It is never too early to think about how I am going to keep my brugs happy this winter. I would like to do the minimum that I would need to, of course....
I hear kell talk about a hoop house....what is that and where do you get them?
What else do you all do? Our temps are occasionally in the 20's, but not often. Would they survive with covering and no heat, or just trimming and leaving outdoors? What do you think?
Need hints for over-wintering my brugs in zone 9...
Oh no................she used that dirty word!! We are just getting past winter and into a good spring. You guys in Calif. have the best weather. How cold does it get there? If you don't go below freezing, it sure wouldn't take much to keep tropicals looking good.
lol I was thinking the same thing S! Gosh! Zone 9 and winter.. is there such a thing?? THE NERVE!!!! lol
OK..S & S...we do have some cold weather here. Over-night it can get below freezing occasionally...even down to 22 or so! What are you saying? I should let me poor little brugs just stay out and freeze? Just because it isn't freezing cold for long periods of time, like it is by you, doesn't mean we don't have a winter! Come on now, I am serious! This is NOT a laughing matter.....
kell, where are you ?! You tell them !!! I need some back-up here!!
Yep, with 22 you need some kind of protection....I'm just saying that it won't take much. A hoop house with a little temp heat for those cold nights should take care of things for you. Gosh NO.........don't let those brug babies freeze. The older the plant, the more blooms you get so take good care of them. I'm just glad you don't get way below zero like we do. Then it is a problem.
Margie???? I was kidding. Of course dont let your babies freeze. Im sure someone in YOUR zone will come along and help with your questionS.
This message was edited May 31, 2004 3:32 PM
S & S...thank you for recognizing that I do need some sort of winter protection! I know what you mean though...compared to your winters!
I grew up on LI and moved to Ohio after I was married and then came to CA. so really I do know what winters can be like! We are very fortunate here ! (smile)
OK...now help me! Shirley said a hoop house, with a heater for the cold nights. Do the ceramic heaters I hear people talking about require electricity?
Are you planting in the ground or leaving in pots Margie? I have my two that I have had for years in the ground. One on the back coner of the house, (the one I showed you) against the fence protected by a lemon tree only loses the some of the outside and top branches. The other double white is more in the open and it freezes completely down every year but comes back all the time, fresher and better than the year before. Driving around the neighborhood, I see many that are planted against the house, like the huge one I sent you an image of. Of course you have a slightly different micro climate than me over here and you get hotter and colder. But I think if you plan to just leave them in pots, you can slide them up against the house in a sheltered area and they should do fine. Maybe a add a large sheet of plastic screening or something.
Sue...my plan right now is to leave most of them in pots. I may try one or two in the ground to see how they would do. I guess this year will be kind of experimenting with them.
I did see this little portable greenhouse on a post that looks like it could work really well for me. Something else to dream about!
Margie, did you live in Baldwin???? I'm going there this summer to a wedding, as well as the city. Moving right along to brugs: I live in zone 8a, along with other list members, my zone, of course, is subject to much more cold/freeze than your area, a 'hot' (ha) zone 9a. I've just never lost plants such as brugs, but, of course it's always possible. The problem is, how LONG do your temps stat @ 22 degrees or 32 degrees, or what ever. In my area, in the past 5, 6, 7 years, not long enough to kill anything, I use my Upees as a gage, they are tropical. But, like my brugs, I love my Upees, so I always bring at least a couple inside for a backup and I plan to to the same with special brugs. Maybe I'm off base, but in zone 9a, I don't see you having a killing freeze, which doesn't mean just a drop in temp, but a LONG drop and, in that case, you have the time to, at least, bring some stuff inside. Now this doesn't mean that you and your entire family won't find yourselves out in freezing weather, trying to save plants, but that just the nature of gardners...
Sherry...I grew up mostly in Bellerose and Babylon on LI ! I don't really know Baldwin althought I have of course heard of it.
You are right about our freezes, they do not last very long. Usually just a few hours over-night. Some winters we get damage to the orange and lemon trees due to the frost, but some not. I guess if it does get very cold, I could cover them or bring them in.
I agree with Brugie, Margie, shoot it is June 1st........... we haven't had enought time to gripe about the heat yet to start worrying about the winter.
Your brugs will do great............ Get them in the ground now to grow a strong and deep root system! The trees get much bigger and so do the size of the blooms in the ground.
A hoop house will run you $100 or so.
hey margie, where i live (north san jose) it usually doesn't go below 30F. and then it depends on which part of the yard... there are the warm areas and the cold areas. where you are you may also have to watch for those weird hail moments! haha. over winter, i try to put them in the warm areas and ideally where they get the sun in the morning. it's usually coldest around 5-7am so i figure the sun warms them up earlier.
what i would suggest for you this year is when it starts getting down in the 40's, take some cuttings of each one and root them over winter as backup and leave the mother plants outisde. or if you're afraid you won't be able to root them over winter, you can do it earlier and pot them up in small pots and bring inside. small pots are easier to manage than the big ones. i've got my brugs in pots currently so it's easy to move them around outside but that will probably change soon. i tried some in the ground but they don't seem to be doing a whole lot (probably because i don't fertilize them).
i find january is a turning point when plants tend to die off. and i think versicolors are more sensitive to cold than the other brugs?? i think those were the ones i had that died back a little at the tip and lost the most of leaves.
anyways, after winter is over, then you'll have a better idea of how the ones outside did. for me, of course, the bigger the plant, the more area there is for it to stay alive when the tips die back. so if you get some starter plant in the fall or over winter, better to keep it inside by a sunny window. if you find that some of the brugs don't recover from the cold and it is too big to overwinter, you can cut it at the base (or take a big cutting) and root it. then in spring you will have a big plant to start with rather than a little one. hope this info helps!
mmqc...thank you! That helps me a lot...right now my plants are so small that I can't imagine them being large enough to get cuttings from by fall...but I guess they will be!
It is so nice to have others (Sue and kell and you) in similar areas to learn from!