Gary McCarthy
Chumono
For those of you in the Northeast, at what temps do you move your tropicals indoors for the fall and winter months?
moving tropicals indoors for the fall/winter
- Thread starter Gary McCarthy
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coh
Imperial Masterpiece
Some tropicals are more cold sensitive than others, but...I usually start moving them indoors (garage) for the night when the temp is forecast to drop to about 40, then will move them back out when it warms up. When I get tired of moving them in and out I'll bring them in permanently. Around here, I think that usually happens in mid October but it varies from year to year. I also move them to shadier locations progressively before bringing them in, since the light levels are so much lower where I winter them. I think this helps avoid massive leaf drop due to the sudden change in light.
What tropicals do you have?
What tropicals do you have?
I've just been asking myself the same question. I only have 3 varieties of Ficus for tropicals. I think I left them out permanently last spring once we had nights consistently at 55 F or more. I know it varies among varieties, but most of the information I've found shows many ficus to be tolerant down to 50 F.
@coh - that's a great suggestion about starting to transition to shade to ease them into adjusting to lower light inside. I know to gradually adjust to full sun when coming from lower light, but would not have thought to transition the opposite for winter, thanks.
@coh - that's a great suggestion about starting to transition to shade to ease them into adjusting to lower light inside. I know to gradually adjust to full sun when coming from lower light, but would not have thought to transition the opposite for winter, thanks.
Steve C
Omono
I'm about the same as coh. I leave my trops out usually until the temps start dropping below 40 at night and then don't get much out of the 50's during the day. Which here in SE Michigan is usually about mid October. There are a lot of people that will bring them in a lot sooner than I do, but personally I feel that letting them stay out a bit longer helps to "toughen them up" a bit IMO and makes them a bit more resilient. No actual proof of that but just how I see it.
Johnathan
Omono
Last year I did consistent night temps below 65. I did that with everything even deciduous. This year I may do 55 after reading all of your post for my ficus and 45 for deciduous. Normally I put the deciduous into the garage and ficus in the house, but are you all leaving ficus in an unheated garage also?
Steve C
Omono
You don't want to leave the ficus in an unheated garage. All my ficus and trops come in the house where it is warm and stay under lights all winter.
Johnathan
Omono
That's what I do too, I just wasn't sure if anyone else was doing something different lol
coh
Imperial Masterpiece
I would say it depends on how cold your garage gets and how much light is available.
Last winter I kept a couple of my large ficuses (microcarpa type) in an unheated/attached/drafty mudroom where there is some light from a window, and where temps were often around 40-45 deg. They seemed fine. I don't really have a great set up for growing them indoors during the winter - no big sunny window (and there is little to no sun here anyway from November to March), and haven't had great luck with artificial lighting, so it's nice to be able to put them in a place where I don't have to worry about them too much. They do still have to be watered at least once a week, though. I keep my willow leafs indoors in front of windows but they don't really grow due to the cool conditions and lack of sun. But they do keep most of their leaves through most of the winter.
Last winter I kept a couple of my large ficuses (microcarpa type) in an unheated/attached/drafty mudroom where there is some light from a window, and where temps were often around 40-45 deg. They seemed fine. I don't really have a great set up for growing them indoors during the winter - no big sunny window (and there is little to no sun here anyway from November to March), and haven't had great luck with artificial lighting, so it's nice to be able to put them in a place where I don't have to worry about them too much. They do still have to be watered at least once a week, though. I keep my willow leafs indoors in front of windows but they don't really grow due to the cool conditions and lack of sun. But they do keep most of their leaves through most of the winter.
cheap_walmart_art
Omono
Interesting notion of getting tropicals used to low light before bringing in. So if I have some Ficus on my full sun bench (all day sun, sunrise to sunset) and will be bringing them in to go under a Niello 45W LED grow light (easy to find on amazon) - would you guys think that moving them into partial shade until night temps are too low would do well at getting them ready to go under this light? Or would it be better to keep them in full sun and just bring them straight in under the light?
coh
Imperial Masterpiece
I've never actually done a comparison study where I put some trees into shade and left others in full sun, so it's quite possible that what I'm doing makes no difference. I just know that I've read a lot of complaints from people about their trees dropping a lot of their leaves when they bring them inside, and my assumption has always been that it's because of the change in light intensity. I could be wrong about that but as I noted, I have very little leaf drop doing it this way. If you have several trees, maybe try it both ways and see if you notice a difference?
