i posted this in propagation forum as well..
well summer is winding down here..and thinkin of "better ways" to keep my
tropical amorphophallus happy campers ..:)
this is what im thinking..
wrapping the pots with heat cables..regulated by thermostat. adhering the cables
to the pots with heat tape..then electrical tape..make sure it stays in place..
???
i am thinking the heat tape will help keep the insulation against the pot and not
as much heat loss..
???
what do ya all think???
this would be instead of a heat mat.. thinking this "new way" would distribute
the heat thru the entire pot..not just at the bottom of the pot..
???
sure would like comments...
much thanks...
heating titanum pots overwinter
Tropical, this is rather ingenious. First off, heat rises, so I'm guessing heat from the bottom eventually gets up there, but it also depends on how cold it is and how much heat is dissipated.
As I said, ingenious. It does, however, sound like a lot of work. Are you bringing these guys inside, say to a basement or garage? An indoor greenhouse? Seems to me that your suggestion will give enough heat to ambient air to warm the foliage some.
In my book, you get an A for creativity and maybe for practicality, depending on how hard it is to get the tape off in the spring. My suggestion? Try it both ways. I always hedge my bets.
Take it from someone who almost killed all the overwintered plants last year (it wasn't my fault).
Marcia
my largest titanums will be ok for this overwintering.. next..another story..:)
but they will be in front of a huge south facing window in the house..
i'll get help from neighbour to haul them inside..:) already thinking ..oh my aching
back..:)
ive gleaned from brian williams' ideas..others that have posted here..and
sort of expanded from there..
i planned to use heavy duty cables/with thermostat..
i think with use of bottom heat pad i ran into changing out watering tray and heat
pad when i watered.. so i was hoping to get away from that problem..so.thought.
why not heat the sides of the pot instead..that was some of my reasoning for heating
this way over use of heat pad..
?? marcia?? do you grow tropical amorphs then???
hope all give there thoughts.. where u see problems..whatever..
much thanks
I have a really small home. I'm wondering how to keep the Alocasia micholitziana (Frydek) in the photo and Anthurium through next summer. It wouldn't be so bad except that I try to keep all the caladiums in my office along with some rex begonias and angel wing/dragon begonias. Not mentioning coleus. Nothing can stay outdoors below a consistent 45 degrees, so I guess they are almost all tropical but not amorphs.
what we do for our plants huh??? :)
yes..here in utah we are just 1/2 zone colder than u.. my tropicals
are bananas,various EE's, cannas, and an ever growing # of amorphophallus
its all addictive .. isnt it.. :)
i got really good advice from brian williams.."brians botanicals".. on overwintering
more picky/tender colocasias.. especially thai giants..
i got some cheap HUGE plastic containers from discount store..in fall when everything gets hit with 1st hard frost..
EE's get dug..and the tender thai giants.. get overwinter stored in a sort of
mulch of shredded leaves.. i keep them inside around 55 F. in basement..
i keep the shredded leaf mulch just barely moist..just barely..
for 3 yrs now..(except last where i was a bad gardener and didnt mulch the
thais and lost some..my bad).. they overwinter great..
maybe you could do similar with your really tender tropicals..???
good luck.. keep us posted on how you do..
:)
Will check Brian's botanicals and also the temps in our (unfinished) basement, because lights can be left on 24/7. All aroids and most others are in containers, but the Anthurium is really packed in by the grower, so I ought to kill myself repotting it. My prince put it out on our back deck, and it got really sunburned but came back beautifully.
Wish I did not have such a love affair with my plants....
I agree Cathy I have zone envy and have alot of tropicals. I am lucky in that I have a solar room but now the collection of plants are larger than the room... ;(
I am going to just cut some of my tropicals back to a smaller size, and repot so they don't take up so much room. My big problem is controlling the mites thru the winter... ugh! After reading this I may take a few dormant and see how they do. my worry on that is I am guessing there is a fine line between keeping them moist enough so they don't rot, or don't dry up.
You keep your caladiums in leaf all year?
You would think caladiums would just stay until the first frost, but I bring them in before it gets anywhere below 45 degrees. They die down on their own. Actually, I think they just stop producing foliage. The go into dormancy in the fall. I leave them in the pots during the winter and water lightly. Just about when I think they are totally dead and I see insects in the soil so I think they may have rot, they give up a sprout. Then another and another, and we are on our way. I leave them in my office for the winter, piled up on the floor. As soon as the daytime weather warms to 55 or 60, they go outdoors just during the day. They have also been known to spend some time in the car....
