Repot in February?

[RichKid]

Well it's February and due to unseasonably warm weather we have been seeing in south eastern pa my Japanese maples are starting to break bud. I was planning on repotting this year but am unsure about doing so this time of year as we may yet see a return to lower temps. I usually would be doing this in about a month. What say ye all?

 

[daudelus]

Being from south central PA, I'm in the same predicament... I have gone forward with repotting, but made sure to protect those trees I have worked on in an unheated garage.. mostly to protect from heavy winds.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Many are doing the bonsai two step. Setting tree out during days it's mild enough...and protecting at night when temps drop or are to cold during the day. Welcome to northern bonsai hobby...where we tend to do a bit more fancy footwork than those in the south. If you have a garage you should be okay to store it there when the temps drop.

 

[MACH5]

Doing same. I have began to repot maples as needed and taking them out during the day and bringing them back in at night if temps are expected to be down close to freezing.

 

[RichKid]

My dilemma is that I don't have a space that is unheated. The closest I can get is my basement. Which is cooler than the house but still is at least in the 60's. I could bring it in at night I guess and take it out in the morning on my way to work. Just wasn't sure how to proceed.

 

[RichKid]

Thanks.

 

[ajm55555]

Frost is the main enemy when the buds are breaking out. Unseasonably warm end of Winter in Southern Germany too!

 

[Dav4]

Good to see y'all!! I've been here in repotting land for almost a month!!

 

[M. Frary]

It should be another month about a month or so here.

 

[ColinFraser]

I've been repotting since mid January, but I started with the expendable stuff just in case. This week has been winter's last gasp and I've seen temperatures in the 30s, but not quite freezing at night - I moved a bunch of recently repotted stuff up against the back of my house just in case. I'll be glad for warmers weather so I can get them and my tropicals back out on the benches!

 

[berobinson82]

In discussing the two-step with the local group, I was made aware of an app called dark sky. It's the best weather app I've used to date. For $3/yr you can set up custom alerts. Mine is set to tell me when the weather is going to drop below 40F and when winds will be above 20 mph. Worth a look maybe:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.darksky.darksky&hl=en

Cheers,

B