Once again about the important thing – seed hardening!

It is not for nothing that the phrase “We all come from childhood” is given in Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s fairy tale “The Little Prince”, as if hinting that all our habits, behavior, character and much more are laid down during this life period. And the conditions in which a small person will develop will affect his lifestyle in the future.

Tomato seedlings planted in the groundTomato seedlings planted in the ground

Since school we know that we all live in a single system – the biosphere, we consist of the same universal units – cells! So there are general laws that affect all living organisms. Therefore, answering the question, can we apply Exupery’s phrase with its characteristic meaning to plants. We answer with great confidence – YES!

And it’s worth starting from the very childhood of plants – from seeds. Every gardener knows that when growing heat-loving crops: tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, as well as cucumbers in central Russia, they must be hardened for frost resistance. I myself had never hardened my nightshades before, believing that the process of adaptation to new conditions was genetically laid down, and I planted ready-made plants in the ground, but a chance helped me to convince me.

Seedlings grown from hardened seedsSeedlings grown from hardened seeds

Conscious case

In 2018, there was a very warm spring in the Volga region, and since there is little space for seedlings in an ordinary Khrushchev apartment, my hands literally itched to plant all the grown wealth quickly into the ground. May 9 I met in the garden. At a temperature of +24, all tomatoes were planted, but return frosts on May 27, in the middle of the week, did their job. Most of my seedlings literally froze to death. The following year, I decided not to repeat the mistakes and decided to harden off the seedlings at the seed stage. At first I tried it on watercress seeds, but then I transferred the experience to nightshade.

My methodology

Starting from the beginning of March, I lay out the seeds in prepared containers, fill them with water and let them swell. And then these seeds are exposed to variable temperatures. For 12 hours I keep them at a temperature of 15-20 degrees, and the other 12 hours at 1-2 degrees. And so for 12 – 14 days. And then, already in April, I take out the grown seedlings of nightshade to an open balcony and do not clean it up to 0 degrees. And after such hardening, return frosts are not so terrible for our peppers, tomatoes and eggplants.

May night colds (min -2019 degrees in 2) damaged only the edges of adult leaves, the growing point remained intact, and in July my family received a well-deserved portion of the harvest. According to the same scheme, cucumber seeds can be hardened, only the procedure itself can be reduced to five days.

What is needed for seed hardeningWhat is needed for seed hardening
Soak seeds before hardeningSoak seeds before hardening

conclusions

Thus, the harvest from hardened tomatoes in 2019 amounted to 11,8 kg, compared to 2,3 kg in 2018 from non-hardened ones.

However, it is important not to forget about the soil microflora, in particular fungi, which easily infect plants weakened by cold. Therefore, it is worth treating the seeds, and then the planted plants with phytosporin.

My gardenMy garden

It was the case that forced me to make an important decision about the mandatory hardening of nightshade seeds. And this is indeed one of the best methods to increase your yield.

Dear readers, are you hardening your seedlings?

The work was posted as part of the creative contest “My Record Harvest” on the site Botanichka.ru

Anna Evans

Author-editor

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