How to ¨Winter¨ Houseplants

Somewhere I heard that there are no mistakes in gardening, only experiments from which you learn something. This fall and winter will be an experiment, the outcome of which will be revealed in the spring.

For the last two months I have been struggling with the meaning and implementation of ¨wintering.¨ Upon reflection, I think part of the problem was separating the word ¨winter¨ from the temperature, usually referred to as around 50 degrees Fahrenheight. Planta has for some time been advising me to place several of my plants into 50 degrees. Fifty degrees is probably normal for autumn but certainly not for winter, at least not in upstate New York.

Another aspect of the problem was/is the difference between houseplants and garden (outside) plants. Is there a difference in care for a potted plant that lives outside until autumn and one that always lives indoors? I pretty much came to the conclusion that ¨it depends.¨ 

And finally, does ¨wintering¨ include both winter and autumn? Is it the same as dormancy, as resting? I concluded that the answer is yes.

¨Winter¨ Temperature

So I converted my bedroom into the wintering room. I moved all my plants into the living room and set about lowering the temperture in the bedroom. Given that heat rises, the temperature here on the 10th floor is always about 74 degrees (with the heater turned off of course). I was unable to find any air conditioner that would lower the temperature below 60 but installed a window fan to bring air in from outside. This is a pretty small fan which means there exists an opportunity to improve on the transfer of air! Anyway, it seems to be working!! The temperature in the six feet in front of the window has been below 60, and now, at the end of November, I´m seeing 50 or 48. (And this is while the living room remains at 75!!) The temperature seems to be about 20 degrees higher than outside. So, while this morning it was 25 outside, it was 48 inside or thereabouts. I´ll have to keep my eye on it though because temperatures will hit zero sometimes during the winter--which would probably be too cold for these dormant plants. I´ll be able to control it somewhat by leaving the window open but turning off the fan. This is an ongoing experiment.

¨Winter¨ Watering

Everything I´ve read is consistent: water less but definitely water.

¨Winter¨  Fertilizing

The University of New Hampshire extension writes:

In winter, most houseplants go through a rest period. During these months, growth slows as plants are exposed to lower temperatures and less natural light. As a rule of thumb, only fertilize houseplants when they are actively growing [emphasis mine], because plants only use added nutrients when they are producing new leaves, roots, etc. This means putting away the fertilizer from October until the spring. March is a good time to start fertilizing, and most houseplants will benefit from an application once every 1 – 3 months depending on which formulation is being used.

Thadtś good enough for me, so no fertilizing will occur in the winter room regardless of what Planta advises.

Darkness

Every plant seems to have its own requirements, so this experiment will be specific to what I currently know about my plants.

I believe Flaming Katy requires two weeks of 14 hours dark nights so I have a cardboard box ready to cover them all and will implement the two weeks on January 1.

 

I bought the mini fridge for the Glory Lily and will give her two full months of total darknessd beginning January 1.

The other plants in there--Blackeyed Susan, Garden Phlox, and citrus seedlings--just require the normal short days, colder temps of winter.

   

How to Identify Leaf Issues on Scheffera

My new Umbrella Plant has something on its leaves. Originally, I thought it was dust or dirt, but even after two days of showering, it is still there. I can rub it off, but it obviously does not wash off.

 

My gut feelilng is that it was sprayed with something. However, I put out an enquiry in the Reddit sub-reddit, Houseplants.

 

Brought Home a 10¨ Potted Umbrella Tree

 So, yes, I did go back to home depot yesterday for the 10¨ for $10 deal. Isn´t she a  beauty?

Then, since Planta tells me sheś suseptible to scales, mealy bugs, and thrips, I gave her a thorough shower. Then I read something about how to prune her. All I remember is that you can prune her at any time of year. This morning I watched this particularly helpful video demonstration. The presenter, Catherine, said I can prune any branch within or without on her internodes. Catherine says to prune outer branches that are longer than inner branches in order to form a pleasing and rounded shape.

I´ve always been a bit leery of pruning--so FINAL!--but my new girl clearly needs it. Cross my fingers.

Three New Plants--hydroponic, bonsai, Janet Craig

 I went to Home Depot hoping to get some distilled water for the fountain I ordered--MIStake! Every time I go there I buy more plants. Today I bought three and should have bought the fourth.

First was the bonsai. Every time I´ve seen one there I say thety´re too expensive but beautiful. Now, after buying so many plants on-line, I KNOW that Home Depot is not expensive. So I bought a lovely ficus. Planta says she´s prone to all the bugs and pests, tsk, tsk, so I quarantined her on the living room floor, well away from every thing.

Second, was a plant on my list--Dracaena Janet Craig, which is a corn plant I think, and it will end up looking like the corn plant I bought in Idaho and not like that spiral that I hated and gave away. Janet looks very healthy, but I quarantined her on the bedroom floor, well away from everybody else.

