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Author Topic: planning for winter  (Read 8625 times)
fireturtle

Posts: 2


« on: September 23, 2009, 12:11:00 PM »

Hi, everybody.

I'm totally new at this forum stuff, and just have a question.  Am in Thousand Oaks, Ventura County, CA   I have 4 larger exotics in 24" containers.  When the temps got below 50 and especially below 45, we'd roll them into the garage, along with the plumeria, and roll them out in the morning when it warmed up.  That worked well, and the small hibiscus were brought inside (that was OK when there were only 4 small ones on the floor), along with the orchids.   This year I have a 2-fold problem.  #1 There is no room in the garage to be able to put the plants in there at night, and #2,  I now have 12 little guys, 10 of which were in 4" pots and recently transplanted to 8" pots.  4 of them are recent purchases and still quite small.   No room where they were last year to keep them all inside at night and on cold days. I think building them some shelves in the den and putting a grow light on them will solve that problem.  If somebody has a better idea, please let me know.

What should I rig up for the bigger plants to keep them out of the cold at night?  There is a 10'x12' cement pad where our shed used to be (and won't be rebuilt before winter) that is currently being used for a plant nursery.  The only problem is that there is currently no way to get electricity to that area for lights, fans or heaters of any kind.

Any ideas you may have will be greatly appreciated.  The time to think about this stuff is now before we get into the winter weather, and I sure don't want to be last minute trying to figure out where to stash 16 hibiscus because of a cold snap.   Our big giant hibiscus and the 3 smaller ones in the tortoise pens are standard hibiscus and can handle colder temps.  The smaller ones are in containers because of gophers, so I can cover them if temps get into the 30's, which doesn't happen too often. 

Thanks in advance.



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Charlie
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« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2009, 08:21:50 AM »

Hi Fireturtle,

Welcome to the forum!

Note: This response applies to southern California and other areas which only receive a couple of light freezes per year and sometimes no actual freezes. Hibiscus in more northerly or colder areas must be brought inside or they will perish in winter cold.

It seems that your current situation rules out moving your 24" planters to any type of indoor location. The positive aspect is that the hibiscus in those planters must be at least a couple of years old and will be woodier and better able to handle the cold nights than first year hibiscus. Still, they won't like it much and can be damaged by frosts and light freezes.

To protect outdoor hibiscus the simplest thing to do is to move them alongside the house, south side if possible. If they can be under an overhang or big tree so much the better. The warmth of the house plus the protection from loss or heat due to direct exposure to cloudless skies can make a difference. It's better than nothing but not ideal.

Another way to go is to wrap your hibiscus loosely with the heaviest grade of frost cloth you can find. Even more protection can be had by running outdoor Christmas lights to each plant and plan to plug them in at night and unplug them during the day. Sounds silly but the lights give off heat that is partly trapped inside the frost cloth covering and together these can provide 10 degrees of protection.

A simpler variation on this is to tip the pots of hibiscus over on their sides and cover them with standard tarps during particularly cold nights. Lights can be used under tarps as well. The tarps are removed during the day and the plants set upright again. There can be damage to the leaves where they actually contact the tarp but the goal is to save the plants and new leaves grow back quickly once spring arrives.

There are also materials that can be sprayed on the hibiscus. These claim to add 2-4 degrees of winter protection. I'm not sure if they are worth it but one experiment I did with such a product in Topanga Canyon 12 years ago did seem to help when the temperatures were just about at freezing. There is a new spray-on product that claims an even higher degree of protection but I am still trying to find out if it really works before recommending it. 

Basically, the idea is that if you cannot take the hibiscus to a protected location they can be helped by bringing some sort of protection to them.

If worse comes to worse and the hibiscus are exposed to light freezes they will probably lose most of their leaves and some of the stems or ends of stems will die. In spring you cut off all dead wood and by mid-summer the hibiscus will be growing back nicely in most cases. In California we have a very long warm fall and blooms will keep coming in many areas until mid-November so the late recovery after winter is not so bad.

Any other ideas?

Charlie
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fireturtle

Posts: 2


« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2009, 06:59:26 PM »

Thank you very much, Charlie.  I read your article on greenhouses in the last newsletter, and thought maybe I'd think about making one of those hoop cold frames.  We have a 10'x12' cement pad where the shed used to be (haven't been able to rebuild yet) and the cold frame could go there and be anchored into the ground adjacent to the pad.  We could then wrap the plants and their pots in freeze cloth inside of it on nights when it's below 45 degrees.  That was the lower limit you gave me a while back as a guideline for when to bring the bigger ones in out of the cold.   It's just unfortunately an area out in the open with no shelter.  The smaller ones will be inside. I saw a PVC shelf unit that will work just fine and can be used for something else after winter, and get some trays for them to sit in.  We're dogless at the moment, so I don't have to worry about the dog dumping them over or drinking the water out of the trays. 

When we had our last big freeze back in 2006, I had wrapped the fuschia and its pot in freeze cloth, then covered the entire thing with a lightweight painter's drop cloth.  That plant had NO trouble at all surviving the extreme cold, and had absolutely no damage, so that would work, too.  If all the plants are wrapped up, they can sit in front of the garage, too, since that door faces south.  They are under eaves there, too. 

I'll prepare for having to build something, but just maybe I can convince my husband to clear out some of the junk accumulated in the garage lately and make some room for the hibiscus.  Maybe I should tell him just how much money is tied up in those plants, and then I know he'll help me clear a space for them.  :0)  Especially since he doesn't want to lose his little avocado tree that is also in a very large container and needs to be brought in out of the cold, too.

You got me thinking and have presented a lot of good alternatives in case they can't go into the garage.
Thank you again for the overwintering information. 
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Charlie
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Posts: 3646



« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2009, 09:34:05 AM »

Good luck with the husband! If garage space
doesn't happen, your backup plan sounds good.

Charlie
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