OverWintering Tropicals - A Mid Atlantic Survey

What a gorgeous Hib bloom, Holly. Actually they both are and think I have the same Dracena, one of those big box store no-name rescue plants a couple of years ago. Yours looks ultra healthy. Darn stink bugs have sapped the life out of many of the leaves on mine and decided there was nothing to lose by cutting the ugly black spots away.

Here are pics of the mini collection of Thai Caladiums. First is Gecko and although the leaves are shiny, they really aren't significantly thicker than regular Caladium leaves but they aren't as papery thin either, if that makes sense. Next is Jungle Princess with very tiny thick cupped bronze-burgundy leaves about the size of a Dime! No kidding and think it would an adorable addition to a Fairy Garden. Molten Lava is the pink one curled like a snail. Last is pointy leafed Glacier Lava which seems to be doing the best with several new leaves emerging. Neither of the Lava's have attained highly marked variegation they are purported to have, perhaps they will in time.

Fruit, is Jungle Princess a miniature variety, or do you just have a tiny "baby" corm of it? Lovely photos!

Gita, yes, definitely check out Bill's caladiums. (caladiums4less.com, I think) Even if he doesn't do a "DG special" this year, maybe he'd give us a volume discount for a group order... and another excuse to get together (although i've started them around spring swap time, it's nice to get them going asap for a longer season of show).

Fruit, do you grow your caladiums year-round as house plants? I've always let mine go dormant for winter... but now I'm envisioning them in a hanging basket, surrounded by coleus cuttings. Give me another place to hang plants, and I start getting ideas... LOL

Speaking of Bill - let me tell y'all the tuberose clusters I got from him this past spring were HUGE!!! I was beyond pleased! Course now that I've mentioned that...I need to pull those and store them for the winter....sheesh...almost forgot.

critter, the Thai bulbs were about the size of the end of my finger last March when they came from Springhill and are probably the same size. There's not much out there about Jungle Princess but after growing mine for 8 months, I expect she'll stay a miniature. Cute as a button.

Hands down, Bill's Caladium are the absolute best and so is his service! All those in the pots above in the pic on November 16th came from him and I always order a mixed batch to give away at our SW Central June RU. They're now stored in our garage in pots, and the Thai's are the only ones I'm growing as houseplants.

Why do Elephant Ears weep? That might sound like a strange question, but the one Colocasia macrorrhiza I'm overwintering is definitely giving off moisture from the leaves and was quite noticeable this morning when I brushed by.

Do they have some type of insect problem? Look for sticky signs of spider mites

FruitOfTheVine, Did you find out anything else about the water drops on your leaves? I noticed a few on my banana this morning. Will have to give it a good check out later

Fruity and Holly, my first thought as to water drops on taro leaves was that it was 'condensation'. Last winter, my containerized plants on my unheated enclosed porch were wetter than usual when I had to bring them in and they really steamed up the picture window! I ran a fan to increase circulation and exhaust some of the humid air from my semi-dormant plants.

I just googled 'condensation on taro leaves' and learned a new term Superhydrophobicity also called "the Lotus Effect" a characteristic of the taro leaf and I would suspect banana leaf, too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_effect
http://www.teachengineering.org/view_lesson.php?url=collection/duk_/lessons/duk_surfacetensionunit_lessons/duk_surfacetensionunit_less4.xml

Tell me what you think.


This message was edited Nov 21, 2012 8:01 PM

Dang nabbit- My lemon tree has spider mites galore.

No bugs or stickiness, Holly, just appears to be water running down the outside undulations of the leaves. Then droplets collect in the creases and eventually drop to the floor, or down the wall as you can see in the pic.

Thank you for the new term, coleup. Your teachengineering link got me thinking to do a primitive search for just 'weeping elephant ear' and learned the term Guttation which further led to this link:
http://www.ehow.com/about_5052727_causes-guttation-plants.html

Among the scientific explanations, another cause the writer also mentions is the soil is wetter than the roots, which may well be the case here, although I have been watering sparingly. We heat with wood to conserve electricity and humidity is very low. Thoughts anyone?

Bummer! Is there anything you can do?

One reason I can't ever seem to be able to keep Coleus over Winter is they get the mealies. Never had luck getting rid of the them with alcohol on Q-tips or a blast from the sprayer.


