Transitioning from Overwintering Inside to Living Outdoors

[Darkhorse]

So I haven't posted much lately because there hasn't been much to say.  All of my plants have lived indoors over the winter, and haven't had any direct sunlight since about December.  Though all the plants stayed green they looked dull, like they were teetering between health and not feeling so well.  It is just now getting warm enough to put the plants outdoors during the day and they've already perked up.  I've developed a protocol, and hopefully I don't kill anybody during the transition. 

This past week I have put all the plants outside for 30 min. a day in direct sunlight, as early in the morning as possible.  They are already exhibiting new growth-- Buttercup and Blue Ballerina are even forming one tiny bud each.  Over the next month or two I will work on getting them acclimated to direct sun again, increasing the amount of sunlight in 30 min. increments.  So, starting tomorrow (if it doesn't rain here, which I'm sure it will) they will go out for an hour in direct sun since it will be the beginning of week 2.  This is also an experiment to see who buds up first and with the smallest amount of sunlight.

One issue I've run into is that although their soil is wet, the plants will wilt when exposed to direct sun at first.  Today I woke up around noon (I know, it's my Saturday today...) and put them out.  It was about 78 degrees and they were wilty within 10 min.  I left them out for almost half and hour and brought them in when I thought they were wilting a little too much. Everybody has perked up since, though. 

I will keep you guys posted on this experience.  Charlie (or anyone) if you have additional thoughts or suggestions please feel free to add.

JL

[Charlie]

Hi Jordan, nice to hear your voice again! I haven't had a lot of experience moving plants in and out of the house. Usually they go from greenhouse to house and if they need to go back to greenhouse they can do it without any transition period. That is because the greenhouse has some shade paint on top that removes the worst of direct sunlight. I think you have a good plan in place and suspect that it won't take that long to transition them to more light.

The wilt is a surprise to me. It must have been too much of a change for them to take full mid-daysun and 78F. If you put them out earlier or later it might be easier on them at first.

I like your experiment of seeing which buds up first, let us know!

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

Thanks, I've missed posting. 


It surprised me too...  the first couple of days I put them out (early, temp was about 70) they wilted a bit in the sun but recovered when I brought them in.  They didn't wilt in the cooler mornings later in the week but of course they did today when they were out later and it was warmer.  My thought on this is since they haven't been doing much growing or as much photosynthesizing, they haven't been taking up much water.  Now they're out and growing; more photosynthesis is suddenly going on and they need lots more water but aren't used to taking that much up at once.

Hmm, would that mean that xylem (plant vascular tissue that carries water and some nutrients) can temporarily shrink when not water's not being taken up in large amounts?

[Charlie]

Use it or lose it - universal principle!  Maybe Chris has a more botanical opinion on this 

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

Hmm I will look into it, lots of work today

[Darkhorse]

lol Charlie I was thinking that exact same cliche

[helixturnhelix]

Hi Jordan,

In thinking more about xylem, I don't think that xylem is going to shrink because as a rule xylem and phloem are very rigid.  However it is possible that cells at the base of the leaves are shrinking, causing leaf wilt.  Usually some extra water until they get used to the increased loss of water associated with increased heat would help them adapt.  My Acapulco Gold did the same think when I first put it outside, but now its fine.  There are a bunch of metabolic things that plants do under stress, one that I am writing a grant on (for class >.<) is on the role reactive oxygen species play in heat resistance.  Reactive oxygen species are produced by stressed plants and there is some speculation that infection with a mycovirus (virus that infects fungus) may help make plants more resistant to heat stress because they break down reactive oxygen species produced by the plant.  Oh one note these reactive oxygen species are produced under stress and in large amounts are very detrimental to the plants health. 

As I learn more about this subject I will try and form a better answer for you.

Im looking forward to some new pics!  What varieties are you going to be working with this year?

[Darkhorse]

Chris,

I think you're definitely right on with the metabolic changes-- it's not just heat, though, it's the sunlight that's causing the wilt.  The plants are in a room heated by a space heater to 80 degrees F and have been all winter.  I put them out in the early morning the first couple of days when it was about 70 degrees F outside, and they began to wilt.  They certainly wilted more when it was warmer yesterday and they went outside.

Just looked up reactive oxygen species-- never heard of ROS before in a plant context but then again I was pre-vet in college so we tended to neglect most plant topics.  Free radicals are for us mammals I know, and a good excuse not to do cardio....heh



Right now still amongst the living in my collection are:

Space Oddity
Blue Ballerina
Buttercup
Sunkissed Blonde
Chariots of Fire
Acapulco Gold
Hot Pepper

There are also 4 mystery plants that I took the tags off of last year and have lost track of who they are.  I've murdered so many that they could be anyone.  I had Allure, In The Mood, Purple Majesty, Valentine's Day, Bridal Path, Cranberry Muffin, and some others that I can't think of right now that are unaccounted for.  I like surprises, though.  I'm hoping that In the Mood and Allure both made it because they seem harder to come by; we'll see.  I am now keeping all new plants tagged until I get some nice looking labels.   

