Keeping Outdoor Potted Plants Safe Over Winter (grass, trees, south)

[mojo101]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

How cold does it get in the garage? It would be an improvement, but they cannot tolerate 25ºF or -4ºC for more than an hour or two. If you have the furnace in the garage, bring it in and put it near the furnace where it might get a bit of "second hand" heat. If it has to stay outside, put an empty carboard box upside-down over it, then a blanket over that and a couple of rocks or bricks on that at night. Remove once it warms up during the day so it gets light and air. If it stays below 25 all day leave it covered but uncover as soon as you can, within at least 3-4 days.

garage is not heated,furnace,water heater are all up in the attic,but thanks for the blanket idea I do have one

[PhinneyWalker]

Originally Posted by kitty61

Good old burlap wrap.

Yes, good idea. Thanks.

[elnina]

Originally Posted by PhinneyWalker

I have several pots of mini roses that I keep outside all year. I let them sit on top of the soil in the garden beds, and the warmth coming up from the earth was enough to see them through the last few Winters, even Winter before last which broke all sorts of records here. This year, however, I have moved into a tiny apartment. I no longer have garden beds, but I have a balcony which is cement/concrete. I am worried how they will fare out there without the earth's natural warmth coming up through the soil. Any recommendations other than to bring them indoors? There really is no room indoors unfortunately. It is just a one room apartment.

Are they knockout roses so popular in Texas?
They're extremely cold hardy and heat resistant. Knock Out Roses are recommended for growing zones 5 - 10, but they can survive frosts and temperatures down to 10F. These tough roses can also handle the heat in Southern Florida, Texas, and California.

I would watch the weather forecast and only act when the temps are predicted to go down to 15F which is pretty much unlikely. I have few and they all survived the Texas freeze.

If they aren't that brand - gather them together, WATER throughout!, and cover with old blanket(s). That's what I would do with my potted outdoor plants, but mine are stored in shed or the garage.

Do NOT use plastic, such as tarps or plastic sheeting to cover your plants. Plastic will transmit cold air to the plants, causing more harm than good.
The plants need a breathable cover.

[PhinneyWalker]

I am not sure if they are the Knock Out variety. I buy these at Tom Thumb and Albertsons usually around Mum's Day. They come in small 4" pots in various colours, and they are just labelled mini roses. All of mine save two survived the record freeze two years ago which really surprised me.

I bought a TON of tarps that Winter at the dollar store and covered all of the plants in the alley. Pretty much everything died. I do not know if the tarps made it worse or better. A friend told me the plants cannot "breathe" beneath tarps so do not use them. The owner of a family owned and operated nursery told me he did not think my tarps were the culprit, more just the cold and the wind.

[Zoisite]

Originally Posted by PhinneyWalker

I cannot provide all this information at the moment, but I can give you a few answers now.

I am in zone 8a or 8b. I have about 7 pots of these mini roses. They are planted in 6" or maybe 8" terracotta pots. I planted them in the terracotta pots from the small plastic pots they came in. The size of the plants above the soil is inline with the size of their pots, i.e. they are not drowning in space nor do they look root bound so far as I can tell. I have never pruned them as such. I deadhead the roses as needed. They are still blooming now in fact which surprises me. They still have plenty of leafs left.

The balcony faces south to slightly southwest, so it gets some sun pretty much all day long if it is not very cloudy or raining. There is an iron railing around the balcony which lets in tons of light, air, and rain if the wind blows in that direction. There are no walls per se on the balcony, just the back wall where the door opens onto the balcony. the balcony does have a roof, but the balcony overall is very "open." No electrical outlet.

The building was constructed in 1943 according to the landlord. I am on the first floor which is nice for the view, but a ground floor unit would have been better for me medically speaking. The plants do not seem to mind being on the first floor, but they of course have zero contact with the ground below. There are a lot of lilies planted around the building. I noticed last night they finally seemed to have suffered some severe frost damage, but up until a couple of days ago, the lilies looked quite good, too.

I have photos of the balcony, but apparently they are too "large" to attach to this post, and I have no idea how to "resize" them. Sorry. I can measure the balcony hopefully sometime before Christmas. I am still in the process of moving in.

