Cleveland Ohio winters

[Utah]

I have a few trees i have grown from seeds (red maples 3yr and a 5 yr chestnut), all have been kept out side and doing great im ready to strart working on them this spring. My question is what do you do with your trees the winter once they are in a smaller bonsia pot?

Thanks

1st post hope to have many more.

 

[coppice]

When I and my trees lived in the Monadnock region in NH, I kept the hearty trees in a cold house. Mostly to keep snow pack off trees.

I have in earlier nurseries (Laconia NH) even used under a bench and leave mulch as protection.

I am not graceful. My hands let go of things at unpredictable times. Most of my trees live in mica pots for their bouncability. So I'm not swapping trees seasonaly.

I'd keep trees in dafodil--paper white pans, and then mica pots until exhibiting them gets closer.

I'm seeing a lot of larger trees being held in wood and hardware cloth boxs, tho' I expect a milk crate with some landscape fabric might be more practicle.

I have not shopped too hard for the very biggest of mica pots, I expect they're out there.

Albany OH

 

[lordy]

You might be surprised to learn that many times a tree is not put into a bonsai pot until it is nearly ready for display, as opposed to needing to grow substantially and develop some girth. Grow beds or grow boxes of wood do the job until then. That being said, trees in pots in my winter beds go in a wind-protected area next to the foundation of my house, in the shade. The pots go directly on or in the ground, and insulated with mulch up to about an inch over the soil level. This hopefully only happens after a good freeze so that the roots dont go through the freeze-thaw cycle repeatedly. I also protect them from heavy snow with a lattice roof supported by lumber spanning the bed. Snow is a good insulator as long as it isnt too much or too heavy. Then it's a crushing load.
Hope this helps.

 

[GrimLore]

My first thought is what type of pot and how many. I could only assume by your post you mean something other then a plastic training pot. That being said I am originally from the Buffalo NY area and could give you some help as your area can be a bit nasty as well.

 

[Utah]

thanks

I will post some pictures of the trees (once i get them out of the 12" snow) maybe that would help with my next step.

 

[GrimLore]

I will post some pictures of the trees (once i get them out of the 12" snow) maybe that would help with my next step.

Look forward to it and WELCOME to B-NUT!

 

[JudyB]

Welcome fellow Ohioan.
I overwinter very cold tolerant trees outside, protected by digging them into a mulch bed I constructed. My other trees I keep in a cold greenhouse enclosure that we built. The idea with trees in pots, if they are hardy, is to keep them from wind and sun, and to keep the rootball at a consistent temp. The ground will fluctuate much less than the air, that is why we dig them into the ground a bit. Then mulch around and on top, being careful not to place the mulch too close to the trunk. It is a good idea to make sure that there is a small space under the pot to allow the water to drain. Placing the pot on a plastic greenhouse bench top material dug into the soil, and then mulching around that is how I accomplished that. You would do well to do some sort of top cover protection with all the lake effect you get up there. Mine are partway under a porch eave, so I don't really need a top.
Be aware that if you have glazed pots, you'll want to have the same size and shape plastic or mica pots, to transfer the tree to (without messing up the roots) in the late fall for winter storage. Glazed pots have a hard time with winter freeze thaw cycles.

 

[dick benbow]

from a former ohioian, ( Cleveland,elyria, sandusky bellefontain )but now in seattle

I remove my trees from their perch on my benches and dig them into the ground and cover with
a mulch from pine bark. the surface can be frozen and down 4 inches the roots are very protected. It's the roots that need protection from the cold and not the trunk and branching. I like to arrainge them closer to building structure to moderate temps but still far enough away from the overhang so that mother nature does the watering.

Judy had some good advice on pots and because of how they're heated up to different temperatures makes them less or more susceptable to lower winter time temps.

 

[Utah]

Thanks

Great ideas and tips I will look into the mica or plastic pots.