Last, I probably shouldn´t have spent the $20 on because she, an Autograph Tree, wasn´t on my list (full sun and low light plants), but she was hydroponic and kind of interesting looking, so I bought her.

What I SHOULD HAVE bought, and might go back tomorrow for, was a ten inch (!!!) ficus like the one I tossed accidentally two months ago for $10. What a good deal!

I was SUPPOSED to do today was set up the humidifiers, but--even though it was 45 degrees outside--it was over 80 inside. So I opened one window in the living room, propped open the front door (which is across the room from the windows), and set up the exhaust fan in the bedroom window. Several hours later, the kitchen, where I´m trying to proof some bread, is down to 74, but the rest of the living room is still high. I will now shut the front door and see if that helps. It didn´t. Temperature rose rapidly. So I don´t think the exhaust fan does any good. I took it off, so hopefully the bedroom temp will fall now. By the way, now--at noon--outside temp is still 50 degrees. Only God knows how bad it will be when they turn the heat on in the building.

I was on a roll, so I added a Flaming Katy to my hydroponics list. This is supposedly a nono, so weĺl expect her to die. To compensate, I potted a couple more Flaming Katies.

Raising Humidity

 I have hygrometers all over the place, so I can observe that the humidity in my aparment has been falling down to about 50 nowadays. Autumn is here. Time to bring out the humidifiers. Last winter I used four and a small fountain. This year I´m contemplating a tall fountain--this one:

Itś a 43¨ tall Litton Lane Gold Metal Rustic Indoor and Outdoor Fountain for $175.57. Last year´s little Zen fountain was just not worth the trouble for the amount of water it put into the air. I still have her though and might just put her back to work.

Since every little bit of water will help, I´m also going to keep pebble trays. Sure one individual pebble tray won´t effect the humidity of the plant it sits on, but it will do it´s part to add to the overall room humidity. If a bowl of water will help, a pebble tray will help (and look more attractive!). 

My feelings about pebble trays are mixed. If you keep the water up to the top, you risk over-watering your plant. I like to feel the pebbles; I want them damp but not wet. Another problem with pebble trays is that the pebbles turns nasty. Every once in awhile I have to litterally wash the them. Ick.

Fountains also require care. It´s that darn water that gets icky and plugs up the plumbing. Even with bleach or something added, it is inevitable that the pipes will need to periodically be cleaned out. However, it´s easily done. It´s sad to read all those fountain reviews that say ¨it stopped working after six months.¨

I no longer bother to spray or spritz or mist the plants. Everything I´ve read admits that unless you do it every 10 minutes, you´re not affecting the plant´s humidity.  Easier to put out a bowl of water! 

Last winter I tried putting out pretty jars of colored water. They were pretty, and the water did evaporate, so they were working. However, again there was that icky water, hummm.

Last winter I also tried boiling water on the stove. Very labor intensive; it´s amazing how fast it goes down. However, it does work.

Received my Drosera Capensis bug eater!!!

Received my Drosera Capensis bug eater!!! So excited! Those flying bugs are driving me crazy in the kitchen!! California Carnivores delivered a superbly packaged, beautiful specimen.

and I immediately placed her under a grow light. This vendor offers 4, 8, or 16 hour sessions, and I had been advised (somewhere) that this sweetie wants 16, so that´s what I selected. Notice that she sits in water--distilled water only says California Carnivores.

How to Winter a Vine

 A Black Eyed Susan vine came in the mail today, and I put her directly into quarantine. She is beautiful, still flowering!

I now have three vines and am struggling with how to winter them. None of them are normally houseplants, so the next six months will probably be an experiment. I´ll review what I´ve learned so far.

Glory Lily -- For better or worse, I´ve decided to leave her in the window and modify Planta´s instructions a bit. In general,  we´ll reduce watering and stop fertilizing, leave her on the windowsill which will probably be at 74 during the day and in the 30s at night, sigh, but on January 1 we´ll put her into the fridge for two months of 50 degree darkness. In March she can go back on the windowsill with a trellis, and we´ll watch her grow and bloom (hopefully!!!). I´m trying this method because I read somewhere that she will not bloom if she doesn´t do dormancy properly.

Mandevilla Vine -- Planta provides the same instructions for Mandevilla as for Glory, but I´m going to just leave her in the windowsill all winter.

Blackeyes Susan -- I actually got an expert opinion on her from the Universilty of Wisconsin Horticulture, Division of Extension. They said she´ll bloom over the winter if kept in a sunny place with night temps at about 60 degrees. So we´ll try just leaving her on the windowsill all winter also. 

For both Mandevilla and Blackeyed Susan I may have to install a window curtain to pull at night because as I recall from last winter, the windowsill hit 30 degrees overnight. Or it might even  be easier to just move them every night to a warmer location. Trellis and all? What an adventure weĺl have.