I don't know if you can see it, but in the middle of these Miss Muffets are calla lilies. When I make a gift of them, everyone wants one.
I was curious because that has been my experience that they die down completely. I have some planted around a giant white bird of paradise, which after the caladiums went dormant probably wasn't a smart idea, cause the bird never goes dormant. I did notice a few small leaf caladiums coming back up the other day after all this time...odd. Do you use anything in the soil so not to bring pests into the house?
As long as you maintain the temperature requirements, I think you are home free. I would not feed until the pips start showing and then a very light (highly diluted) feeding frequently, like once every week or two while it is making foliage. I don't generally start to feed in the first year because I purchase potting soil which has an added timed release fertilizer. I nip off the bloom spike when it appears to discourage inflorescence, keeping the energy for the foliage.
I really like your idea about the bird of paradise. Makes life much more interesting.
Just wondering. Is it very necessary to make sure they have warmth ? Is it to keep them from going dormant? Or just dying completely. What if their put in about 45 to 50 degrees. Is that too cold for them ? I don't have titanium. But another variety. Which I cannot spell off the top of my head lol. And mine is small , in a gal pot. I do have a couple that need id's. I should post them here as they haven't got def answers in the I'd forum yet.
I am not very knowledgeable on this 'stuff'...rofl. I have a garden room but I only keep it about 60 degrees in there, but nothing goes completely dormant, except for caladiums and the konjac, all the ee's, the bird of paradise, brugs, succulants, and etc stay active just in slow motion...rofl. The things in the solar room which heats up during the day keep growing and I fight spider mites from the heat and dryness...rofl, no win situation.
with the "tropical" amorphs..titanum,hewittii,descus-salvae,and gigas..they can never dry
out.and need to be kept "warm" i kept my titanum TO warm last winter..lost it..lesson learned..
when the "tropicals" go dormant..still have to be kept moist..and around 65F nites 75 F days..
with the other non tropicals.. konjac(most common grown) they do just fine out of potting mix..
i keep mine on storage shelves in cool room.. 55F.. you want them to stay dormant/resting..
i bring mine out early march..room temp 68-70F. they will sprout..if mature enough to flower..
if small.. you will want to pot up then..then when potted up with vegetative growth..not flowering
begin watering..
they are wonderful ,facinating plants.. i really am enjoying all of mine..
hope you do post some pics kathy..
good luck !!!
thinking,rethinking,and gleaning from u alls thoughts..much thanks btw..:)
the "tropical" amorphs will come in the house..for now.. bigger..have to evaluate that
then..not till next fall.. whew..:)
im thinking now.. making a double row of door weather strip tape.. with just enough room
for the heat cable to fit between. wrap couple times around the pot.. cover sides of pot with
insulation tap(over the cables).. thermostat will keep cable to 74F..with room temps at 68F..shouldnt kill me
off with to much extra electric bill..:)
i hope this will keep the amorphs happy campers.. they will be in front of huge south facing
window..so plenty of light.. probably better light levels than they got outdoors..
im sure i gave them more light than titanums like..
anyways.. this is my "current" plan on heating the pots..
sure open to comments.. much thanks...
what i settled with..this yr..:) is i wrapped heavy duty
heat cables 3 times around the pots.. used heavy duty heat
duct tape to hold to pot..then wrapped the pot with "space heat
blanket".. i know i kept the soil to HOT last yr.. to my titanums
demise..sigh.. i have thermostat at 75F..ive checked the soil
and its staying at 74F.. i think thats a good temp..
?? thoughts??
it will be easy to remove the heat cables in early summer when
the titanums go outside.. then just repeat..
of course..when height becomes issue..it'll be greenhouse..
but i think i'll continue use of heat cables.. even in greenhouse..
guess i'll see how i do if plants do ok ..and i get them to survive ..go
dormant..sometime in spring 2014..and they come out again..
i hope.. :)
How cold are your outdoor temps now?
hi cathy..:)
we have had a WONDERFUL fall..so far.. yea.. :)
i now wish i had put in a fall lettuce crop.. darn.. LOL
this last week weve had 70- 72F days..sunny.. wonderful!!!
nites.. low 50sF other day it was 48 F..again.. really nice
i have 5 pots of amaryllis papillio's out in front..they get a ton of sun..
and are lovin it.. :)
well.. ive sort of modified my "heating" my titanums..again.
