Mike,

The fact that you are contemplating taking them in encourages me. It is supposed to be 44 or 45 here tomorrow evening. Should I be concerned? My first inflow started showing yesterday, and I was debating taking them in to keep it from getting burned by the cold. Thoughts?

hi Mike....

Take them in.. It's not worth the risk. We are having awful rain here and chances of severe winds. When will it end?

I like the idea of plunging your pots . It would look wonderful and I'm sure they will love it too!! The yard looks awesome.

Let us know what you are going to do. I just placed some of mine back In The greenhouse. We had a great soaking rain overnight, but the chance of hail? .....Not happening with my special babies!!!!

Take care,

Laura

Spiroan ...

Hi.. We are in the same predicament . The temps down to 46 for one night wouldn't concern me, but I would bring in the ones with Inflos. That's just me. Mine were out for a week With Those nighttime temps. But, I did bring in the ones with the treasures....

Good luck!!!

Laura

I will be bringing mine in, but they not near as large as yours. Better safe than sorry.

I've been having to move mine around due to wind anyways.

Allan

Thanks Laura. isnt this crazy. this past weekend was in the 80's! Thanks for the compliment on the yard. I have been working my tail off to get it how I want.

I usually dont even think twice about temps in the 40's for a night or 2 but when they say 30's that really gets my attention. It wont take me but a few minutes to move all of them. Most are still close the garage door acclimating so thats easy.

I wonder if drilling a bunch of holes on the side of the pots would be of benefit if I do plunge them. I dont see how it couldnt hurt.

spiro, I wouldnt worry about your temps unless it very soggy. otherwise they should be ok.

Hey Allan. No kidding about the wind. It has been ridiculous this spring.
mike

This post was edited by mksmth on Tue, Apr 29, 14 at 13:47

Mine have not been out yet. Just too consistently cool and wet. And one in a North facing window has had inflos for weeks. Gettin' old I tell 'ya...

Here's a photo of my neighbor's tree yesterday. Patience! Flowers are just around the corner you poor guys!!! Hold tight!

Mike, what did you end up doing? I'm curious..

Sheesh, and I thought I was the only one with a fighting chance...

If you put them in the ground, won't the roots grow into the ground and then you will have to cut them out outside the pot and clean the pots of bugs?
Maybe you will put weed cloth under the pots then bury them so bugs can't get in and roots can't exscape?

That's what happened to my Brug and Figs..What a pain but they sure grew huge!

Beautiful yard by the way and hello my dear Laura!

I think Mike like your yard since his seems to becoming like it..:-)
The plumies about the nice looking pool....

Mike

Thanks all.

Hey mike. I'm moving them in tonight. I won't be home until late tomorrow when its suppose to get chilly. I didn't think about the bugs. That's a good point. Laura's yard is beautiful. If I could grow palms that big I would for sure. Needle palms and sabal minor can make it unprotected.

Mike

Mike,

I have to bring mine in tomorrow night...Our low for Thursday morning is around 35. I don't want my plumerias to lose their new leaves :)

Hopefully this will be the last trip getting them in.

Kenny

Thanks Mike and Laura for the advice.

Mike, I like the idea of plunging them. The extra holes in the pots will have positives and negatives. It would definitely allow the roots greater freedom and it may encourage more growth. However, you still have to pull them out of the ground. And in my experience, just from the natural holes in the pots, it is difficult to get the roots out. If there was extra room for the roots to penetrate, it would get quite a bit more difficult. I also wonder how much more time it would take in the spring to leaf out if the vast majority of the roots would be outside the pots and thus, would be chopped off in the fall. It may be more like the growers who just put them in the ground without pots and remove them every winter. Might be something to think about. I'm just not sure of the answer.

I remember a grower here mentioned he would plunge containers and put holes on the side too! He also plunged the container inside a larger container that would stay in the ground for the season. Place mix in between.... Once you are ready to take the container out, he would take a saw and trim the outer area first before he removed the inside container. So many methods... Lol. But if you want to go that route, it will help trim the roots that would escape from the side holes...

I like to plunge . Some of mine go into the side yard. I don't put holes on the side ....but they love being partially plunged.....

Good luck with your beautiful yard. It shows you have done a lot of work!!!

Bravo!!!

Laura

Thanks Laura. Its coming along. still have a lot to do. I have spent most of my time getting my veggie garden and fruit orchard put in. I hauled in and spread 15 truck loads of mulch so far. I need about 5 more. Trying to get it all done before the pool warms up.

I had some plunged a few years ago and they did obviously root through the drain holes. fortunately they didnt hold on to tight.

Hey Kenny. did you see our crazy forecast for next week. Highs will be close to 90!! We should get some good growth going soon.

Mike

I took the chance and left mine outside the past two nights. Low Tuesday was 53 & last night was 48. I live just South of Ft. Worth. I did move all the tropical hibiscus in though.
Lonnie

Well I did move everything in last night about 9pm and covered my warm season veggies. this morning I went out the garden and it was 42 degrees. Looks like I could have left everything out. Of course had I not put them away it would have dipped to freezing. Oh well we have 90's on the way!!

Really thought my problems are insignificant compared to the people in the south with all they storms and torrential rain.

Mike

Mike,

I ended up leaving most of mine out but covered them with frost blankets. Even though the low was 39 there was frost advisory for most of the state. I think frost would damage your plumeria tips so it was a good call on your part to bring them inside.

Time for a warm up this weekend!

Kenny

Glad everyone's plants did fine! I'm getting to the point where I'm shrugging off mid-30's.