This message was edited Nov 21, 2012 7:40 PM

Lemon leaves can handle 70% alcohol spritzed right on them -- and the spider mites can't take it. Neem would probably also work, but the smell of the rubbing alcohol dissipates faster, so that's become my go-to with many plants. Unfortunately, coleus foliage doesn't much like alcohol... it's the leaves with a tougher cuticle, outer skin, whatever the right word is, that can handle it.

Great tips, critter. Thanks for that info!

Sally---

If your Lemon Tree is not too big--you could do this.
Encase the pot and soil in a plastic bag--tie it off at the base--exposing just the plant itself.
Fill a bucket with tepid/ warm water and add some "Joy" liquid dish soap.
Holding the plant upside down--and tightly around the plastic to keep any soil from dribbling out--
dunk it over and over in thew soapy water-- even letting it rest in the water for a while.
Repeat as often as you wish.
Then stop the dunking and rinse the plant off really well, dunking it again, also in tepid water
changing it a couple of times. Then--allow the plant to dry out of direct light and replace it wherever you want.

You may need to repeat this a couple of times to make sure.

I do not know if Spider Mites drop down--eggs or whatever--into the soil.
Then you would also want to treat it with a Systemic.

I can tell you that--Rawlings Conservatory uses ONLY "JOY" liquid dish soap for treating all its
plants. NEVER anything chemical. Seems to do the job.

Gita

Wow- with Jill and GIta on my team I can defeat the #@$ dang nab mites! THanks so much for the non toxic tips!!!

I am thankful for my tropical plants that grow so well with so little care on my part.

Am looking forward to some mango chutney on my turkey sandwich tomorrow.

Heard a report this am about a study of tropical trees being effected by drought. too. Seems that when ther is drought their roots have to work extra hard to absorb and send water up to their leaves. Evidently this effort sees an increase in the possibility of introducing molecules of air into their vascular system that acts much like a blood clot in restricting the flow and damaging a leaf, branch, our entire plant. Will post reference if I find it. Gave me a new understanding of 'evenly moist' and importance there of.

Thankful, too, for non toxic tips. Hope you contain your mites til eliminated Sally.

I took all the loose soil off the top of Lemon Tree's pot, then dunked her in a bucket with Joy, then set her out with sudsy leaves to dry in the weak winter sun. Then sprayed the lower leaves where the mites seemed to be focused.. With pet flea spray lol. Hey, probably alcohol based and has growth inhibitors...I dunno, I guess its dumb to take chances but there you have it.

Good gracious, no wonder pests rarely dare to show the tips of their antennae inside your house!

The main thing with mites, just like with aphids, I think is to be vigilant and re-spray several times, either at intervals (weekly?) and/or when you see the teeniest sign of one. Even when I haven't seen a mite in ages, they'll suddenly appear on a stressed (under-watered, for instance) plant. I'm sure they don't spontaneously generate, but sometimes I wonder where they come from! Your idea of taking off some surface soil was a good one.

I've got a fun report on my bargain cinnamon tree! (Most of its leaves were damaged and half browned, but it had no sign of pests, and the nursery person said she thought it had been first underwatered and then overwatered.) I gave it about 6 weeks to get some new roots growing in its bigger pot. It was starting to show signs of recovery by putting out a few new leaf buds, so I screwed up my courage and pruned back pretty much all of its little branches, which removed the partly-dead leaves. Now it's starting to put out the prettiest little translucent leaves, pale jade-green with a touch of shell-pink. I stuck the cuttings into the pot, of course, and most are still green... so hopefully I'll have some little rooted babies to share soon!

lol Sally!
I once used flea spray in desperation once on a branch or two of a small tree. Alas, the tree died from the spray, even though I washed and washed, and rinsed and rinsed it off. (Coated the stomata or what ever so basically I suffocated my little tree. Hope your lemon fares better. Just a note, flea spray did nit kill offending bugs!

Jill thats pretty exciting about the cinnamon tree!
Well Judy, that's too bad. I better go get the thing now before it gets too cold, talk about insult to injury. The variegated ivy wiht the tiny leaves has grown very well! It had a vacation today too. No mites seen, but I did find one very tiny real spider so I left her to eat any mites that might come along to the ivy.

Love that small, variegated ivy! very cold hardy too.