I just got Burnt Saffron, Illuminati (with buds, yay!), Splash!, and Sleeping Beauty in the mail the other day and I have 11 more plants coming in a couple more shipments.

I'm very excited about this year and can't wait to share photos.  I've learned so much through trial by fire that I feel relatively competent now.







Charlie, so far winning the bud race are Buttercup, Blue Ballerina, and Space Oddity.  All three have 1 or 2 teeny buds forming after one week of 30 min. of direct sun.

[Darkhorse]

Another observation I've made so far is that my plants must not have had enough light to grow much this winter.  Most have very short internodes at the moment, and when I did some potting up last week none exhibited the root growth I had expected.  Now that the tops of the shoots are REALLY starting to grow, it has made this more obvious.  I have one mystery cv that I suspect is Valentine's Day; I can almost just sit here and watch this one grow.


Still nobody else is budding up yet.  Space Oddity, though, has about five or six little buds.  Interestingly, there's one shoot of Space Oddity that is growing very rapidly.  No buds on this one.  The branches that are budding aren't showing much growth.  Can plants allocate energy differently in different parts of themselves?




_{(please tell me if the glow is annoying;  I for some reason am amused by it lol)}

[1.618]

Like everyone else I guess I also have been trying to transition my plants to the outdoors over the past several weeks. My biggest challenge is that I have over a 100 plants to move back and forth so there is a temption to leave them out when I should be bringing them back in. So mine have been wilting from cold rather than heat. I've left them out overnight when temps dropped back into the high 30'sF. I was surprised to find that they wilted and looked frost bitten before the temps even reached freezing. Even worse I discovered that if there was a cold wind they not only wilted but the leaves dessicated and dried up to a crisp brown even tho they weren't frozen.

Life was so much easier when I only had a dozen or so plants! And the long range forecast for my neck of the woods is calling for more night time lows in the 30's in the coming week and even 34 on Monday night!

Ian

[Darkhorse]

Ian,

  High thirties will definitely hurt them... I play it safe and don't leave them out when temps get below 50.  You need a wagon to cart them around in.  I have 15 plants right now and it's a pain moving them... but 100!  Hopefully yours will recover.

JL

[1.618]

Jordan,

I've built my own super cart. It's a 4x8 foot sheet of thick plywood with heavy duty dolly wheels attached. Allows me to move a large number of plants around in my driveway very nicely but now I have to improve my garage so that its airtight and heatable.

Ian

[Charlie]

I learned about cold wilt in a scary incident a decade ago. I got a one line email from a guy in Canada asking if we shipped there. From that we eventually reached an agreement on an entire truck load of hibiscus to a wholesale distributor there. That's also when I learned that Canadians (and Europeans) love their houseplants and grow lots of plants indoors that are outdoor plants in southern California.

Anyway, when the heated truck finally arrived in Quebec it was freezing there. The truck was unloaded straight into a greenhouse but the plants were exposed to freezing temperatures for a short time as they came off the truck. I got a panicked phone call from the buyer saying the plants were all wilting right after they unloaded them. I didn't know what was going on so told them to water them and see what happened. A couple hours later they called back to say the plants were mostly recovered and we agreed that the short exposure to the freezing temperatures had been the cause. Crisis averted.

Ian, your description reminds me of Lou, who moves his hibiscus in and out of his barn using a homemade platform on wheels. He lives in Minnesota and had the similar problem of pleasant days but too cold nights in spring. It works well for him and is the only practical way to deal with a large collection. Lou converted his barn into a winter grow palace with lights, water that is warmed in a tank before giving it to his tropical plants, and heat. His local tv did a documentary about how he grew tropicals in Minnesota.

Charlie

[Charlie]

Chris, interesting about the reactive oxygen species that plant stress generates. Maybe we should be feeding Vitamin C or other antioxidants to stressed plants?

Charlie

[Darkhorse]

Charlie,

   I wanted to update you on the budding up of the cvs I had over winter.  Space Oddity is the CLEAR winner with 15 or so huge buds, some of which will be open in the next couple of weeks I think.  Sunkissed Blonde and Buttercup also have one or two small buds each. 

Blue Ballerina interestingly dropped the one small bud she was developing.  BB had two main branches and I pruned one of them, so no bud on that one for now although tons of new growth is showing up below.  Hopefully I'll have several more branches to show for my efforts.  Anyway, no bud yet on the other original branch of BB, but the plant is growing quite a bit at this point and I'm guessing that's where she's directing all her energy.

