Just curious if anyone has any ideas, suggestions, tips or tricks for how they put their tropicals in the ground in the warmer months, then relocating them to the greenhouse or indoors for winter. I saw something on a gardening show once where someone had larger pots in the ground, then the plant was planted in another pot they would just drop down for summer and pick up and relocate to shelter for winter. I thought that was a neat idea (so long as the plant can stay in that container for a year or two. These were regular pots that your plants might come in from a local nursery or box store.
Just curious about what some of you with more experience than I do in these situations. Or do you just redig them up and repot them?
Tips for Moving Plants into GH/Indoors for Winter
I leave my tropicals in pots year round and they decorate my decks during the warmer months. If you really want them in the ground, I think you'll stress the plants less by leaving them in their containers and sinking the pot in the ground vs planting them in the ground. When plants go in the ground they can suffer some transplant shock from planting, then after that they spend a bunch of time focusing on root development potentially at the expense of blooms...which is absolutely fine for things that are going to stay in the garden, but not so great when it's something that you're going to have to dig up every year and restart the whole process the following year. For things that are bulbs/tubers then digging them up every year isn't a big deal, but for other types of plants personally I would leave them in containers vs planting them
I agree with ecrane3. ALthough i did plant 2 tropicals - i will just haev to see how they end up doing ^_^
Here's something new ...how's this for a tip?
http://www.liquidfence.com/FreezePruf.html
Not much of a zone difference - 8a to 7b but i do wonder if it actually works?
I think it's new this year so probably not too many people have experience with it yet. I remember last year some threads about it coming soon but it wasn't on the market yet. I am glad to see it's out now--I was going to experiment with it this winter on some things that tend to get frost damaged every year. Sounds like it'll take things that would be borderline and make them more reliably hardy, but for true tropicals you'll still need to put them somewhere warm.
There is no experience except from testing on it, it's only advance order right now for September release...
Is there a particular spray I should use to ensure I'm not brining in any pests to the house or greenhouse when it's time to transition? Do I spray the soil, plant or both?
I spray everything down with Neem and separate them from the rest of my plants for about a week just to be sure I get all of the buggers. I didnt do this one year and ended up with spidermites al over my houseplants - that wasnt fun getting rid of!
I use Seaweed extract. You double the fun, gets the bugs, and promotes the plant growth. Seaweed has a ton of growth hormone in it (as in kelp) as it can grow several feet a day- This component is still active in the extract- so it helps the plants fend off bugs- also, the kelp has a property that keeps it immune from certain diseases and pests, which I believe is the current leading scientific theory on it. It's a win win!
Every fall, I pine sol the green house, with pressure washer.
If you would like more info on the seaweed, I have a bunch of data in my DG diary with links.
Rj
Thanks much for both recommendations! I'll definitely read up on them and pick them up for when transition time comes. It's still a ways off, but I have a lot going on between now and then, and want to be proactive.
Bwilliams posted a great guide to KEEPING tropicals in the ground, using an microbe-active mulch cover --good compost mixed with fallen leaves, grass clippings, etc.
I did it here in Washington DC, covered with black plastic, in a sunny spot, and I got portora, bananas, calla to live in the ground all winter and come right back in the Spring.
I then moved most of the plants into pots for the summer, where they're thriving. In the late Fall, I'll till the same bed, getting the remaining mulch from last winter down into the soil mix. Then after cleaning the roots of most of the pot soil, I'll put them all back in the bed and cover with all my mowed up leaves and grass, anchor the black plastic over top and hope for the same results.
JPlunket -- do you happen to have a link to the article/posting from BWilliams? I tried searching through the guides, but couldn't find anything.
He may have more than one thread on the subject, but here's one of them http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/828480/
That was the one.
I wasn't sure my mulch would generate sufficient heat, so I put the black tarp over top as a way to capture as much external heat as possible.
Interesting Seaweed extract article:
http://www.journeytoforever.org/farm_library/seaweed.html
Thankyou! I added that to my Seaweed links
http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/rjuddharrison/1923/