This is many years old--it started in a 3" pot that i planted in containers--then dug up and
re-planted in a 6" pot and so on and on....
Then it got too big and I put it in a HB. And so it still is...Big and beautiful!

G.

Hey, thanks for all the tips. I have some little flying bugs hanging around my plants, mites I assume. They aren't munching, just annoying. I may try the rubbing alcohol trick. Will probably dilute it more then 70% starting out though.

I have a sunporch filled with palms (jelly, sago, spindle, madagascar, cane, cabbage seedlings, windmill seedlings, coconut) 4 palms in the garage (queens, too tall for the 12' ceilings in the sunporch), red abyssinian, dwarf cavendish, bird of paradise, lime tree, plumeria and some elephant ears that I just got a deal on and am trying to keep alive til spring LOL. It's my 3rd year overwintering in the porch, it gets fuller and fuller each year, next year I will have to probably add a greenhouse because I can barely walk through the porch at this point. Always concerned that I'm not keeping it warm enough, not watering enough, watering too much etc. It's definitely one of those things that you have to do some trial and error. You have to know when your plants are communicating with you. Is that drooping leaf just aging, or does it need water? Live and learn, and try not to lose anything too expensive!

lwooters--Welcome!!! Where is Preston? I live in NE baltimore County. In Perry Hall/White Mrsh area.

You probably have Fungus Gnats. They are all over anywhere fresh, moist soil is available.

You can try to cut back on the watering or cover the top of your soil in the pots with sand or small gravel
or "Diatomactious Earth". It is available at Lowes. I do not think Home Depot carries it.
Dangerous stuff--wear a mask and do not inhale it. it is miniscule shards of glass (Silica).

Fungus Gnats lay eggs in the soil--which hatch into larva--which will feed on the plant's roots.
The adults flying around are a pain in the you know what--but, otherwise, they are harmless.
Their life-span is about 2 weeks.

The best way to minimize the adult population is to use the yellow sticky pads you can hang amid your
plants. The Gnats are attracted to yellow and will stick to these pads. Hosta la Visa gnat!!!

You can also water your plants with systemics (Bayer has a good one--3 in 1)--which will kill everything in the soil.

Overall--keeping the surface of the soil dry will also help. Gita

Watering with water that has Mosquito Dunks in it helps a lot as well

Hi lwooters. What a great collection!

Thanks Chantell now i know why i have mosquito dunks and don't even have a pond lol...
I think my Freydek EE has a leaf fungus. One leaf has a couple large dead patches edged in yellow. Should I cut all the fungus portion off?

My living area is much more manageable this year with the GH heated and housing some of the tropicals.
Usually I have to move most of the Tropicals into an upstairs room where they are over crowded and some what neglected. Then spider mite and other issues really take a tole on the plants. This year with some of them in the GH and only a few that will need to move upstairs I hope to provide a better clime for them and have more success.
Ric dug out the Glad bulbs yesterday and I am preparing them for winter storage.

Does anyone else have Devils backbone? I'm wondering if they ever experience a dormant period. Ric
(pidilanthus tithymaloides - variegated)

I know we had it at HD last summer....I remember the name.
Not sure if it was outside--or with the Houseplants....G.

Just want to say that the Systemic Granules are working wonders this year. Thanks for the suggestion, Gita.

Glad it helped....JB was happy about them as well.

Checking posts for the last time. maybe someone had something to add, or to ask for at the last minute..

Glad to see no snow on the ground...it is 35* at this hour, though.
Pretty hard to take (?) as yesterday got up to 60*.

Gita

Now that we have moved in to Spring and the temps are warming (80's today !!) its time to wake them up and begin (when???) the annual migration to the out of doors for the Mid-Atlantic version of the Tropics!

New thread over here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1306521/

Thought I would bump this thread up as it is a good review and info for how we do our tropicals. Seems we are bringing them in earlier this year because of frost and freeze warnings and extended period of cold forecast ahead.

…as my Plumeria stands out there right now wishing for an overcoat...

Sally, I brought your little plumie inside in its pot. I have 1 big one and 2 smaller new ones that I planted in the same big pot together this summer... tried moving the pot after all the recent rain and quickly decided they would have to spend the winter as dormant sticks, so Joyanna helped me dig them up along with some pineapple lily bulbs that didn't bloom this year but did multiply! :-)

KNocked myself out this afternoon bringing in the potted amaryllises (just as well I didn't get them planted in the ground last spring; carrying is quicker than digging!)... and the tropical water lilies (brrrr that's some cold water)... and digging up the red-leaf banana (with a pup!)... and anything else that hadn't been hauled into the garage on Tuesday. Morning room is festooned with hanging baskets, too!

