going through this process many times before, I had several plants get significant sunscald just from one intensely sunny afternoon, even after they had been through other less intense days. It also seems to me some varieties are more sensitive to sun than others -- C. Chinense in particular, while I have never seen sunscald those with variegated or dark foliage, but maybe that was just the luck of the draw. Ironically I live in a forest, so normally I have too little sun, but until the big trees unfurl their leaves the sun can be plenty intense...

I'm in Ontario and it's May 6th and it's still 49 f. I've been just opening balcony sliding door during day with fans on them

Wow. Wish i’d seen this video before transplanting my peppers today. Did it in hot and sunlight and they drooped bad. Watered them but wondering if they will survive. The look better already but hoping i havent damaged their production of peppers.

I'm not sure if it depends on the type of pepper or what, but I definitely leave them out for more than 20 minutes starting off and have never had a problem. I usually take them out in late afternoon and bring them in before dark for 2 or 3 days. and then the 4th day i leave them out over night. and then they are outside for good unless we have a rogue freeze like we have coming up this week.

I like to start putting mine out when I water them, 60 deg. After they get use to some outdoors, and get strong stems, Cooler times of sun, morning best to get some sun on young plants. Gradually more sun and light sprinkle of water after stronger plants.

Great informative videos in this series, wish I had seen them earlier 🤗. One of my pepper plants (poblano) has the reverse taco shell curling downward. Have you seen this happen and know the cause? Another pepper plant has big healthy dark green older leaves but I'm noticing the younger leaves from new nodes are growing out to be have green and half light yellow. Very strange occurrence! It's happening at all the new nodes and it's symmetrical (half yellow half green). Is this due to the lack of Nitrogen?

I always move my peppers to a greenhouse without any hardening. Cold nights sometimes cause a bit of drooping and a couple of leaf drops at worst. Try to aim that first day is cloudy.

What percentage of shade cloth do you recommend?

Can you do a show about climatezone's and pepper-species suitable ??

Hey - great tips here, thanks! I was curious though, since I live in NY and my pepper plants will definitely not be surviving the winter, if this hardening off process will need to be repeated for plants that have been overwintered indoors? I suspect so, but wondering if there are any tweaks to the process to keep in mind for more "mature" plants. Thanks again!

I wish you posted this one week ago... :( I lost some leaves due to sunburn but I am optimistic, I think the plants will survive. They are already growing new leaves.

Can you do a video on pepper plant pot size? there seems to be some info out there that it will affect the size and yield of your plants.

I have some lingering questions about hardening off. 1) to what degree does it involve just toughening up existing leaves, vs. growing whole new leaves that are accustomed to full sun? 2) If seedlings came up in full sun would even the very first leaves be sun-tolerant? 3) Are dark or variegated leaves more sunscald-resistant? Fish peppers, for example, seem to just mix in more white areas on their leaves when they are in more intense sun.

Thank you for your informative video. So I'm growing Cayenne and Jalapeño peppers. They are now turning red on the plant. I've noticed that they are all becoming wrinkled. Could it be disease related or pest damage or nutrient deficient and is it still edible. Thanking you. South Africa

I have a cheap, plastic covered greenhouse. I take my peppers out the house, put them in there and leave them for about a week. Something about the plastic tames the sun and I leave the door open to get them used to some wind. After that week they go right in the ground with no problem.

Thank you for all your verry well made and informatives video ! Could you tell me which purple pepper plant do you grow (mn 6 on the right hand) ? They look so beautifull !

First off, I love your videos! I’ve learned so much from them! But you didn’t mention how long should you harden the plants before moving them outside?

When bringing the plants back in from hardening off are you putting them back into your indoor tent? Wont that introduce the potential for outdoor pests inside? Thank you for the video!

I have a question in this process do they go back up underneath the grow lights when they're back indoors for the same amount of time or do they not get any grow light time indoors

Hi Calvin, this may be a silly question, but, since just starting growing peppers, I’ve always assumed that, at some stage, it was necessary to move my plants from my grow room out into the big outdoors - hence the hardening process. Is this a false assumption on my part? Could I simply allow the peppers to flower and fruit indoors? It would certainly save a lot of hassle and I’d probably have produced hundreds, if not thousands of Jalapeños by now. Instead, I’ve been diligently picking off thousands of buds whilst waiting for the weather to improve. I have tried hardening a few but we’re going away for a week now and it occurred to me that it would be so much easier to harvest my remaining plants indoors when we get back. Is this feasible?