Okay, don't bother measuring the floor space, you've provided me with an adequate mental picture of what you're dealing with. Fortunately you don't have a lot of plants and none of them sound big.

I once had to deal with a similar balcony type of location temporarily, just for the winter months (it was in between moves), but the balcony I put the plants on faced north-east so they never got any winter sun, there was a lot of wind and the nights got bitterly freezing cold so exposure to wind chill and blowing rain/snow was my biggest concern.

I had 10 roses and 4 small rosemary plants all in 1 gallon plastic pots. Keeping the roots alive and not letting them freeze was more important than top growth so I pruned the stems and foliage back on all of them so they were half their original height and width. I put down a 3" thick slab of styrofoam on the balcony floor right up against the balcony wall and then erected 3 styrofoam walls taped together with duct tape to form a sturdy 3 sided box around the slab on the floor. The styrofoam walls were just a few inches taller than the height of the plants when the plants were sitting inside the box on top of the floor slab.

If I had not had access to the styrofoam I would have used heavy cardboard to make a big 4 sided box and for the bottom of it I would have used a thick layer of crumpled up newspaper balls covered over with another sheet of cardboard to put the plants on.

Each pot was placed in an aluminum pie plate to catch drainage from when the plants got water - they are easy to bend to your desired compact shape so you can sort of wrap the corners around the pot. It's important to never let the soil go dry in freezing conditions even if the roots go dormant or if the soil freezes. The moisture in the soil acts as insulation even if it freezes. In a pinch, aluminum foil wrapped around the bottom of each pot can be used as a substitute to catch and hold drainage.

The plants were all placed inside the box with the pots crammed tight together in rows as close up to each other as I could get them. This is important for them to be close together as a group because that way they all help to keep each other warmer and insulated. The entire box was then covered over the top and down the outsides with a sheet of clear heavy plastic stretched tight enough and fastened with duct tape so wind couldn't blow it off. I left one corner at the back loose enough to reach inside to add a pan of warmed water if necessary or to allow for ventilation if needed.

As soon as the outside temperatures got up to around 40 degrees F at night and maintained at 40+ for a couple of weeks I removed the sheet of clear plastic. Once temperatures reached 45 - 50 I dismantled the styrofoam box and spread the plants apart as usual.

Just want to add that the new growth on them in the spring was phenomenal (because of having been pruned back to fit the box) and I had to repot all of them into slightly bigger pots.

.

[movinon]

^^^^This is genius! Thank you - you're always such a wealth of information.

[Miss Hepburn]

ALL such good ideas!
Me? - I would still bring them inside. Behind the couch, in a corner...somewhere.
OR ask a friend could I put them in their garage or spare room.
And keep them dormant with a little watering.
Sorry, that's just me not taking any chances.

[grampaTom]

Originally Posted by PhinneyWalker

Good idea. How would water be able to drain if the pots are wrapped in bubble wrap, though? Should I poke some holes in the bubble wrap?

The bubble wrap goes around the SIDES of the pot, mulch on top.

[Cambium]

Just don't do what I did once. Big Lemon tree in a pot too heavy to keep moving in and out so I wrapped it in plastic hoping it would survive the winter. Well, it wasn't the temps that got to it and it died. SMH


Did PhinneyWalker actually say where they are from? Winter can have a different meaning for many areas.

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

ALL such good ideas!
Me? - I would still bring them inside. Behind the couch, in a corner...somewhere.
OR ask a friend could I put them in their garage or spare room.
And keep them dormant with a little watering.
Sorry, that's just me not taking any chances.

Agree! In fact I take it a step further, don't grow anything that has to survive through winter.

[KaraG]

Originally Posted by mojo101

question-
I have an Aloe Vera plant which has grown HUGE outdoor in a large flower pot,it cant come indoor,so what should I do?
Can I cover it with clear plastic film?
itwould be difficult to move it,may be the garage?

I've always kept my Aloe plants inside by east facing windows so they get the morning sunshine. My mama aloe has grown ridiculously big and I've repotted her many times. She's had at least 20 baby aloes that I've repotted and given away. I know there are more technical names but that's how I talk to her.