LOL.. wrapping the pots,taping them to pots..did good.. potting
mix was ok..ended up in high 60sF.. so..i thought..well they are
"soil heating cables"... huh.. LOL so i just buried them in the pots..
around an inch deep.. presto. im getting good stable low 70sF in the soil..
last yr..i think i cooked that poor titanum.. not again!!!
and the plants are doing good.. even the slow goers..that didnt put up
vegetative growth end of summer..are now doing great too..so i guess
i must be doing something right..LOL
i am thinking on topic discussed here and on other forums..on
titanums vegetative height..correlation with light given..
i think there might be something to that.. i know im dealing with
small samplings..i only have 9 titanums..so.. not a good "scientific" example
but.. my titanums that got a TON of sun this summer.. they were bigger corms
and they got around 7ft tall (above pot).. i have 3 titanums that got moderate
sun end of summer..but are in front window (inside) and with 5 T5 lights on them
one is hitting nearly 9ft tall.. and it was just a 7 # corm..
any thoughts out there??? am i off my rocker?? :)
You are no more off you rocker than anyone who is excited to see a sprout or new peony pips in the spring. I think we are all a bit "crazy." I think it is the necessary ingredient to be dedicated to your green offspring.
Why else would I have a kitchen full of plants with no room to maneuver?
I started with 3 bulbs and I unpotted them yesterday and nada!!!
One is around 3 years old . I do not think I will invest on t hem again.
Belle
well after this winter..i "think" its over here..LOL sigh..
i dont think use of heat cables in potting mix really helped that much..
condition on that could be..i didnt have a thermostat on those cables..so..
heat cable only rose temps by 12F over ambient temps..so..
i have several heat mats..and i am very sold on the newer ones..
not the heavy rubberized ones.. ones i really like.. very thin, plastic,bit more pricey
than the "thicker,rubberized" ones.. newer ones really distribute heat over all of
mat..i do use a thermostat on the mats..and they did a good job on my titanum potted
plants..potting mix stayed around 68-74F which i think is a good temp..??? others
thoughts???
i think much warmer..and im going to cook the corms.. plus..higher 70s/low 80sF
thats really gonna encourage fungal growth.and more chance of attacking the corms..
??? yes???
and ive not had any trouble with fungal problems on the corms so far..
Well I was hoping you would have a good turn out on the cables. The tropicals in my solar room do great but I have a small seperate garden room that I can't afford to set the heat up as high and it doesn't get the sun heat like the solar room does. I was hoping the cables would be a cheaper alternative to heat, since I heat with propane.... ;(
What brand of the mats have you purchased?
hi joyce..:)
like all us gardeners.. always on outlook for best,cheaper,more effective way to
do what we do..;)
the "thin" heat mats are FAST-GRO made by radiant heat sales..out of MA..
you can order them in various widths,and lengths..i think up to 8 ft..
im guessing for greenhouse tables..
hope you arent getting hit by some of those fierce T storms going thru midwest,east..
wow..i see arkansas got hit really hard today.. sigh..
the heat cables werent a total bust..just didnt raise the potting mix temp that much..
that said..i didnt have them connected to a thermostat.. i might get another couple thermostats
early winter..and plug heat cables in them..that might make a bit more affect on potting mix..
??? my EE's,bananas are all comming alive .. wont be long..and out they go..
Storms went south of me. They are horrible. Thru dg you make so many friends you always think about them. One year we had a tornado just to the east of us about 8 miles and one to the west about 5 miles. We were very lucky and confused because we didn't know until it was over there were 2 tornados.
Think I will do the heat mats. Wonder what would happen if I made a small plastic greenhouse over them. I sure learned NOT to put the pots on the concrete floor. I keep the gardenroom about 55 to 60. My plant racks are metal racks, but most of the plants sit in boot trays so water doesn't run everywhere.
joyce..good to hear u and family are safe! :)
i too have made some wonderful online friends here ..
maybe its cause we gardeners are just really good folks..heehhehe
ive seen commercial growers with "tropicals" do just what u suggested..
put up a mini greenhouse inside there greenhouse..heat that area ..
idea for placing of pots.. i use an insulated foam to put my pots on in the house..
well..actually..i have the heat mats on the foam.. i think it helps reflect some of the heat
back up..rather than distribute the heat from mat to that surface.. just an idea..???
stay safe...
Oh really like the idea of the foam board!