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reet59_gw

Dormancy Rules of Thumb

reet59
14 years ago

Hi

I live in Winnipeg and am bringing all my plants inside right now. Because of the insane amount of plants I'm growing, I'm running out of space, and am wondering if anyone could shed some general rules of letting plants go dormant with me. These plants range from lemon verbena, different salvias, iochroma, camphor tree, bottlebrush, Prostanthera rotundifolia, brugs, solanum atropurpureum, impomoea carnea, passion flowers, jasmines, and more & more. I'm trying to research each plant individually, but haven't found too many northern gardening resources. I also have a 600W MH bulb under which my more awesome things will grow (mitragyna speciosa, piper nigrum, &c) but I simply haven't the space to accommodate all my plants.

Any help or directional pointings would be loved!

Mark

Comments (2)

  • Boca_Joe(zone 7b) southern Delaware
    14 years ago

    Mark,

    a few words of wisdom: CUT THEM BACK!

    Most of the plants you mentioned: brugs, solanum, passion flower, salvia, etc... can be cut back drastically. Many do not even need light to overwinter in a cool room. You want to let them rest/go dormant ,not force them to grow under lites.

    The mistakes that most people make:

    NOT cutting back hard
    Potting up in pots way too big! ( my 8' tall brugs get coatracked (pruned back to nubs) and stuffed in 10" pots with some potting mix and stored in basement).
    Too much water from Oct till March

    Mine overwinter under plain old 48" shoplights with warm white bulbs, set on a $10 on/off timer for 16 hours a day.

    You can check out what I am doing here in MD near Washington, DC with tropicals, much like you are at the link below.

    If you have more questions, please email me directly
    Good luck

    Boca Joe

    Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Tropicals in a Temperate Climate

  • glen3a
    14 years ago

    Hey Mark, I certainly can relate. For me though, it's bananas, bird of paradise, ginger, citrus plants, etc with only limited window space. I try to cram things by the window and hope that they get at least adequate light until spring (reduce watering and shorter days often slow down their growth anyway).

    I do overwinter some bananas downstairs in the dark basement and this has worked, though as a precaution I also overwinter some bananas as houseplants upstairs. The "indoor" leaves that they get overwinter (in poor light) are easily burnt when they go back outdoors in spring (or shredded by wind), but they are quick growing plants so as long as they survive winter, they recover somewhat once outside again. I guess this could also apply to other quick growing tropicals too, as long as you somehow keep the plant alive, it can recover and because it's quick growing it might still look decent next year.

    Here's wishing for a sunroom or heated greenhouse.

    Good luck,
    Glen

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