Winter IS coming, start preparing

[GrimLore]

You mean you don't wait to prep the shed until the day the plants need to come in, like the rest of us?

Hell yes, I have in the past trucked plants over to the farm because I could not get in the shed Crystals Grandmother waters nothing so I had to drive there frequently and although it is only 12 - 15 minutes it is all back roads, argh! I have far less now so screw that

Grimmy

 

[Velodog2]

Right or wrong I bring my trees in by the weather and species.

Ficus, portulacaria, yaupons, and other assorted tropicals come in before first frost of course and are put under grow lights in a cool basement where they mostly go dormant.

Crepe myrtles are put in a cold room, that does not go below freezing, after a couple light frosts. Maples and hornbeams are allowed to get as low as 25 F a few times outdoors, but when forecast goes lower than that, they go in the cold room as well.

Everything else is put on the ground huddled together in a protected corner behind the house.

My problem last year was that my "cold" room did not stay cold enough and I had trees budding out in February. I will skip installing the insulation this year. That greatly reduces the prep work anyway.

 

[GrimLore]

Right or wrong I bring my trees in by the weather and species.

Good! Most do and a wise choice. Because my Wife and I have such a wide variety of plants in general we must. For example the Banana tree is first in when the nights hit 60 along with a Bird of Paradise. Next the Desert plants came in(not Cacti or Succulents) when the nights dropped to 50ish F a few times. The Banana would just stop growing while the desrt plants could go dormant they do not have to. The list after those is a rather long one but if all areas are prepared ahead of time there is just a one time Fall and Spring move for all which saves a lot of dancing

Grimmy

 

[Paradox]

Well Hurricane Jose threatening to pay us a visit later this week forced me to step up preparations early.
The garage has been totally cleaned out and is ready to take plants should they need to be brought in for the storm.
The tropicals area is ready, just need to bring the plants in. The cold frame can take trees to get them under protection if needed.

@BigBen
You dont use a cold frame for tropicals, those come inside the house under lights. I use my cold frame for my most winter hardy trees: Pines, junipers, quince etc
My D-trees, azalea and Ilex etc go into the garage.

The trailer is probably fine but you will need to water. As long as you dont mind the floor of the trailer repeatedly getting wet, you should be ok with that. My garage has a concrete floor so no big deal for water on it.

 

[barrosinc]

Good old Eddard. Too bad about him huh?

I just wanted to be popular... No idea who he is

 

[Carol 83]

We had a couple nights in the high 40's a few weeks ago, and I almost brought everything in.Yesterday it was 90. As usual, IL sucks. Just trying to figure out how to position everything when they do have to come in.

 

[sorce]

Summer is back!

Dont use last years fluorescents!

Buy new ones.

Sorce

 

[Cable]

Found this thread while trying to decide what do do for the winter. I’ve been going back and forth on whether to winter outdoors or in my unheated garage. Pros and cons to both!

 

[coachspinks]

Winter prep?? We just hope it shows up. Mid 80's with dew points in the low 70's all last week and next week too. It may hit 90 mid-week. At some point though, it will get cold.

After a 20 year absence I started bonsai again this year. What started as "I'll just get a couple of trees" snowballed into 6-8 bonsai and several dozen pre - bonsai. They were on the deck but as the sun's angle changed they were getting very little sun. I decided to move them to my vegetable garden but we have a ton of deer in this area so I had to put up a barrier. It is crude and temporary until I get my new bonsai garden built late winter but it should keep them out. The bamboo grows on the back of my yard so the fence was free and I now have beds to heel the pots into if it gets too cold.

 

[Dav4]

Found this thread while trying to decide what do do for the winter. I’ve been going back and forth on whether to winter outdoors or in my unheated garage. Pros and cons to both!

Depends on the trees you keep. If they're reliably hardy in your zone and you have a safe spot out of the wind and the sun to mulch them in, I'd consider keeping them outside. Keeping in an unheated garage can be helpful if you've got less hardy species to overwinter...but you've got to keep them from drying out and they are very prone to waking up wayyyy too early if you're not able to keep the temps in the garage consistently below 40F.

 

[Cable]

Getting too warm is my biggest worry. Especially since my garage has a dark green roof. But I like the fact that I can easily keep an eye on them, water as needed, and keep up a spray schedule. I’m leaning towards outside, though.

I have a crape myrtle, distylium, juniper Holger, 2 bald cypress, and 2 jap maples. Oh and a birch seedling that already looks rough.

My big worry is due to past bad experience. The last time I tried bonsai was 15 years or so ago. I had a tsuga jeddeloh that was coming along nicely. Overwintered it in my garage for two years and it was doing great. Left it outside one year and it up and died on me.