How old or how many levea should a bell peper have before you start the hardening off process? Love your tortie as well! I have two they're the best ❤

I have my pepper starts inside still. They germinated and popped through the soil several weeks ago. The seem to be growing extremely slowly, if at all. Im afraid they won't be big enough to plant when the time comes in a month or so. I still have them on the heat mat at night. Any tips? Thanks

My seedling leaves curled from about 1 hour of sunlight. Now I never put them under direct sunlight anymore.

If I were to put my tray of pepper seedlings on a tray table up to an open window, would that count as hardening off too? Would the sun scaled the leaves in this open window example?

So I'm using a hoop house to help accommodate mine. Should I start with a sheet on top or something? I was thinking an overcast day. I'm kinda worried I work 12hrs maybe 2 or 3 days off. Not usually in a row. Any advice? I may need help I don't know

Will definitely be ordering from Semillas La Palma next year, found your channel too late... awsome tips. Anyone know of a U.S. source for wild/species chilis? Have scoured the interwebs for galapagoense and lanceolatum ... sad I won't be able to try them this year.

How does this vary with overwintered peppers? I overwintered 3 pepper plants last year, they are going great! Do they need to be hardened off? They already have very thick trucks (from last year).

I was wondering whether my peppers need as much hardening off given that I've been growing them in a south-facing windowsill. They're indoors by our kitchen, but they have a permanent spot next to the kitchen window. I understand that they'll still need to acclimate to temperature fluctuations as well as wind. But, would this affect the hardening off process at all? Would I go about it in the same way as described in this video?

Is there any plant food that I can used to help with sun scalded leaves? Thanks.

If i put the plants permanently in the greenhouse will it be ok?

Hi, I'm a beginner urban gardener and living in a tropical region. I have yet to dabble with peppers in a month but have been working on other plants since last quarter 2021. Although we have the luxury of starting outdoors right away, I find that I still have to go through the process of hardening off seedlings. They outright get burned here even if I keep it in a shaded area. Native varieties are a little hardier but they are still quite vulnerable if not supervised. I noticed that you do the process in batches but I find that there are some individual plants that fair better than others. What if you find some plants struggling, do you set the whole batch back for the struggling ones to catch up or do you separate them into another batch? I tried separating but can be a lot to track of especially if you have other younger batches to harden off.

Yes something ate the leaves off of a few of my pepper plants. Took all the leaves as it was a small plant. Will the leaves grow back?

How do the roots look on your plants when they are in the 3.5 inch pots? Are the ones in the video about to get a new home?(container)

my leaves are turning pale green, I would say turning white, but its nothing like the sun scold, any ideas why I have them in a west-facing window

Pretty much all of my Jalapeños got edema when I transplanted them, should I do anything different with them when hardening off?

What books do you recommend that are full of pepper growing info?

What about moving them into an outside greenhouse with a cover? I live on the 3rd floor in Westchester and it's a hike back and forth with over 20 plants....near 30! Thanks.

Should I keep giving them LED light in between outside sessions?

Do you need to harden off peppers that you've over wintered? Thus us my first year overwintering peppers?

Can you (at least partially) harden plants off with some exposure to a very strong led grow lamp?

Have you grown oaxaca pods.

Wish I saw this like 4 weeks ago

What’s the min night temp for when you transplant your peppers? I’m still at-most 45f at night :( 70s during the day.

I have grow my seeds to plant in my vindow so they have getting direct sunlight from the start, should I still put them in the shade????

Do I transplant my seedlings into a container after hardening off? Or do I harden off after transplanting?

Is there a difference between light through a window vs direct sunlight? I know some UV is filtered. My plants sit in a South facing window (with lights above) but not sure if this helps them with actual sunlight. I've been putting them in the sun on nice days for a couple of hours, but they are just now getting their first true leaves.

What if I started before I had any clue what I was doing and started seed in pots outside? Lol

I have been growing my seedlings in a windowsill. They are used to a lot of sunlight. Do I still need to harden them for the temperature fluctuations and wind? The sun should not be an issue right?

