I know silly question but since I didn't have these plants last fall I'm not sure when to move things inside for shelter
I know it is still Sept. but we are getting down into the low 60's and they have even said a chance of upper 40's around here
Help?
when should I move the citrus trees, plumies, tropical hib. and glory bower inside the portable green house of back room of the house and when should banana trees be dug up and moved inside?
also when is the best time to move the water plants in the pond in or do I let them stay in the pond all year???
I know I have read that once it gets into the 50's not to feed the Koi anymore til lit gets above 50 in the spring too
When to moved tropcial type plants inside????
It depends on how sensitive they are to cold, but I like to leave my tropicals and sub-tropicals out as long as possible. Citrus can safely stay outside until your local news station warns of your first light frost. If the plants are younger or small, they need to be taken in sooner since they are not as hardy. For the last three years, my one NOID plumeria, in a 24" pot, has safely survived being outside until nighttime temperatures get down to the upper 30s. This year, I have a bunch of named plumerias in 1 and 2 gallon containers. They are going into the greenhouse when the temperatures get down into the low 40s just to be on the safe side. My tropical hibiscus have survived the upper 30s outside. The only water plants I have are hardy water lilies and they survive outdoors all winter, but our lowest temps have only been down to 23º and only for a few hours.
Maggi told me right before first frost on most tropicals too Phyllis....
Phyllis, I leave all of my water plants in the the pond for the winter. Unless you have something like a tropical water lily, most things are hardy.
On the tropicals , I start early making room indoors for the tropicals and sort in my mind what will need to go where. I gradually begin to move them, easing them out of their summer environment. A few will protest by wilting at 40 and they need to come in early. The rest will stay out till a pending frost.
And you don't have to worry about when to slow the feeding on the Koi... they will naturally reduce their intake.
You move them inside after running around in the dark when you hear on the late night news that it's going to freeze that night!! LOL
that's my method Stephanie--also you haven't lived yet until you apply floating row cover in a 40mph cold north wind with driving rain--also that's usually when the pipes get wrapped too
Phyllis.... As for the pond plants, if I remember you pond is at least 18" deep or more. Keep the pump circulating all winter, as long as the water is moving they will be fine. Disconnect any fountains or splitters, just keep the water moving. If you have some plants on the waterfall, you might put them in a dirt pot inside or in the deeper water for the colder months. Things will die back, so when they start to you can clip the foliage yourself to avoid the decaying matter in the pond causing a stink. (easy to say, but I rarely remember to do it).
LouC told me to pull up the Plumeria and lay the stick on a shelf for the winter. I plan on doing that when i see it is getting around 40 at night.
Stephanie, running around the night before is also my method. If I've been listening to the news, I'll have a day or two to stuff things into the greenhouse.
ROFLMAO Steph. will probably do some of that too.
Sheila all my plumies are in pots I didn't' plant any in the ground...but I thought about it LOL
I thought the water stuff could stay in the pond as long as it was covered deep enough and keep the pump going for at least the one you gave me but wasn't sure if I should shut off the water fall or not
I'll have to dig the 2 tropical hibiscus up though and see if they make it in pots LOL
And if there's a threat of snow or ice, you run out when it's just starting to cover your delicate plants. Nothing like trying to wrap a sheet around a plant when the wind is blowing like crazy and the ice is pelting you in the face!! LOL
Stephanie
ya know I'm just gonna sit here and snicker at the winter weather comments ...all I have to add on it is the following
scroll down to where it says A look back at a truly snowy cold season..then check it out from there down LOL
http://blogs.trb.com/news/weather/weblog/wgnweather/2008/03/full/
Rockford Illinois snowfall records where we came from
Record winter snowfall: 1978-1979, 63.4 inches
Second-snowiest: 1993-1994 - 49.9 inches
Third-snowiest: 1909-1910 - 48.9 inches
Fourth-snowiest: 1973-1974 - 47.3 inches
Fifth-snowiest :2007-2008 - 46.8 inches
But Phyllis, it isn't the cold thru the winter, it is the procrastination and worry that gets me. Rush to get everything in before freeze. We don't have much of a warning sometime. I remember one year we put in a flower bed in 80 degrees sweating one day....the next day it was covered in 4" of snow! When I lived in Amarillo once someone told me "there is nothing between the north pole and the panhandle except a barbed wire fence. The wind up there was fierce coming out of the north.
Hey Phyll. All of my plumerias are in pots but I read on the plum forum to just dig them up, wash the dirt off the roots and put them where it doesn't get below 40 degrees. Take off all the leaves except the two on the top and they will eventually fall off too. last year I put the pond plants under water and wrapped the whole thing with frost cloth. They even grew because of the sun keeping it warm.
well we moved the greenhouse over by the shed and Dh ran electric to it so I can put a light in it so I am wondering if that might be enough when it does start getting cooler for warmth at night for everything I put in it...otherwise the plumies come in the back room of the house.
I have a greenhouse that's too small to heat with a vented propane heater so I use a small electric heater. My son, who built the greenhouse, installed a heavy duty outlet and cable so I don't have a problem when I plug in an electric heater for the winter. I have an outdoor ceiling fan that runs year round to keep the air circulating. During winter, it helps circulate the warmer air that rises to the top of the greenhouse where it does the least good. The largest heater that regular outlets can handle safely is a 1500 watt heater. On a very cold night, the temperature gets no higher that the high 30s, but that's sufficient to keep the plants from freezing. Last year, I was able to raise the nighttime temperature in the greenhouse by about 5ºF by placing 4 large black plastic garbage cans filled with water placed against the southern wall of the greenhouse. The sun coming into the greenhouse through the transparent walls heated the water during the day. At night the heat released by the water helped keep the air temperature a little warmer than having the heater by itself. Lining the inside of the greenhouse with bubblewrap is supposed to help as well. I plan to add that feature this winter.