 

[MountainExplorer]

So far most of the preparation here has been cleaning out, disinfecting, and an "in general" touch up of the plant room.

Brought in all the tiny desert types after quarantine outside with an antifungal and insect treatment(precautionary).

Cleaned a lot of trays outside and stored that I use on lower shelves to protect plants from dirt and fungal problems when the rain hit the ground.

Ran and checked all the indoor lighting for a week, replaced bulbs as needed, adjusted timers, etc...

Transferred Quince cuttings from a "cutting pot" to individual bulb pots - here it is the proper time for Quince as well as back seeding the lawn.

All of my pots(Bonsai) have been in storage since 2015 except for a few trainers making pot cleanup and storage a breeze again this year.

Located, cleaned, and organized all tools, stored what won't be used for the Winter while keeping a handful in the Plant room for occasional Winter use - amazing how long that took

To do;

Organize shed and a spot for a few plants this Winter along with a quick lighting setup.

Clear space out front after Halloween Decorations come down for some Fruit trees against the house, Quince and Rhododendron - they Winter far better out front then out back.

Cut back, treat, and bring in all Tropicals, Sub-tropicals as needed and move inside. To early for that here right now.

Cut back all the Fruit Trees and Elms after leaf drop, Usually late November here.

Shut down and drain outdoor water sources.

Copy and Paste this post to a notepad txt file so I remember and add as needed

Grimmy

Do you defoliate your rhododendron and east or west do you plant it?

Thanks

 

[Dav4]

Ventilation is the key when overwintering in outbuildings. Keeping the doors/windows open during warm days, or even at night then closing the doors the following day if it's cloudy will help. Also, using buckets filled with water/ice to buffer warm weather mid winter is something to try.

 

[MountainExplorer]

I'm not sure if I understand correctly. Where I live the temps easily go into the negatives but it also can reach above 40 so I just read anything above 40 will wake the tree up, come outta dormancy.

If that's the case why don't all the tress around here come out of dormancy? I have been reading about for some time but I'm just trying to figure out my area.

Thanks,

Tim

 

[Dav4]

I'm not sure if I understand correctly. Where I live the temps easily go into the negatives but it also can reach above 40 so I just read anything above 40 will wake the tree up, come outta dormancy.

If that's the case why don't all the tress around here come out of dormancy? I have been reading about for some time but I'm just trying to figure out my area.

Thanks,

Tim

Soil temps play a large role in breaking dormancy, along with other factors including chilling requirements. Obviously, trees in pots are more susceptible to temps in the soil to rise then a tree in the ground outside. A potted tree that has met it's chilling requirements and is exposed to temps at/above 40F for 3 days or so is very likely to break dormancy... your mileage will vary depending on species.

 

[gallina1594]

Just dealing with a question...
My winter hardy trees (well, most of them) spend every winter mulched in the soil in garden. But how to mulch a cascading tree? Here in my vicinity one garden centre put all their potted trees on their side and that's it. Any other ideas? No way to leave it in any building/garage. My mother is laying with a broken vertebra, she only was lifting a watering can when it happened...

Maybe a bucket or garbage can over it?

 

[Soldano666]

Got this new cold frame up, I will poly wrap it and convert to a greenhouse in the spring.

 

[petegreg]

Maybe a bucket or garbage can over it?

Thanks for your input. It would work if I had had my trees closer to me. For winters they are moved to my mom's garden, some 70 km from where I live. And watering is up to mother nature. Only when it's dry for too long I call my sister to sprinkle a can of water, once or twice in winter.

 

[JudyB]

Winter prep?? We just hope it shows up. Mid 80's with dew points in the low 70's all last week and next week too. It may hit 90 mid-week. At some point though, it will get cold.

View attachment 163330 View attachment 163331 After a 20 year absence I started bonsai again this year. What started as "I'll just get a couple of trees" snowballed into 6-8 bonsai and several dozen pre - bonsai. They were on the deck but as the sun's angle changed they were getting very little sun. I decided to move them to my vegetable garden but we have a ton of deer in this area so I had to put up a barrier. It is crude and temporary until I get my new bonsai garden built late winter but it should keep them out. The bamboo grows on the back of my yard so the fence was free and I now have beds to heel the pots into if it gets too cold.

Nice!

 

[GrimLore]

Do you defoliate your rhododendron and east or west do you plant it?

No, right now it is still in the shade of a Red Japanese Maple out back. The foliage gets darker, some almost purple but it does not drop and sets flower buds for Spring flush as I type. When it gets to 30'sF at night I move it in the pot out front to full East/West sun for the Winter and it gets just enough light and warmth to do good. The days are much shorter so it does not scorch.

Grimmy