If for any reason you get your peppers hardened off and planting is delayed several weeks, would you have to start the hardening process over?

My bell pepper plant has always been outside, but it’s so big is hiding the sun from the other plants. Can I move it to the ground?

Hello pepper Geek, Do you sell hot pepper seeds. If not were do you get your seeds? I love your channel.

What zone are you in Mr Pepper Geek? Just curious.

is it possible that my 9w led light could be "sunscalding" my habanero plant? the plant is beautiful, but some leaves display some white marks that i cant match with anything else online other than sunscald. which is weird. idk...

Or if you live in Melbourne Australia, you can have all of these conditions in one days 😂😂🇦🇺

Hello, how old is the pepper plant than you show us minute 7.21 Thanks in advance. Mine look same and it is eight weeks old, is it time to start hardening my seedling. Night time temperature are around 35 F and day time 55 F but next week temp will be going up.

You can use a solacure UV light to slowly harden plants off indoors. That way they are ready for full sun and don't require hardening off outside. Cheap, easy, and saves time.

Do you have to harden them off if your taking them from inside to a greenhouse?

Seems like with my habaneros it doesn’t matter, I can just throw them out in the sun. My super hots are more temperamental and need to be babied a bit more.

What kind of indoor light do you guys use?

I start mine outside

I've been trying to harden off my pepper plants for about two weeks now, but for some reason, i see no progress. I started in a shaded area, then after a while i put them for few minutes in the sunlight. Started with short periods, of about 10-20 minutes, and then i try to gradually increase it with 10-20 minutes more per day. What always happens is that the leaves immediately starts hanging and becoming super soft after just a couple of minutes in the sunlight, despite having done this for two weeks. It seems like its not building up any protection, and there are no signs that the plants are becoming more and more resilient with the training. Could it be that im doing something wrong, or does it just need more time?

Do you need to harden off overwintered plants?

How much wind is too much? It's always windy where I live.

i suppose it is not good to acclimate the 2 inch tall seeding with the seedling 1.5 inch pot....i know it is a silly question !!!!!????? Can i ?

Don't start hardening with mid day sun, use morning and evening as it is more filtered and lower UV, even 30 minutes at noon could damage soft indoor plants. Be patient, I had all my seedlings getting nice and acclimated a month ago,(still quite small plants) got lazy and misjudged the forecast so I didn't bring them in at night. Bam sky cleared up just before dawn and got just the last lightest frost and killed every one. Could have just waited a few more days to be sure. Two things I've found is that you want to have the seed trays in direct outdoor sun or under intense lights during emergence. (Some UV is best, most lamps don't have significant UV) That is the moment you see the soil start to bump up get that tray some direct sun, even just a few hours on a cool day, this seems to trigger a more robust much stockier seedling that doesn't need as much hardening later. Don't worry about cool temps as long as it is above freezing. Just an hour of direct sun a day will keep them hard if they had sun during emergence. UV is really the key here, more so than the light intensity, UV causes the damage and the plant must be triggered into its sunscreen mode. A warm night/predawn and then going from a dark warm room directly out first thing in the morning (an hour after dawn when the temp is climbing) will also make a healthy plant. Studies on several species of bedding plants have shown that a negative temperature delta(day cooler than night) can reduce internode length and the main effect seems to hinge on the few hours pre and post dawn. (So the greenhouses should stay closed up until just at morning twilight and fully open all the vents.)

My ghost Peppers started to droop today day 5 brought them in 🤞

If you have cats in your yard how would you keep them away from your plants?

What age are your plants when you start to harden them off?

Under a shady tree works or the shady side of the house.

Uh I begrudgingly watch darn weather lol

its like you syncing your videos with me

Can you start from seed outdoors ?

The only think I hate about all these garden channels is they come from a bias of living in a very warm climate location which brings different difficulties and issues then people may experience in other climates, some issues may be less in other area's or some may have issues they don't. It's important to learn about the complex array of issues you may experience in your zone imo.

Rushed mine and they'll be leafless soon enough, just pure impatience. They might recover but who knows, putting down some more seeds this weekend just in case.