When do you bring in your houseplants?

I live in zone 5 and because of our cooler than usual nights am thinking of bringing in some of my houseplants. We are not near freezing yet, to be sure, but I have seen the morning temp in the 40's. Our day time temps are in the 70's and sunny. Hoyas get eastern exposure, all of them above ground level. How' bout you? Susan

I brought mine in last week. I like to bring them in a few weeks before I have to turn the heat on to let them get acclimatized to being indoors. I bring them in mid-day after they've warmed up from a cool night so as not to shock them too much. Zone 5a.

:( Unfortunately our daytime temp's are still hovering around 91ºF and night's in the upper 70's with high humidity as well. It will be December/January before I have to think about moving anything inside, although I might have to bring the orchids in before then. Sometimes we have mild winters and I don't have to bring plants in (except orchids), I'm so hoping for one of those winters!

I don't have hoyas outside, but I do have a few larger plants. I've just treated them all with BATS and will wait until next weekend to bring them in or possibly later if the weather holds up. I like your idea of waiting until mid-day to bring them in the house LeeAnn - it makes a lot of sense.


Christine

Thanks. I learned it the hard way. Used to wait until it got too cold and bring them in late at night when they were cold. Bring cold plants into a warm house...instant leaf drop. Too much shock. Last few years I've let them warm up outside to house temp. Haven't lost a leaf.

That could be the reason behind my red hibiscus' massive leaf loss every year when I bring it in. None of the others do it though. I just call it a drama queen because it always recovers and then starts to bloom. I'll pay closer attention to the predicted weather forecasts. It got a bit nippy last night, it was 7C; tonight will be 8C (7C=44F; 8C=46F). Its supposed to be warmer until next weekend though.

Christine

you must be getting some of that GTA warming effect...it's 5 here right now.

I guess so. Its 14C right now and dropping. They survived 7C last night, so they'll be okay until next weekend.

Those temp's sound so nice! We were still at 80ºF at 11:30 last night ... too hot!

My Hibiscus that are in the ground outside begin to lose leaves when temps drop and if we have frost or freezes, they do freeze completely to the ground but re-emerge in spring. This one ("Snow Queen") got completely knocked down last winter because we had three freezes. I thought for sure it was a goner but it came back nicely ... just isn't anywhere as tall as it was.

I always figured that these tropical hibiscus' could handle a bit of cold. Thanks Lin, that makes me feel less like a plant abuser. lol


Christine

Christine, where do you buy the BATS from?

Christina

This is the time of the year I start taking mine out of the greenhouse to enjoy some sunshine and fresh air.

Blessings,
Awanda

Christina, I'll send you a dmail. I need to talk to you anyway.


Christine

I just found this thread. My hosta is outside and I am wondering when it should come indoors. Yesterday our high was 88 but today we won't reach 60 (weird weather). Anyway what are their temperature ranges?

Hosta can stay in the ground year round. They survive in the ground up here with temps. that go down to -35F no problem.

If you meant to say Hoya...I believe they can handle in the low 40's...?

This message was edited Oct 9, 2009 3:57 PM

Sorry! I meant to hoya.

I brought my hoya's in and the plumeria's in about 2 weeks ago bc the nights stated dipping into the low 50's. Evreything else is still outside.