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I think the time has come that I have to do something with my ferns which have been absolutely gorgeous all summer. Has anyone had any luck overwintering them in a crawl space or covered in pinestraw outside in a protected place? They have just been beautiful and are so healthy and vibrant I just hate to throw them out! I also don't really want them shedding all over inside all winter. Any ideas or experience?
Yes I know all about what the internet says about it - just wondering if someone here in this climate, Raleigh area, has had success with some of the methods suggested. And no, I don't have a glassed in room to keep my plants in all winter. Practical, local insight is what I am looking for.
I just bring my fern in and water it through the winter and it seems to survive. I've had it about 10 years. Often it drops a lot of leaves, but it will leaf back out in the spring.
I have a couple of fabulous boston ferns outside this year as well. But at $10 a piece in the spring, I think I might just start next year with new ones. The reason? They are already maxing out my pots, and if I do overwinter them I will need to put them in even larger pots next year. If I do that they will be crazy heavy. Will that be a problem for you next year?
I'm a transplant from Florida who has had difficulty getting used to the concept here in NC of disposable plants. For the first four years here, I laboriously dragged in my tropical houseplants from the porch, set them in a west window, groomed and misted them through the winter (never mind fighting off a feline who insisted they were salad fixings), and had them, meh, survive. Yes, they did go dormant, and yes, they did leaf out again in the spring, but it just didn't seem to be worth the effort.
Ferns are so needy about light conditions and humidity that the work involved may not be worth it to you. A small portable greenhouse near a window that allows for diffused light and warmth could work, along with *daily* misting to keep its humidity levels high. It will still drop a ton of leaves. And make a mess. And look ugly.
Personally, I've pulled in about half of my houseplants already and will let the rest die sad deaths this Sunday night when the freeze comes. If I had more room and less cat, I'd be more willing to make the effort.
We have a huge bathtub in the master bath which never gets used. I bring in airplane plants, boston and asparagus ferns and put them on top of plastic milk crates so they get light from nearby windows. I first line the tub with a double shower curtain. There is a lot of leaf drop but with a little watering over the winter they look great come spring and after a few weeks outside they are huge and healthy again.
This year I also cut off every baby airplane from the mothers and potted them up about 5-8 to a nursery pot and will set them in a bright window in the garage. Anything will be a bonus since I will still have mother plants.
I'm cheap and also the big plants just aren't available in nurseries as soon as I want them.
I've done all my potting up but the plants are still on the porch. When the first hard frost warning comes up we just have to grab them to get them inside.
My Boston fern was replanted into a 3/5 a used spice tea leaves and other leaf compost to a 1/5 clay and 1/5 sand mix, pH ~6 as roots were ‘shooting out on top’ . So it now stand in this bigger terracotta pot but has not put out any new growth for the past 4 weeks . Leaves beginning to curl and brown, soil has been kept damp to touch but not sticking to a wooden poker. Please, please advise what’s I should do kickstart it’s growth.. had it been given too much tea?!! /tannic acid. I recently learnt that tea leaves give too much fluoride to dracenas so best avoided - is that what’s happened here maybe? Many thanx folks- we can’t survive too long or well enough without such life-giving plants!
The tea leaves may be killing the roots. Try taking up the plants, rinsing the roots in room temperature water, and planting in new soil. Use a potting mix for potted plants. Don't create your own as it is a finicky business.
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