so i have 2 seed pods on harlot. i was messing around with the pollen from shredded white so that might be the pollen plant. i didnt mark the ones i tried to pollinate so it could be any of them really.. any way i put the brugs away in the garage for the winter thats when i noticed them. it is still 50-60 in there. ive been turning the lights on because they wont go dormant. i guess what im asking is how low can the temp get before the seed pods abort. i want to keep them, i love harlot and it would be fun to grow them out. they are about 2 and a half inches, fat and green. ive been watering them with fishtank water lol. thats about the only fert since being put away.
harlot has seed pods
Iris,
I don't have an answer for you and I was unable to find one. How cold does the garage get? In your zone I would worry that at some point the temperature would go below freezing and kill the entire plant.
I overwinter my Brugs in a heated greenhouse. One winter I had several Brugs with seedpods in the greenhouse, but I don't remember whether that was the year the thermostat was set to 40ºF or 45ºF. The seedpods made it throught winter and ripened early in the spring. I remember reading, in a few old threads, a discussion of overwinter Brugs with seedpods in a basement. The seedpods made it through winter, but temperatures were not mentioned. It will also depend on how mature the seedpods are. If they are too young, they may drop off the way flowers do if it gets too cold.
If you really want them to survive, maybe you can find a sunny window in the house or take Harlot in when there is a danger of a freeze, but then having lived near Cincinnati, that could be almost every night. The size you mentioned really doesn't help unless you post a photo. Harlot is a cross of Rosamond and L'Amour and is listed as a cubensis, meaning it has a bit of this and that and 1/2 aurea — Rothkirch —so its shape and size can vary.
the lowest the garage has ever gotten was 38. its 60 in there now. i was wondering if the seeds will ripen before it gets cold. they are in a tent in the garage. i was going to get a heater to set at 45 before it got to cold. the pot is so heavy ,me and mom were barely able to get it from the yard to the garage so it must stay out there. its near a window so its getting light. along with the shop lights. the info you gave me was a big help. i guess ill try to keep it as warm as possible . frosty pink is still in the ground blooming and its the end of nov. our temps arnt that bad until jan. we usually have 2 weeks of 20s and maybe the teens(thats when the garage got down to 38). feb usually 20s 30s. march its 30s 40s 50s. its no where near as cold as cinci gets. we went there one winter, i left in a sweater, and when we got there there was a foot of snow on the ground! oops lol
Iris, I keep mine in the garage too and at one point last year it got down to 32 out there and I had pods on mine. I experimented, on half of the brugs I put close to the door coming into the house and the temps dipped low at night I throw sheets over them. The others I did not, they were in the middle next to the wall. Those got nipped and froze at the tips. I lost their leaves and all but a couple of pods. The ones I covered did great and kept all their pods. I added no extra heat for them. None of these were named brugs just some noids.
I had some keep their pods on in garage, it got down to 45 but I kept a long shoplight right over them untill the pods were ready, it worked good for me.
Doris
I'm curious about the seed pods too. I did some hand pollination and I believe I have some seed pods, but we are due for hard frost in the next few days. Could a cutting of seed pods survive?
thanks guys . they still look great and its still 60 in there, i love hearing how things do for people in my zone. i will just monitor the situation in the garage and maybe i wont need a heater.
i read that a cutting wont keep a seed pod . i could be wrong but i ran across a thread on it when i was looking for seed pod info.
LiliMercie I have never had any survive once they are cut off the growing plant
LiliMercie,
Getting a seedpod to grow to full size and ripen requires more energy than a cutting has. Are you able to dig up the entire plant? You would have to prune the plant to compensate for root loss, but you could retain the branch that has the seed pod. With luck, it won't drop the pod while it get acclimated to its new environment.
Betty, that is way too much work for me. I have too many tropicals to tend to. Guess I will let the seeds go and try again next year.
Lilli try covering it with several layers of sheets. That might help keep the frost off. I've been doing that with the Cassia alata tree in the front yard. It's been down in the 20's the past couple of nights and the darn thing is still blooming. No signs of being frost bit either. I also am trying an experiment with a brug out there too. It has about 6 inches of straw all around it for about 5 feet and I've been covering it too. No frost bite on it and it even snowed on it yesterday. I just uncover them so the sun can warm them up during the day.
Too late, I have already cut the fella. I gave cuttings to a few neighbors.
Next year maybe.
yeah, i'm a little sad, but I'll be OK.