Do I Have To Harden Off My Brassica Seedlings?

[Setec Astronomy]

It's time to plant out my sprouting/mini broccoli and Brussels sprouts--do I need to harden off the seedlings like I would with a tomato? One of these I planted from Burpee seeds and the envelope says harden off for a week; the broccoli is from Johnny's and they don't say anything about hardening either of these types of plants.

What does the forum say?

[FarmerShawn]

Yes, harden them off before planting.

[rxkeith]

yup.



keith

[jmsieglaff]

Every plant should be hardened off or they will get sun scald (happened to my broccoli before when I tried to speed the process up too much).

[worth1]

I think one package is assuming you're starting inside and the other assuming you're direct sowing outside.
Just a thought.
If a seed sprouts outside there is no reason to harden off.

[MissS]

Everything grown indoors needs to be hardened off. The plants just won't be able to handle the sunlight after growing under artificial light.

[karstopography]

Does anyone direct seed any brassicas? Seems like they will germinate at pretty low temperatures and are generally cold hardy. In a perfect world maybe everything could be direct seeded and then eliminate all the extra effort with preparation and nurturing seedlings.

Hardening off is perhaps trickier than it sounds. I agree all seedlings grown indoors need to be hardened off. But, finding the right spot in the yard or property can be a challenge and I do believe plants getting hardened off need frequent checks on the lighting conditions and other environmental factors such as winds, and the moisture. Maybe if you know your light well and sun angles and have a great sense of how much the plant can take on light and the temperatures, hardening off will be a breeze, but is that something that’s instinctive or do you have to learn it?

People can lose plants really quickly if the sun is too much too soon or the growing media gets too dry or the temperature soars or drops rapidly. .

Hardening off plants I feel is a delicate business and needs some supervision and prior experience with what works where and when.

[jmsieglaff]

Up north, the cooler season crops growing season is too short, by the time they'd germinate and get some size on them, they'd be encountering too hot of weather before they're even close to production age. I wonder if some of you guys in the south could get away with a mid winter sowing and get good production before your heat sets in?

[worth1]

Up north, the cooler season crops growing season is too short, by the time they'd germinate and get some size on them, they'd be encountering too hot of weather before they're even close to production age. I wonder if some of you guys in the south could get away with a mid winter sowing and get good production before your heat sets in?

We can plant seeds in the fall right out in the garden.
Just like any cool weather crop like onions.

[rxkeith]

if you ever want perennial greens with no effort, let some kale or collards go to seed.
i have a early green carpet every year in the garden of kale, and kallard greens. they provide
some meals of fresh baby greens before most of them get tilled under to prep the garden. i let
some grow if they are out of the way. they do get to full size by the end of the season. red russian, and
white russian kale are winter hardy, and will produce seed the following year, tuscan kale does not winter
over here. every year more seeds continue to sprout. i never have to buy kale seeds again.


keith

[karstopography]

@jmsieglaff I’ve direct seeded various Kale, Bok Choi, Spinach, Arugula, Mustard and other cool weather crops. I do this throughout the fall. My plan this fall is to direct seed heading cabbage, Chinese types and Brussels sprouts.

Most of the cool season crops can handle a bit of frost, some more than others. 7 or 8 winters in 10, it never gets below 26°or so here.

[jmsieglaff]

Most of the cool season crops can handle a bit of frost, some more than others. 7 or 8 winters in 10, it never gets below 26°or so here.

After a very nice weekend weather-wise, we'll be pretty close to 26F the next two nights.
This spring has been very cold here.