There's also a mediumish bud on the mystery CV we think might be Valentine's Day.  Almost everyone else got pruned, so I suppose I sabatoged my experiment a little. 

[helixturnhelix]

Oops missed this one Charlie.  I wonder if using Vit C (ascorbic acid) would help reduce plant stress associated with triple digit temperatures or transplanting?  Ive been using super nova foliar spray after hot days to try to reduce the stress, it would be interesting to see if ascorbic acid would do the same thing.

Great to hear Jordan!  The space oddity at my parents house is always a great bloomer, its been going strong since April.   My mom kept it on the porch all winter, which protected it from the cold raining winter they had in so cal, and SO it rewards her with flowers every day   I also must say that it grows pretty quick too.  We got ours around the same time, (remember the cinnamon girl mix up ) and its about 4 feet tall with 6 branches!  I am looking forward to visiting my parents this summer to see how the hibiscus garden I planted for them is doing.  In May I moved Rainbow Sherbet in the front of the flower bed where I hope it will take center stage.  RS had a hard prune and I saw three branches forming (finally).  This is also a spot that gets the most sun and last year Long tall sally's blooms blackened in that full sun.   I also planted Chariots of Fire in that garden as well.  In addition to those two... there is a Long Tall Sally, First Love and Young at Heart that were added last year.

Come to think of it... I remember seeing Fantasy Charm and June's Dragon survived the winter in another flowerbed and Cinnamon girl and Gator pride looked good in 10 gallon pots    I will have to take some pics to share.

[Kyle]

This is an older topic i wanted to share on.   Transitioning winterized plants to outdoors again is a long acclimating process for me.   There are so many variables like sun, wind, fresh air, humidity, that contribute  to how quickly a plant can  adjust to the outdoors.    Plants that were outside at a nursery in good health acclimate quicker.    Plants with deep green hardy leaves also transition quicker.
   My hibiscus are brought inside from mid Oct to-May in Ohio.      My indoor and outdoor garden faces East so during the winter months they receive no direct sun but receive good amount of reflected sun.  Over the winter my plants are pruned, shaped, and most of the leaves fall off with new tender leaves filling in.   The new foliage that grew over winter is light green, undergrown,  soft, and delicate.  
A plant can receive 50% more sunlight outside in the shade compared to inside behind a bright sunny window.    Good quality windows and screens all help filter out UV and UB light as well.
Besides the sun,  huge doses of fresh air, humidity,and wind all contribute to why plants wilt very fast when transitioning outside.   The biggest problem I found when transitioning outside is that plants wilt in no time at all even in the shade.
     I started taking my plants outside 2 week ago when it was 75℉.   After 10 mins of them sitting in the shade at 11am with no wind all the top leaves turned soft and  started to wilt.     I quickly brought everything inside and after a few hours the top leaves firmed up and return to normal.   When I set my plants outside in the shade I watch them like a Hawk.   I keep an eye on the leaves at the very top of the plant for them to turn soft then bring them back inside.    
Some plants wilt in 10 mins, others 30 mins, and some can last 2-3hrs in the shade.      I have been doing this every day for 2 weeks and I still have a few that wilt after 20 Mins in the shade and others can stay in the shade for a few hours.    
    Last year my 4" Am I Blue took 2 months for it to tolerate some morning sun after the shipping. 
Wind also plays a big factor when transitioning plants from inside to outside and can cause  them to wilt quickly.  My experience with hybrids is that they don't like gusty wind when transitioning  back outside.  During the transition process back outside, i continue to use hvh indoor formula at half dose but with more SuperNova or just SuperNova alone.
I suggest backing off your fertilizer when acclimating your hibiscus to outside.    
All winter long you worked so hard taking care of your hibiscus inside,  you wouldn't want to see that go to waste, by rushing the acclimating process.  Outside sunlight can't compare to  artificial lighting even if  it's Hps, metal hal, or led lighting.  
If anyone is transitioning their hibiscus back outside, it could take weeks or months to fully acclimate even if you put your plants in the shade.  Watch for the top leave to soften, and don't assume  they will be fine in the shade and walk away.
  

[Cindy]

Hi Kyle,

I just saw this post, and we've seen some of these things too. For us, in a high desert climate, the wind is the hardest for the plants at first. One bad wind event can make the plants drop a ton of leaves and all their buds, and then take a month or two to recover from. Our plants get a lot of direct sunlight inside, then we put them outside into mostly shade, so we don't have the sun issues that you have. But we do experience the wind problem!

Thanks for sharing your experience!
Cindy