Sorry its been so long since I have come out to play, with school starting back n soccer n 4-H n blah blah blah, Ive been kinnna overwhelmed,----now I have a couple of questions? I have about twenty seedling and cuttings that are about 4 to 5 ft tall, plus alot of smaller ones. *thanks yall :) if it werent for yall I wouldnt have a single one* anyway, when i get ready to bring them in, will they need artificial light while they go dormat, or can they get by in dark or maybe poor light from a window? next, how low can the temps drop while they are dormat? I plan on heating the garage, but will have a hard time convincing hubby to keep it more then 45 degrees. I plan on taking cuttings, but I hate to lose them since they are alley trees for the most part *well ok some are a little crooked but?*---somebody pweeeeeeeze help? cheryl
stickin my toe in?
Do you have a basement? I have mine there in winter. Going dormant means "not growing", I only have the very small basement window, but really don't need it. They lose all their leaves, except maybe a couple tiny ones on top. Plants do not grow. The tiniest seedliings, I would keep growing upstairs in some room with window light. You might possibly lose them if you try and make them go dormant as they are too small for that. Good luck, hope this helps.
I thought is was rather quite here!!Hope you have been at least lurking!Good to see ya back!
Cheryl, I keep my greenhouse 45*F in the winter. That's night time temp, the sun would warm it a little during the day. My brugs do fine with those temps.
For cuttings and some tropicals that need it warmer, I keep a heat mat set on 72*F.
I kept some of my larger brugs in my DS bedroom(he's in the Army)Its a nothern exposure,and there is no direct heat in there,the heat ducts are turned off.The brugs in there looked soooo much better than the ones I kept downstairs in front of my sliding glass doors with a southern exposure,it really surprized me.........
thanks everyone----now the fun part begins,----diggin all these guys up, I planted all of these in my beds, and Im apprehesive as to how far their roots are spread out. I had thought about planting them in large heavy plastic bags over the winter because Im not sure that five gallon containers will hold all their roots and I dont have anything bigger, but then Im afraid that field mice might burrow in them *I live in the country* this is all new here, last winter I was babysitting yalls cuttings. still have lots of buds on plants that I have never seen bloom, so Im trying to wait a little longer. any thoughts on plastic bags? cheryl
Susie, do your versicolors do okay with 45 degrees?
Mine do okay with those temps except when they are newly rooted cuttings and then they seem to need more heat. Even the cold nights we have been having haven't bothered the larger plants. EP was outside when all the other brugs froze, but was on the east side of the garage and is in bloom right now. No signs of damage.
I'm leaving some versicolors in the ground for the first time this year, I have an EP in the ground and 2 Milk N Honey in the ground, we'll see what happens. I have an EP in a pot too, so that will be brought in just in case, and gonna take cuttings of the Milk N Honey.
I left all of mine in the ground last winter after taking cuttings. The few freezing nights that we have here was enough to zap them complely . . even the 8 foot ones. In early spring, I cut them all to ground level and this year they are all 8-10 foot tall. Even the veris did not die. Maybe mary since you are in LA, yours will come back also even though your weather is a little colder than ours.