More starts going and more potting ups. My peppers haven't even germed, so I'm gonna have to buy some more than I planned. 21ish more days till planting.
More starts going and more potting ups. My peppers haven't even germed, so I'm gonna have to buy some more than I planned. 21ish more days till planting.
What’s your guys thoughts on a cold frame? I think it could be worth the investment, just for hardening off, but can they take some snow weight?
Cold frames only buy you a couple of degrees. They are best for more cold tolerant plants like lettuce, spinach, etc. Sensitive plants like tomatoes and peppers do best with just planting them a bit later, in my experience.
I had trouble with growing peppers from seed until I got a heat mat.
With indoor starts it’s recommended to harden starts off outdoors for one week before planting, using a cold frame is useful for this i heard. Especially in colder climates. Its not about planting them sooner, I know thats partly another option.
The cold frame you don’t need to bring the plants in and out instead you leave them outside using the ground heat to keep it warm, which is more than a few degrees it thought? Maybe raised on a deck is what you’re thinking of?
Not where I live. Cold frames tend to overheat during the day, then lose too much heat at night. Even if you open them during the day.
I'm not saying they don't work at all, I'm just saying I've not found the benefit for hot weather plants to be noticable. I just move them in and out during hardening, and make sure to not plant them until night time temps are high enough. That's given me the best yield and least BER.
If you don't harden before transplanting you might loose quite a bit of your crop. I am surprised that a cold frame would be good for hardening though. In my experience the sun intensity is more impactful than the changes in temperature. I put my starts under my kid's trampoline for a week and the filtered sunlight it provides seems to be a good easy mode. No bringing plants in and out for progressively more and more time over a week