Inevitably when I bring my plants in each year, I forget one of the sensitive ones and it croaks of course!
This is the first year I am going to overwinter in my greenhouse. Another DGer in zone 6 told me she keeps the greenhouse (same model as mine) at 40 and her tropicals do fine. I guess that is no colder than some of the warm zones get? I lost a bunch in my garage last year where it was cold and dark so I am hoping the greenhouse will make a difference.
Off the top of my head, I'm thinking the most picky ones are: Hilo Beauty, A. plumbae nigra, A. amazonica, A. frydek, A. cuprea, thinking of ones I have. I am thinking A. mac is one of the more hardy ones? What about Sarian and Portadora? Will any of these be okay in a minimally heated greenhouse?
I am thinking the Colocasias that I have are the more hardy ones: Illustris, Black Ruffles, fontanesii, red stem and Nancyanna.
For the other Xanthosoma: definately bringing in Lime Zinger and variegata! I think Violaceum and Robusta should be alright in the GH?
Banana (unknown) hardy in 8a? Monstera? Tons of brugs....
Which of these in your experience is not coming back after a winter at 40 degrees? LOL
I moved last year and my garage at the other house had a poured foundation and walls. At this house, the garage is studs and metal sheeting. Definately not the same! Last year I lost everything and had to start over new this year. I have to totally retrain myself this winter. :(
The cannas will all be packed in peat and either shoved in the crawl space (block walls) or the garage. Preference?
I know this post makes me sound like a newbie but this year I am once burned and twice shy. LOL
Time to dig them up! Which ones need to stay warm?
I lost Robusta last year to cold/damp. How big is it?
Brugs I do in a minimal. (Like I need to tell you about Brugs! LOL)
Musa at 8a should be OK.
Ric
Morning Ric! How's retired life treating you? Working harder than working? LOL
I can't believe it's so cold!! 40's here right now. Bleck! I liked the 80s from earlier this week so much better!
My other greenhouse arrived yesterday. :)
Tell me about it.
LOTS harder!
We are slowly moving plants toward the light.
BTW our Brugs JUST started a heavy blooming period.
Need any help w/ the GH?
Ric
LOL Yes, staying home can be much rougher than punching a clock! The pay stinks, the benefits are worse and the boss is a real rump kicker. hahahaha
I got all my brugs moved back by the old greenhouse day before yesterday, by myself and had to sleep on a heating pad. My shoulder must be aging faster than the rest of me. :P http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/657997/ I did realize I have one more 3'x3' pot in the back yard and another 25 gallon one at the end of the house. Whoops!
I put up the other GH by myself so I should be alright until it comes time to set the roof on. That is a 3-4 person job! I am trying to decide if I should buy a couple of extensions (4' per ext) and make this a done deal or just get rid of the thing and buy some 10mm polycarb for the little barn. It would be cheaper, quicker and easier to just buy a couple of extensions. Just have to decide where to put this one.......
Alright! Is everyone selfishly digging and storing their own plants or is no one talking? LOL It looks like I have two days to dig up and put away everything since temps are supposed to hit 33 Wednesday night. Oh, lucky us!
Not tryin to be a smart *** but see why I started early????????? OH shame on you Marcy!!!
Tsk tsk tsk! Pickin' on the seed! LOL I actually have most of it dug. I still have to finish by the pond. There is that matter of repotting though..... There will also be some other smaller pots to drag in but no big deal. I did myself in with the brug pots and still have not recovered. Time to get a monster greenhouse with a real heater. LOL
Roof is tight for the upcoming cold rain.
Projects on hold.
TTommorroww the digging and hauling (will get a pot count) begins!
This evening we helped our neighbors dig up their Xanthes and Macro.
I got the pups............lol
Ric
Ric
It is supposed to go to 25 degrees tomorrow night. I have been cleaning up in the garden and dragging things in to overwinter for at least 4 to 6 weeks now. Today I spent 6 hours just pulling up tomato plants and piling them up to burn when they dry out. Sure do understand how you must feel . . . seems like every muscle in my body is screaming.
It must be hard to decide how cool plants can take it. here . . there is no choice but to bring it all into the house or the heated garage. The tropical hibiscus are my touchiest . . . A blast of frigid air from an open door can send them into dormacy for a good 9 months.
All I know about EE's as they grow better in my hot sunny window during the winter than they do outdoors in our Iowa summers. Plus our summer winds here on the lake really beat them to pieces. Maybe it is time to quit pushing the envelope on my zone here. LOL
Chele,
I think all ears go pretty much dormant under 45*,as long as you keep them pretty much on the dry side,and above freezing,they should be fine.