Does anyone know if you really need to dig up the banana plants and move indoors? My mother-in-law has some by her pool and she just lets them die to the ground every year. The old folliage falls over the ground and keeps it a little warmer I think. Every summer they are back and as strong and plentiful as ever. Hers are really strong and healthy and she is around San Angelo, Texas so the zone is probably similiar. I think she used to cut them off before winter and they didn't do as well as letting them die naturally.
Thanks for the early thread though! I have been wondering the same thing about my tropical hibiscus!!
Westtxgardener, I think whether they survive and come back in spring depends on how cold hardy that banana variety is. Temperatures can vary greatly even within the same zone and would be greater from zone to zone. Your MIL could have hers planted in a protected micro-clime. If you are willing to risk it, the only way to be sure is to try leaving it outdoors.
Tropical hibiscus won't make it. I've tried it in my zone 8b-9a location. None came back.
Also, if she lets the dead foliage lay on the Banana plants, that helps provide insulation, acting as a mulch.
There was a thread on the tropical forum about leaving tropical plants in ground in a colder zone. It has interesting info. I will see if I can find it. But I agree, the tropical Hibiscus will not make it. I keep mine in a large pot and one year it got nipped back by frost. It was slow to recover and delivered few blooms that summer.
I have two very large tropical hibiscus that RJ shared with me this last spring. One is in a big pot and the other in the ground. They are huge. Can I prune them and put the pot in the greenhouse? Last year I tried to wrap two tropical hydrangeas and they both died.
Christi
Hi Christi ~ what temp does the GH hold? I find my Hibiscus does best at no less than 50 degrees.
I'm planning on diggin up the 2 tropical ones I have and pottin them up.
but I'm wondering if leaving them in the greenhouse with no heat is the smart thing to do may bring them in the back room.
Christi, my hibiscus go into my greenhouse. If they are too large to put the entire plant in the greenhouse, you can prune them. My hydrangeas are in the ground. I cover them only when there is a threat of a hard frost. Also the larger they get the hardier they are. Of course, I'm in zone 8b. For the last 6 years, the lowest temperature here has been 23ºF. That qualifies as zone 9a. Instead of wrapping, try just covering them. This exposes the plant to the ground around it keeping it warmer. If you have old milk jugs, fill them with warm water and place the jugs around the base of the plant. The water warms up during the day and when covered together with the plant, the warmth is released keeping the plant warmer.
The tag in my small hibiscus says damage can occur below 55 degrees. What a wussy plant! But it's beautiful. I just brought it in from the back porch as our forecast says 54 degrees tonight. I still have the greenhouse opened up, windows and door wide open, because the days are very warm.
Mibus2, you can raise the temperature in the greenhouse by a few degrees by placing large black garbage cans filled with water against the inside south wall of the greenhouse where the sunlight coming in through the transparent wall heats the water. At night heat is release into the air inside the greenhouse raising the temperature by about 5ºF. The greenhouse doesn't protect the plants inside it unless the temperature there is higher than the outside temperature.
Patrob, I keep my hibiscus in the larger of the two greenhouses. The thermostat is set at 45ºF because I can't talk DH into letting me raise the temperature to 50º. They don't seem to have a problem with 45ºF.
Thank all of you for your help. This weekend will probably be a big time move.
Christi
I'll have to get some bags then and make room for them in there I already have rocks all around the outside.
everything last winter seemed to do okay in there as it got sun most of the day and I kept it closed up .....we moved it a couple weeks ago to over closer to the house behind the shed so it will get sun all day and like I said he put an electric box in it and already found the big light I used on the iguana cage back in IL so it will have the light for heat at night too.
and I kept a couple of 5 gallon buckets in there wtih water too
but will do the black bags too
DH just told me they are saying the nights will be back in the 60's next week, but I already moved the citrus trees in to the greenhouse as two of them have fruit on them and am slowly moving my plumies into the house moving them towards the house so they don't get as much sun all day to prepare them for inside
My "greenhouse" is only 6x8. Big garbage cans would take up almost all of the room.
Could I put them around the outside walls?
(I know the answer to that already.....no way)
Have 12 concrete blocks inside. Would more help the heat?
what about using 5 gallon buckets painted black
Sounds good. I'm missing Dancing With
The Stars.
nightey, night
Mibus2, the cans have to be at least 35 gallons or larger, large enough to release heat all night.
LouC, I don't it would help much or any. Heat is released all the way around, not just in one direction.
Okay, for all of you moving hibiscus, IF you have a sunny window, I just have to encourage you to move them inside. Not because you can't get them to survive elsewhere. You can, and you can also take small cuttings that will survive in the house until spring.
But, if you can overwinter the bigger plant, it will do wonders for your morale during the winter. So worth whatever space they take up! I have one that I've moved inside for 4 winters now. I started doing that because, as annuals go, hibiscus are relatively expensive. And then you have to wait for them to grow. And then, just when they get really big, it's winter and they die. That just seemed like a waste of my plant dollars. So I decided to try overwintering mine inside. And I have been so glad so many times. It keeps right on blooming, from November until March (when I move it back outside), right there in my kitchen. I can't tell you how cheery it is to have hibiscus blooming for Christmas. And then, along about January and February, when I look outside and see nothing but bare beds, I really struggle with winter doldrums. Those big red flowers are such a wonderful reminder of the spring that is coming.