My baby Plumie came inside in a qt nursery pot and I can keep that going. The 5 foot tall one…will get pulled from the pot someday soon. Not sure what this chilly night, under a leafed maple near the house, ail do to it, might get black tips. It has only bloomed for me while growing in the ground, not a pot.

Amaryllis and Hymenocallis pulled last weekend, sun dried two days, wrapped in newspaper loosely, in a box

Sally--

I brought in all my pots of Amaryllis yesterday. I have 5 small pots and
the huge one with 7 bulbs in it. Their leaves were already dying back
while still outside.

Now they will sit in my Shop until they go completely dormant.
Then--I will wait for the tips of new growth peeking out from the bulbs.

Last year--my Amaryllis did not bloom until March.
I guess I am negligent with all the suggested "schedules"....

The big pot is VERY old! About 10 years.... Gita

I'm glad I reduced my tropicals population by half in numbers and 3/4 by volume and weight.
Only 2 bananas this year!

The small office complex upthe street from me has 10 Hardy Banana , Musa 'basajoo' in their landscape. Last week they trimmed all of the leaves off but have left the pseudo stem. Removal of the many leaves will certainly decrease the possibility of breaking off the stem as winds increase. Haven't noticed any other winter protection measures but these are near a building and sheltered so they may not need extra mulch. This is their fifth year in ground year round.

You can get amaryllises to re-start sooner by giving them a little water and warmth. Bottom heat is especially good for jump-starting them (putting them over a heating vent has worked for me).

I think the 'Basajoo' can even die back to the ground and come back fine the following spring. I want to order one (from Santa Rosa probably, or Wellspring if SR sells out) and install it near the outer corner of my deck... I've been increasing the number of tropical-looking plants in that "tropicals" bed so I don't have quite so many to dig in fall! With 2 $5 plants I picked up recently, I'll have 5 Hibiscus moscheutos in that bed, all of which are the newer "indeterminate" hybrids that get flowers in all the leaf nodes, not just at the branch tips. Give them a couple more years, and they'll look quite lush. :-)

Ric and Holly may have a great granddaughter pup of the mama I gave them! I believe they leave theirs in ground with protection, Shelter from wind will see the leaves far less tattered. They want to form a 'grove' The more of the stem, the taller the banana will grow which other than hardiness is why some dig and store them eash winter, See thumbnail pic at start of this thread where bananas are taller than house!

(Sorry, photo cannot be enlarged)

They are doing really great I had a grove of 8 this year from the original you gave me last year. I am going to divide a few next spring to give away. I gave 2 away this year. I cut mine back just a few days ago and piled leaves over them. I planted them near the compost pile not the prettiest location but I knew I could easily over winter them there. Next spring I am going to move a few into the yard at different spots and see how they overwinter without the huge pile of leaves over them.
I am sad to say that it looks like I lost the Australian Tree Fern. It was doing so good this summer really looking good and putting out new fronds. Something happened to it went we took those first 2 week trip. Looked half dead when we got home. I figure it didn't get watered or maybe the cold snap we had while we were gone hurt it but I have been hoping it would start to regrow. So far I haven't seen any signs of it coming back to life but I still have it in the GH and will give it another month or two to see if it revives.

Oh sad on the Australian Tree fern but I'm glad you got to enjoy it And who knows, it may still live. Remember one of the keys is to water the reservoir formed at the base by the fronds. Wonder how Greenthumb is doing with the one I gave he and Pat to care for? I really am drawn to them. Maybe I'll have to put a trip down under on my bucket list! Thanks for trying! And not counting it out even though I know your GH is full.

If the Basajoo put out 8 pups it does like its spot! Bravo! How tall did yours get before you cut it back? Do you still have your Siam Ruby? I hope I get another year out of my Ensete.

Critter, I think 'bottom heat'/soil temp is key to earlier start for caladiums, too. They will sulk like tomatoes if the soil is cold/cool even if the air is warm enough.

Jan, have you found a spot for banana and ee's to overwinter there?