Elephant ears - should I dig up and repot or dig up bulbs and clean them off for storage over winter?
Hibiscus - I have 1 large pot and 1 smaller. Is it best to bring them to the basement, given small amt of light or try to keep it in the livingroom with more light? Should I trim them back?
Mums in containers. Should I take my container mums out and put them in the ground after their flowers fade or will it be to stressful?
thanks for any help.
What should I do for over wintering these plants?
Can't tell you about the others, but I have a tropical hibiscus that's over twenty years old. I cut them wayyyyy back, probably not more than a foot left above the soil. I keep mine where they will get plenty of light. When you first bring them in, they will probably loose all their leaves, but not to worry, just keep watering and they will come back. I've even had mine bloom inside where they got enough sun.
Don't know about mums in your area, but I do cut mine back when they finish blooming and plant in the ground. I've never noticed it stressing them.
I'm waiting on someone to answer about the ears. I have some huge ones that can't possibly come in. I've kept small ones potted in the house in low light, with no trouble at all. Hope someone comes by to talk about them on this thread.
Ears wouldn't hurt me either,but I do put my pot mums out here and they come back. (8b) Also, I have a Hibiscus standard that I have had for 27 years and it comes into the conservatory and blooms while the light is still good and again in spring before it goes out. Other house, southern exposure, it was OK in winter too, but fewer blooms. When it gets stubborn, I cut it back hard, dry it out and it soon snaps back into beauty.
Hi if your Elephant ears are in the ground you should cut them down to ground level and mulch them real good and they should come back in the spring.If you get real hard freezes its safer to dig the bulbs up and store them over winter, this is what I did when I lived in New Jersey,Please don't tell my niebhors that I'm a yankee!
Bruce
Thanks Bruce. We have to dig them in 6 or less. What we all really need to know is the best way to store them. Some of us have both the tuber types and running types-Alocasia, Colocasia and Xanthosoma. Some are growing in water, some in the ground and some in pots.
Last year I lost a lot of the ears that I just dug and stored because they got colder than I intended. The ones in pots all survived, except someone told me not to let African Mask go dormant, so I'll bring it in early this fall.
Your garden variaty E.E.dig it up clean all the dirt off the tubers wrap them in burlap store in a cool dry place and they will be fine.Alacasias should be brought in if you can. I know from last year that African Mask does not go dormant I didn't find that out till to late.I don't know about ones growing water as I've never done that.