Help Me Brainstorm How to Keep Plants Through Winter -- Not Inside -- Frugally

[TENroaches]

It's seeming more and more like I'll have to get rid of my plants real soon. But I really don't want to. :-(

This summer, I got real bad chest pain, ended up going to the hospital, got 300 cc of pus drained from around my lungs, and the doctors had no idea what caused it. Possibly mold. They asked if I live on a farm or anything, and I said no, but I have plants in peat moss, and the infectious disease specialist said okay yeah it's probably peat then, since she couldn't figure anything out.

But it might also have been black mold from the basement bathroom in my house. But that mold has since been removed.

I used to have a plant grow rack in my (finished) basement, where I spent most of my days, and my nights as I got sicker. I neglected the one container that was growing some real funky stuff, and had a fan over it, so if my plants were really the cause of my sickness, I bet that was the cause.

Anyway, I'm underemployed and this is my parents' house I'm in, and my mother doesn't want me to have my plants inside anymore, except possibly on a small rack in the garage.

I could possibly have a place for my nepenthes, on a windowsill at my friend's apartment, for the winter. My understanding is that my sundews don't need dormancy, but could go dormant.

I've heard of people trimming the green off plants and putting them in fridges in bags. That would work for some of my bigger plants, possibly, but I have pots of seedlings, too.

I'm in western PA, so it stays below freezing consistently in winter.

I'm pretty sure my grow list in my signature is up-to-date. Here are some pics of my precious plants:

Thank you! Any questions, just ask.

 

[cpbobby]

well the sarracenia, vfts and perhaps some of your sundews are temperate so they should survive the winter. I would say keep your water levels low and you should be ok(when it gets cold that is...not now). I have heard that some of the african sundews will die back to the roots and come back but I am not sure how that works if the pot freezes and if it will work for all African sundews...I have heard the capensis will survive though. There are people on here that keep these temperate plats outside in the snow located in Oregon so I would think you'd be ok.

If you are still concerned perhaps a heating matt under that table on the backside of the glass with some clear plastic around it maybe for a makeshift heated cold frame?

I planned on leaving my temperate plants on the front porch for the winter and luckily all my African sundews can fit in a 10 gallon terrarium.

 

[TENroaches]

Thanks for the reply. I thought they had to be planted in the ground to survive the winter. I'd have freezing air all around the pot, so the soil would freeze solid. One of my Sarrs even says not to let it get below 50 I think for winter. I forget which Sarr; I have the tags downstairs and can check.

I also have a patio under a deck behind my house. I wonder if a lean-to with just plastic would keep it any warmer at all. Probably only when sun's beating in it.

There are woods behind my house, so if there were any creative ideas with burying pots in other sealed containers, I might be able to pull that off. If that'd be needed.

Ideally, I'd like to not have to unpot any of the plants, because this past Spring I repotted everything in bigger pots hoping I can leave them potted awhile. When I did that repotting, I also didn't use a dust mask, which could be what got into my lungs. Who knows.

 

[DJ57]

If your winter temps are consistently below freezing, I would protect the pots as much as possible. One method would be to surround the pots heavily with straw and mulch the top (like fill that chicken wire enclosure with loose straw and nestle the pots down into it). The sarrs and flytraps should do fine with that. If you have consistent snow cover through winter, that may also help insulated them. D. capensis probably will not survive in pots in your winter. Mine survive only because they are in a large inground bog, and we don't get below freezing temps consistently. D. intermedia, D. rotundifolia, and D. capillaris may do okay.

Another option, although drastic, would be to try to find temporary homes for them in warmer states. I would be willing to foster a few of your sarracenia here in Oregon through winter and then ship back to you in spring.

Edit: You are correct, some sarrs do not take consistent freezing temps well and the capes will perish in pot that freeze solid. Burying the pots in the ground and mulching on top might work.

 

[TENroaches]

You grin like you're not serious, but I may have to find foster homes.

