hardening seedlings??
Answers:
It refers to getting seedlings that have been raised inside a greenhouse or other sheltered area ready to take the harsher outdoor environemnt...basically it involves exposing them to the new light and temperature conditions for so many hours a day before finally transplanting them to their new location.
No 'stuff' invovled.
Other answers:
First answer is correct. It's just getting the seedling "toughened up" so it can withstand the weather.
First answer is correct. It's just getting the seedling "toughened up" so it can withstand the weather.
When you harden off a seedling, you take it from it's inside protected environment and expose it little by little to the outside temps & light until it can stay there all day & night with no harm. When thats done, then you can plant it in the ground.
Seedlings grown indoors are typically brought to another place to be 'hardened off' or acclimatized to the outside weather before being planted outside. Sometimes seedlings are taken from the greenhouse then placed in a cold frame (outdoor shelter with vents or a lid of some sort) to allow the seedlings to get used to the outdoor environment.
If you took seedlings from a greenhouse and planted them directly into the ground without hardening off, they probably wouldn't do so well. It's a shock to their system essentially.
I guess it would kind of be like defrosting chicken. You can't cook it immediately when you take it out of the freezer because it is frozen, so you have to either take it our the night before or defrost it in the microwave. That is a very general description.