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What do you bring inside for the winter?

mykidsmom
19 years ago

I was wondering what people over-winter inside - what do you have success overwintering in an active growing state? (I'm not really talking about the things we store in a dormant state - like plumeria etc -I'm sure we all have quite a few tender 'babies' we will be storing in the basement.)

For example, does anyone have success keeping impatiens happy and blooming inside til spring? What about geraniums? Calladiums? Ruellia? Elephant ears? Coleus? Dwarf bananas? Where do you keep them? Windowsill? What light exposure -east -south ?? Under plant lights? What kind of pests do you deal with and how do you deal with them? (Whiteflies? Fungus gnats?)

Although I really love this time of year, it's still a little heart-wrenching to let go of summer! I guess I really just want to try to hold onto as much of it as I can!(and since I don't have a greenhouse, that just leaves me inside the heated house - or dormant storage in the basement!)

Please share any ideas, helpful hints, experiences (good, bad and ugly!)you have had with growing "outdoor" plants inside over the frosty months!

Thanx!

Mary Beth

Comments (3)

  • mairenn
    19 years ago

    Everything but my kids:)

    We used to bring our impatiens inside for the winter quite well. They were permanent container plants - they don't transplant quite as well at the end of the season. They didn't bloom much, but they would turn into these miniature jungle tree-looking things that my brother would hang his toy action figures in. Usually lived about four years like that, and got huge.

    I bring my geraniums in every year. Again, not much bloom, but plenty of foliage. Probably would have bloomed but they were on the basement floor, which is cold. Plenty of window light, though.

    Herbs and peppers come in to the kitchen window, northeast light. Obviously the lemons and avocados come in, and usually some ivy cuttings functioning as decoration while they root to go out in the spring. Ivy (any ivy) gets spider mites badly indoors for me unless I bathe it once a week and mist in between. I also take sedum cuttings in the fall, which sometimes bloom and root simultaneously.

    Also I am fond of the reverse tactic, that is, putting tropical houseplants outdoors all summer and then bringing them back in. My mom had a Chinese evergreen that got 5 feet high and bore fruit. It had mealybugs its final year, thanks to a move to a much warmer climate, and died, but we saved the baby:) Ditto boston ferns, who also want misting.

    Cannas CAN come in when you divide them, and they'll keep coming up as long as it's warm and bright enough. Just put one or two to a big pot, though, or they get sulky.

  • topsiebeezelbub
    19 years ago

    I have problems with scale...yuck. Have been wondering about caladiums. Never have luck with letting them go dormant, so will try houseplanting them. Never have enough window sills.

  • rootdiggernc
    19 years ago

    I have a lot of elephant ears that come indoors in the winter. After last years major mite problem some will go under the house (crawlspace). Alocasia's do fine indoors... but some of them do try to go dormant abt Feb. The Xanthosoma's and Colocasia EE's have a real hard time with spider mites, and they went from the ears to abt everything else I had. Including my citrus which I'd never had that problem with before. My EE's get mostly southern light, but as I run out of space near windows some get put under a florescent workshop light (one warm and one cool bulb) just a few inches above them. Easy on the water in winter or they'll rot. I usully put abt an inch of sand on top, keep any dead leaves cleaned up, and the knats will leave them alone.

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