The last time we got down to low 30's I just covered everything with sheets or frost cloth. My back thanked me for it :) All the plumies were just fine, too.

Not that I'm recommending that for anyone else, it's just where I am in this hobby now!

Jen - I'm completely understanding your position!

It seems like I always choose the wrong time to put mine out but this time it wasn't due to cold, but to wind and hail. I made helmets for all my inflos that were too large to easily move into the greenhouse. I used lightweight plastic pots and stuck them onto bamboo sticks then positioned them over the inflos. It worked great and held up to the wind! Then we got no hail. LOL

Mike - got yours back out yet?

Jen. Glad yours made OK. I'm sure mine would have been just fine too.

Moonie. Not yet. I had to leave for work early yesterday so I just left them in the barn. It was still a bit chilly last night too. We should hit the mid 80's tomorrow.

Hi Guys and Gals!!!

Oh, the things we have to do. All of Mine are outside.. They are staying there too! ;-). We had lots of rain, cool temps and we didn't have the hail either! Thanks goodness, Mona.. I hope you didn't have damage from the tornadoes... What a mess around our area....

Mike... Glad to here the temps are warming up for you and Kemny!! Lonnie, Im Glad your are all doing well!! I can't wait to see pics from all of you guys!!!

Jen, I hear you about leaving them once placed outside. I did leave the big guys outside when I did the dance with the little ones. I was selective with the newer ones and the ones that were just potted up. Not taking a chance on those, but the big guys had to hold there own... My back doesn't like it either and I'd rather do it myself then risk the chance of breakage from someone just moving them like they are Pine trees... Lol!!

HI Mike from Boston!!! Nice to see you In These parts and I hope you start to come around more often, we miss you here! Plunging pots won't cause to much of a bug issue. It's just the same concerns as them sitting on top of the mulch with other critters that may decide to take up residency for the summer. We can rid them when we bring them in for the winter. They love to be plunged and like I mentioned above, pot in pot has a great advantage to cut roots that do travel from the containers. This is more of a controlled method when cutting to bring inside for the winter. I believe Bill talked about this years ago... Always a pleasure to see you!! ;-)

Take care,

Laura

Mona, the image of your plants with "helmets" is too funny! You're a good plant mama!

Mike, I forgot to say how gorgeous your yard is looking. All your hard work is paying off big!

Laura, I wasn't around when they got moved inside last fall so I couldn't have the anxiety attacks about how they were moved, LOL! You're right about the critters not being much concern, here anyway. I found lots of earthworms had made their way into the pots that just sat on earth, too, despite the screening. My direct-planted ones had the soil shaken mostly off so they weren't bothered by anything except tiny ants. No problems there.

Mine still haven't made the "march" outside but I'm getting close. This has been some messed up weather this year. I've worked all weekend on the fencing out my back door so it will be easier to get them out. I almost couldn't get the largest one in, in fall. I may have to tie it up to get through the door and gate though. I'm thinking by fall this year I'll be bring it in the front door.
GREAT looking yard Mike! You'll be able to rest in your oasis smelling the blooms.
Peg

Thinking about you Peg.. Make those trees duck...

That says a lot if you take down part of the fence to helps get trees outside..

What a woman!! ;-)

Get " the March Of The Plumeria". Moving.. Lol....

They are screaming to get outside... I can hear them from here!!!

I wish I could see this movement of the tree....

Great job!!!

Laura

Thanks for the kind words. Its been a lot of work and I still have tons to do. Once the bananas, canna and some other things fill in I'll give y'all the tour. LoL.

Mike

Mike,
that is enough mulch to wear out a wheel barrow. Things look good. I started in ground planting last year and bare root storing using George's method with 100% success. Matter of fact I even bare rooted some plants from large containers. the only issue is stabilizing 8 foot tall trees with a root ball the size of a beach ball. I used Bill's EMT painted green method for that. I expect to just have to continuously monitor them until they settle in.

I would encourage you to make the leap to in ground. If you do decide to plunge the pots I would make holes that are at least .5 inch in diameter. Anything less than that will be clogged in no time. IMO in ground planting is a slower start but extends your season by a few weeks.

Thanks K. I still have about 5 more loads to go. then top dressing every year. Oh well I dont go to the gym anymore so that will keep me in shape i guess. You may have just convinced me to put the big ones in the ground. Is there a rule of thumb on how much of the rootball to dig back up this fall?

mike

Mike, you really don't need to dig up much of the rootball if you want to try the mulch-in-a-plastic-trashbag method of storing over winter. The main woody roots will be fine and most of the feeder roots you lose by shaking off the soil will most likely die off during winter anyway, to be quickly replaced in spring.

I shook about 75% of the soil off mine (only 3+ year-old seedlings and established rooted plants, no newly rooted!) and put about 8 in one bag, tied it tight and just left it in a trash can with rags in the bottom. A couple of the big boys I just pulled out of the ground without even digging and put into pots with some soil or mulch.

If you cover the remaining roots in the bag with mulch you probably don't even need to add any water over winter. I used no mulch so I added just a half cup twice over winter. Come April when I checked inside the bottom of the bag there were new feeder roots growing in the little remaining soil at the bottom. Pretty amazing, really!

Thanks Jen! That is what Ill am going to do.

Mike

Going into the 30s tonight and tomorrow, just brought some stuff back indoors.

That stinks veggie girl. It cooled off a lot here too. Tonight will be in the low 40's. I moved a couple small ones but left the rest out.

Mike