Please define "shaded area" for hardening

[Taverna78]

I've make post with hardening In rain and overcast and I swear I need go to class to be weather man because he is never correct! Today forecast cloud and mist. But was 85F and no cloud to see I don't known what sunburn leaf look like but some look lighter than overs some with spot and some with hole. Not terrible but if they are tis fragile should I have outside somewhere where direct sun will not reach them?
I have mixture of grown purchased and gifted trees in 1 gal pot and all gift and purchase trees come from much hotter brighter climate than here. Maybe I worry too much?
I apologize because you all have so much help to me and I don't want to let you down.

[brettjm]

What has worked well for me is this regimen

Day 1-5: Keep under eaves of house. Gets maybe an hour of sun from 7:30-8:30 AM. Rest of the time is complete shade
Day 6-10: Put under a shade tree near the base (maple, oak, sweetgum...whatever). Gets a bit of heavily filtered sun for several hours, and some direct sun in late afternoon (4-7pm)
Day 11-15: Move the figlet further from the base of the tree each day, so it sees just a bit more sun each day. By day 15 its getting 5-6 hours of direct sun
Day 16+: Full sun, 8-10 hours/day.

I have sucked at getting my plants to the point where they can go outside, but once there I am undefeated (8/8 and counting).

[nepenthes]

When I started getting them used to full sun, I put them in full shade. It was a pain because I had to keep moving them from the west side of the house to the east to keep the sun from hitting them. After a full week of sun avoidance, they went in a trampoline (you read that right) that's located on a fully covered deck. The trampoline has the mesh sides to it that filter light. The figs would get filtered sun from sun up until around 10:45-11:15am. After of week of that, I placed them in an unshaded greenhouse to get sun all day. They now can handle full sun with no issues. I'm pretty sure they aren't ready for rain, yet, but I'm happy they've all adjusted to the outdoors (minus rainy weather) without any issues.

[drphil69]

My recipe:
Full shade - 1 week (North side of house under eaves, or something to fully block sun - this allows reflected UV only to hit leaves)
1-2 hours "weak" sun - 1 week (early morning or late evening sun - but be careful of morning sun as dew drops can concentrate the UV like a magnifying glass)
2-4 hours sun - 1 week
Full sun.

The leaves will start to turn brown or spotted and die/ partially die if sunburned. Once the damage is done there is nothing you can do. Here's a few pics of some partially burned leaves. I did not realize they were getting about an hour of mid day sun...

[Taverna78]

Ou... I must get into full shade. The weird thing is some of these trees came from Florida about a month ago and there they were in full Florida sun. I know flordia sun much stronger than here. Maybe because I have under grow lights for few weeks while waiting for weather to warm they got used to grow lights instead of sun?
The other thing I don't get is I have a few cuttings that rooted well and sprouted leafs one cutting quite a few leaf. Out of the bin and into tray with T5 light and fan with 70+ temps. No cover. Looked great for about 12 days and now leaf starting to shrivel and dry up. Tis has happened before but still unknown why. I buy scale so I do not over water, they get good light and air circulation. I put dome over it and see what happens.

[ako1974]

I feel I have this down better in my yard this year. All the suggestions above are great. My only problem is the morning sun rises behind the house with tall trees that eventually leaf out. The front, obviously, is a western exposure that, as it gets hotter/later into spring/summer, gets crushed with sun. The south has mostly shade, the north sun in the morning, shade in the early afternoon, sun late afternoon.

I probably bored you here, but my point is, the biggest problem I face is moving a lot of plants multiple times as sun exposure changes. Solution: I use my kids' tree fort, move around our patio table, a large evergreen that provides a bit of dappled shade most of the time, the foundation of my house under overhangs, and keep moving, moving, moving. I have fried so much in the past just being lazy that now I'm resigned to keep everything moving as the sun exposure rapidly changes.

[jmaler]

How you considered finding a sunny side of the house and using a light weight frame covered with shade cloth to lean over your fig starts against the side of your house? Just be sure it dosen't blow over uncovering the figs exposing them to the sun.

[COGardener]

I don't worry about full shade, just minimal morning sun. I set the plants against the East side of the house, they get a couple hours of morning sun then shade the rest of the day. As time goes by, I slowly move them away from the house a little at a time until they are in full sun. Then I place them in their spot for the summer.

[Taverna78]

Being most of these. And to me from warm coast climates and hotter sun I think I may be over reacting. So I keep east side of house fur now then next week slowly move out. These trees are tough. I think if I don't do perfect they will still make it

[COGardener]

I think your on the right track, it seems to me that we have a tendency to baby these trees. That doesn't mean do something dumb with them, just don't ccoddle them so much.

[Taverna78]

Sì. Normally when we dig up tree for burry in winter we wait for spring and before we replant we just grab stalk of tree follow root thru root ball and cut out. Maybe 10 tree each time. Never lose. Or worry about water,humid or sun. Just pull ,cut ,plant , tree! Ha! No trouble.