It's time to get moving on your winter plan for plants.
If you want to have any cuttings of outdoor plants, you should be taking them now. And if you are going to take certain major decorative plants indoors for the winter, you should make a decision on your strategy.
I have a few geraniums (pelargoniums) and fibrous-rooted begonias that I want to have around next season, so my usual habit is to take one or two plants in over the winter, kept under lights. Sometimes I take tip cuttings as well, so that I can plant up several individual pots of the specific plants I want to keep.
The cuttings I make are from 7.5 to 10 centimetres long and contain a growing tip that's producing buds and leaves. I trim off the lower leaves and any flower buds that are opening, just leaving the last three small leaves on the cutting.
All the cuttings go into the divisions of small cell packs filled with perlite. This is a much more open and airy product and encourages more rapid root growth. You can leave the cuttings outdoors until the weather turns cool. Just make sure the perlite never dries out completely.
In about three weeks, once the cuttings have started developing a good set of roots, you can take the cuttings out of each cell pack and put them into individual small pots filled with garden soil and compost. These are the containers they can be grown in until next spring, or you can plant several cuttings in the same larger pot to make a "mother plant."
The other event we should plan for is to start organizing the repatriation of any decorative semi-houseplants that we want to keep over the winter. I'm thinking specifically about non-hardy decorative plants such as hibiscus and oleander.
It's time to get moving on your winter plan for plants.
If you want to have any cuttings of outdoor plants, you should be taking them now. And if you are going to take certain major decorative plants indoors for the winter, you should make a decision on your strategy.
I have a few geraniums (pelargoniums) and fibrous-rooted begonias that I want to have around next season, so my usual habit is to take one or two plants in over the winter, kept under lights. Sometimes I take tip cuttings as well, so that I can plant up several individual pots of the specific plants I want to keep.
The cuttings I make are from 7.5 to 10 centimetres long and contain a growing tip that's producing buds and leaves. I trim off the lower leaves and any flower buds that are opening, just leaving the last three small leaves on the cutting.
All the cuttings go into the divisions of small cell packs filled with perlite. This is a much more open and airy product and encourages more rapid root growth. You can leave the cuttings outdoors until the weather turns cool. Just make sure the perlite never dries out completely.
In about three weeks, once the cuttings have started developing a good set of roots, you can take the cuttings out of each cell pack and put them into individual small pots filled with garden soil and compost. These are the containers they can be grown in until next spring, or you can plant several cuttings in the same larger pot to make a "mother plant."
The other event we should plan for is to start organizing the repatriation of any decorative semi-houseplants that we want to keep over the winter. I'm thinking specifically about non-hardy decorative plants such as hibiscus and oleander.
The first step is to give each plant a good washing. You don't want to bring any unwanted guests into the home. You can use mild dishwashing soap or insecticidal soap for a really thorough job. Remember to wipe under the leaves, because this is a favourite place for insects to lay eggs. Rinse the leaves with clear water.
Next, grab the pots, throw them indoors and then forget about them. The big difference will be a sudden drop in light levels that they're exposed to. If this drop is too fast, you'll have a huge loss of leaves. You can limit the loss by making the move gradually. I would suggest bringing the plants indoors on the nights when the temperatures are going to go below 10C, and then taking them back out the next morning.
Gradually, over the course of a week, let the plants harden off a bit. Growing tips will slow down their activity. Minimize the immediate leaf loss by putting the houseplants back in their old indoor winter locations -- putting the sun-lovers (rosemary, pelargonium, etc.) in the brightest place you have.
When leaves start changing colour and falling off, it's a good time to cut back the growing tips of all your plants, just to slow them down a bit and keep them as compact as possible.
And don't feed the plants any fertilizer while they slow down. The time to restart feeding will be if you notice any new growth. This might happen with the plants getting the best light.
Be prepared to face the loss of those older leaves for a few weeks after bringing the plants in.
---- Canwest News Service
