I have a room in the barn that has great sunlight but it will be 50 degrees at night. I had very few blooms on my cuttings from last year, so I'd like to winter over the pots in this space and give them a head start for next year. Do you think this is too cold?
The temp sounds just about right to me also for night time.
you must be heating the barn..to have 50* night ..through out the winter in MA.. but the storage in that temperature range is ideal.. Gordon
Yes we use the big barn year round. The oil bill is the big negative so we keep it low till we are using the rooms. The little red barn in the pic is not heated.
Oh, my I LOVE that pic & barn... with the mist rolling around it... very serene! Sounds like an ideal place for wintering plants. I bet they will be FULL of blooms next year... they might bloom in the barn for you, too! Careful not to water too much. Nice healthy looking "youngsters" in the cart.
What would too much be?
If they go dormant .... very little water. One person that overwintered theirs that way said it was only a cup or two per month. Keep a close eye on them and only water when very dry.
Since I live near San Diego, Mine don't go completely dormant - but they take a lot less water in the winter. I almost lost a couple because it was so tempting to water them like I do in the Spring and Summer.
How can I tell if my brugs are going dormant?
Will they just start dropping leaves, or the leaves get yellow, or what?
Thanks for any help,
Louise
I don't know what zone you're in Louise you may be able to keep them growing or leave them outside if they are planted in the ground, but here in 5b I kind of "make" them go dormant before frost. Sometime in mid to late August, I start gradually cutting back on fertilizer. Now at the end of Sept the are weined to NO fertilizer ( and most are blooming their pretty little skirts off) I'm taking some cuttings from them and will have to trim some to fit into the basement. I'll wait till I HAVE to do that... when I know it's going to freeze and stay cold. I also try to have them pretty dry when I move them in, if possible. You kind of decide, Louise when you want to "put them to sleep". My watering schedule for dormant brugs are the holidays,... I'll move them in within the next 2 weeks, water at Thanksgiving, a little at Christmas, Valentines day and St. Patricks Day, once more in April before I move them out. Of course I check on them often and if they are still damp, I don't water.. the holidays just help to to remember when I watered last.
Aunt B,
Sounds like a workable plan to me. Thanks for the info. I am on the border of zone 7b/8a. I checked the plant files today for hardiness of brugs. Many of those I have were said to be safe to 10 degrees. I never remember it getting that cold here and I'm 75 yrs. old. I won't leave them out this winter, but may take cuttings this time next year and leave the mother plants outside.
Louise
If you planted them in the ground next year, they would die back to the ground and come back from the roots. Not sure if pots could be left out (in your zone) in the elements without protection.... could check with other DG-Texans and see what they do.
