Quick and easy answer is Dont let them freeze and no water. If they happen to look wrinkled then you can give a small amount of water.

Mike

Richard, I never heat those in the garage. You're right to put them up on plywood, though, and as long as you don't forget to close the garage door overnight they should be fine without a heater. Our cold fronts just don't last long enough to need it.

I do water very rarely, maybe every six weeks with a half-cup or so, though it's probably not necessary. Many growers will tell you to not water at all.

Richard, I can tell you what I do. Do not put on the bare cement floor, I put mine on indoor outdoor carpet. Once they loose there leaves you do not need to water anymore. If some still have leaves, cut them off about 1 inch from the main trunk. Mine are at the coast and there is aways humidity so I have never had to add water. I have read that you can spray the plant with water, or water the outside edge of the pot, if they look wrinkled. The rule of thumb is not to water them once they loose their leaves. I will not put my plants inside at the coast until we get a freeze warning. I have purchased a small heater to put in the plastic wrapped carport, that is set to go off if the weather goes below 40 degrees. Barbra

Hi Richard,

I also would keep them off of the cement. The more air that circulates under the container will help keep the roots from getting to cold. Some people like to use pallets and that works great. Heaters are good to keep the temps from getting to cold. I would have one handy if you feel like the temps get to cold in the garage. You dont want to keep them to warm, so i would make it so the heater would come on if the temps reached down to 45* or so and have it set to stay no higher than 55* just to be on the safe side!!!

Mine go inside my spare room and they are closed in blinds closed, heat off in the room. Like Jen, i do water every six weeks or so and this is just a little. SOme don't like to water at all, everyone has there ways of winter storage. You will get a good feel about the watering too.

Good Luck!!!

Laura

Thanks for the information Laura, I will set the heater at 45 degrees. This is the first year using a heater so I really did not know the correct temp, and just guessed. I do plan on leaving the overhead light on the entire time, the plants will be in the carport. Usually we do not get our freezing weather until February. So the most they will be inside is about 4 weeks. Last year I had them in the garage for 12 weeks, I had to water the other tropicals, Gary was not happy that I was getting his garage floor dirty. Its a blessing I have the dirt floor carport, now I can bring in the hose to water my plants. I have more tropicals than plumeria and desert roses, so this is going to save me a lot of time. Barbra

Thanks guys!

I selectively water (lightly) plants which still have green leaves at the tips, which is pretty much most of them. I just gave them the first drink since going into the greenhouse(s) at Thanksgiving.

Even a detached garage will not get cold enough in most instances. Just park your car in there after driving home from work and shut the garage door. Your car will give off plenty of heat for most of the night.

I had to borrow some garage space for 4 that would just not fit into my greenhouse. I used my Avalanche and tied 2 of them down at a time in the back for a short haul of 5 miles. Only one broken branch and that was due to my five year old pulling on a leaf and accidentally breaking it. She said now she can have her own plumeria so its ok that it broke.