I think most other tropicals should be kept at 50*,then again donot overwater,root rot will kill most of your tropicals,if you don't let the soil dry at somewhat,and it helps,if you cut everything back at least a 1/3 off the top anyways!!!
My hibiscuses I almost cut back halfway.
Took the time to light the pilot lights tonite,tomorrow nite right at freezing!
Tropicman,
Why do you cut back the hibiscus?
From what I remember of my younger days in Iowa, the summers get pretty darn hot! Seems like the hot was very dry too. I bet it's hard to keep stuff like that watered! We are a bit more lucky here in that it stays fairly humid. My new place holds moisture reeeeeeeeeaaaallly well. LOL I had to water the brug pots fairly often but the stuff in the ground didn't need too much extra water aside from most of August.
I have what looks like small tomato plants growing where I dump stuff. I can't tell if seeds sprouted or if older plants found enough strenght to pop out some new shoots. I thought about potting them up but didn't get to it. I guess they'll be toast tonight. It's supposed to get to 33.
It's never time to stop pushing the zones!! I think we just need to borrow some young muscular lads to do all the heavy stuff. hahahaha
Tman, you will be happy to know my bananas were shredded this year! Much more wind at the new place with it being completely flat! You and the doc used to tease me a bunch about my perfectly whole banana leaves. Have no fear, they aren't now! LOL
The ears I have in the greenhouse have dried out pretty well but I still have a bunch outside. They are sitting on the ground by the barn. I haven't quite decided whether to clean and store them or pot them up. It's the most common ones plus my Royal Hilos. I'm half considering just putting them in peat rather than dirt and let them knock our for a few months. I still have the more fickle ones in pots. I never did put them in the ground.
Two of my banana plants are rubbing the roof in the center of the greenhouse. LOL They are not even in pots, just the chunk of dirt I dug up with them!
Thanks a bunch for popping in you two. :)
I think I looked at the weather wrong! I have one more day.................LOL
I don't have one more day. Tonight it freezes. But I have beautiful tropical hibiscus blooming in the house. Was going to take a pic but batteries in camera are run down.
I got almost everything crammed into my greenhouse today. I'll have to pull some stuff back out over the next few days while it's warmer and cut it back and store it all properly. I left a bunch of cannas out for the temps to zap them back. Unfortunately I have a bunch of other stuff sitting all over. Piff! Want about 50 more hibiscus? LOL
TLC,
I cut my hibiscuses back because,it's a lot easier to take care of them,gives me more space in the greenhouse,lets more light reach other plants,less to water,less bugs to manage.
I even root prune,and put in smaller pot,for they will go back in the ground again spring,and then some I'll pot back up in bigger pots with fresh potting soil.
As you can see I added on to the greenhouse,another 10x15 10ft tall,for my bananas and other large plants.
Well I like the idea of cutting them back. I am going to do the same thing here; maybe it will be easier to live with them over the winter. Does that encourage them to bush out more?
It's a balmy 35 here today. Ick! Who ordered this weather?? LOL I think this is where I say "How nice!". booo hiss~!
My greenhouse is stuffed! It looks like one of those vaccuum bags you see on tv. Flowers and leaves are smashed against the windows. I have plants crammed everywhere inside too. geesh.
Inside too? Now I am thinking I am glad I don't have a greenhouse. I downsized this year only 48 plants that will get over wintered; Last year it was 65 if memory serves me right.
I have baskets of tomatoes all over, hoping they will finish ripening and I pulled two 10 gallon buckets into the garage that have cherry tomatoes in them growing.
Guess I better go have another BLT for breakfast . . .
48?? How do you choose? I have that many elephant ears in four inch pots. And I have gallon ones. Then there are 17 brugs in 15 and 25 gallon pots and another 5 or so in gallon pots. Then there are the things not in pots...........what have I done?!?!?! LOL
I have around 10 brugs in 20 gallon pots that I gave up. Letting them freeze and will chop them up next Spring. Decided that I truly don't care for them. They were the first plants in the winter to get infested. Gave me nothing but grief. And now I will also cut back each of the tropical hibiscus as long as there are no impending blooms. Going to limit myself in the future to EE's, Tropical Hibiscus, Banana, some herbs, and a few other oddball tropicals.
Sometimes we wanna cry! LOL
One thing I have learned dealing with clay, is to dig the hole twice as big as I need it and backfill with peat, compost, manure, topsoil or any and all of those. Eventually the holes all run together and it also makes digging up a LOT easier!
I do wish I lived somewhere warmer but alas Ohio is where I was planted and we are stuck here until hubby is offered a job somewhere warmer. I don't like the thought of giving up some of my perennials that have to have cold either. What's a girl to do? LOL
I brought topsoil in and made ten raised beds. I covered all ten beds with landscaper cloth and then mulched. I surrounded the beds with limestone rocks for edging.
Either the landscape cloth caused the ground to compact or there was some kinda chemical thing going on with the limestone but all my topsoil turned into blue clay. Over the last 10 years I have been pulling the landscape cloth up and those areas are improving.
If you can do it wrong that's genererally what I do. I'm not a quitter so when stuff like that happens I go to Plan B, Plan C, & sometimes Plan D.
Jeri
I am willing to bet you are right about the landscape cloth. When I've been doing new beds, I put down a ton of newspaper or a couple of layers of cardboard and build on top of that. The worms can tunnel through the clay, cardboard and good dirt and stir it all together for you. Over time, even the clay becomes decent soil and you'll eventually be able to dig down deeper.
It sounds like you have one heck of a job. We all have to learn and unfortunately you have to wreck a few things to get that experience. LOL
Last year I moved from hard red clay to crumbly gray clay. I'm having to learn everything over again. Clay is not clay. Hmph!
It's fun too.
Chele and I lived about 5 minutes away from each other.
Our soil was soft sticky blue/gray and as she said her's redish hard pan.
We use the twice as big hole method also.
Over the years as we plant and replant our beds are now 12" or so of deep rich soil.
All the plants are in or under cover now.
Youcan now finally see our Musa basjoo.
Usually it's hidden in the jungle.
The solid part of the fence is 6' tall.
Ric
TLC,yes it does make them bush out more,but it is usally leggy growth by january,and has to be pruned again.
If you want a good insect killer,get the Bayer Tree and Shrub,systemic,$!8 bucks a bottle here,and you just pour it
in your jug at watering time,I tell you this stuff so far has work miracles for me. I hate spraying anyway!!!
I tell you the squirrels planted nuts in every container I have,some has two nuts!!!!
So.............is somebody going to be selling nut trees in the future?? LOL
LOL Badseed. Sounds like Tman will be giving them away.
Tman,
I have Bayer, but have never used it in the house on the overwintered stuff. Is it safe to use indoors . . . (my living room? which I never live in because it is full of plants)
Well it says for outside use only,but then it says once product has dried safe you pets and children.
Also says avoid use in ponds lakes and streams.
Badsed,I'm sending you all my nut trees!!!LOL
Tropic,
Over the pond here in the Uk we have a simliar product made by bayer. I use it where i can as it is fantastic for mites etc.
But i killed my first load of brugs with it. They all seemed to collapase within days of using it. i know some plants hate systemic stuff. Have you had any problems like this?
Mike
I used it on my brugs and nothing happened. Maybe it has to do with concentration?
So you saying i have to think harder? Lol
I used it as directed. Do you know the active ingredients in the american type?
Just read this to my misses.
She thinks i'm daft. Lol
Mike
LOL not mental concentration ~ how concentrated your chemicals are. I usually use things half the recommended strength.
Ah nuts. LOL I still think you might have a future..............bwa ha ha ha
Knowing me i might have tipped twice the amount it. You know like 1 measure to work and 1 for good luck! Lol
I'll try again this winter..... Fingers crossed!
mike
Mike we in america call that 2 fingers deep!!!!LOLNo more drinks for me!!LOL
No no troubles with any of the plants I've tried it on,and thats everything I have so far.
I'm mixing one ounce to the gallon,or that about as pretty close,one eye open and the other shut!!!
Then I shake it up,give myself a whirl,and thats what is all about!!!!
Think I've had to much coffee today!!!LOL
Bad seed what I've give to be your neighbor!!!LOL
I bet we'd have more fun than a barrel of monkeys!
Quick with the tongue and all!!!LOL
ROTFL!
Someone actually wants 'seed as a neighbor!?!?
I can get you testimonials from her former neighbors......
Ric
RIC!! LOL You can't compare apples to oranges. Find me some other garden junky that plants stuff they just have to dig up in a few months and I'll have a fast friend for sure. :) Imagine the garden me and another tropical junkie could have! Tman, I do have 7 acres now. How serious are you??????
Wwweeeellllllll that would be me too! LOL!
The ONLY problem w/ having 'seed as a neighbor is your yard fills up fast.
As did hers!
Well that and NO such thing as a 15 minute drop by.................................. ;-)
Ric