I could probably find a friend locally for some of my capensis pots to stay above freezing, but I have too many big Sarr pots for that to be an option for them.

I've also wondered how warm an unheated (or heated) storage unit stays in the winter. I imagine a heated unit costs too much to make sense to rent for 4 months.

 

[cpbobby]

your under the porch approach sounds good as far as temps but then you need some light. perhaps put your smaller pots into bigger containers and line with straw for insulation? This is informative for me as well....perhaps I will move my pots closer to the windows on the porch when it gets really cold but luckily here it doesn't consistently stay below freezing too long and judging from the summer temps; I anticipate a milder winter here in central VA....hopefully.

Not sure how soon your cold season starts in Pittsburgh but you have already solved a third of your problems....you don't necessarily need to keep it warm just above freezing I would imagine except for that one plant you mentioned......You should definitely consider foster care for that one perhaps at a friends house.

Lastly, depending on how understanding your parents are you could construct a makeshift hothouse if there are any windows close to ground or porch level. With the use of wood or plastic or whatever and plastic sheeting you kinda make an extension off of one of your windows and seal it. Then after it is sealed simply open the window and temperature control is basically leeched from your furnace. Not sure if it is viable but just throwing it out there.

 

[DJ57]

Yeah, the cost of a heated storage unit may be cost-prohibitive. In your situation with options limited, I would dig some holes in a protected area and bury the pots and mulch the top. If you get freezing winds, cover the pitchers of the sarrs (if you leave them on) with black plastic until the winds die down. As for the capes, if you end up losing yours over winter...I can replace them come spring as I will have plenty.

Another option is to check with local nurseries and see if they might lend you some space in one of their temperate greenhouses?

 

[TENroaches]

your under the porch approach sounds good as far as temps but then you need some light. perhaps put your smaller pots into bigger containers and line with straw for insulation?

There's light; the deck is about 15 feet high, and it'll get sun in the evenings from SW, but light throughout the day. Oh, maybe you meant because of darkness caused by the leanto. I was picturing just a plastic sheet, but that probably wouldn't keep much heat at all in.

 

[Huntsmanshorn]

After a couple of good freezes, cut the tops off all the big sars and shluup them, and any other temperates you need to store, to a friends or relatives garage. Unheated works okay, if its connected to a lived in house, I think it works better. Heated garages only work if its kept just a little above freezing. If it gets to warm your plants will get confused and come out of dormancy early, which will suck in December. Find a nice safe place for them out of everybody's way and check on them every few weeks. Keep just moist. If you notice any mold then spray with a anti-fungal. Don't worry about light, since they will be dormant they will be fine. In the spring they get to go back to a nice sunny spot and all is right with the world. As for the subtropical dews, since they don't really do the dormancy thing, they probably would have to go on the grow rack in the garage you mentioned. By the way, nice looking plants. Wish I had that much sun!

 

[TENroaches]

Yeah, the cost of a heated storage unit may be cost-prohibitive. In your situation with options limited, I would dig some holes in a protected area and bury the pots and mulch the top. If you get freezing winds, cover the pitchers of the sarrs (if you leave them on) with black plastic until the winds die down. As for the capes, if you end up losing yours over winter...I can replace them come spring as I will have plenty.

Another option is to check with local nurseries and see if they might lend you some space in one of their temperate greenhouses?

Protected area.... I'd forgotten about wildlife if I bury the plants under mulch in the woods. Wildlife is the whole reason I have chicken wire up. A raccoon (I think) shredded some of my plants two years ago, so I wanted to be extra careful.

I could hold onto billions of my cape seeds, but that wouldn't give me any grown plants come Spring. I'll definitely keep your offer in mind if I manage to not have any cape survivors. Thanks.

 

[richjam1986]

First off, beautiful plants! Smart to use the chicken wire.

You're right, you deffinately don't want to leave them outside unless they are put in the ground and mulched. Assuming your garage gets pretty cold, I would just put them in the garage for the winter. Any reason that wont work?

...and then put your capensis in a sunny window for the winter?

 

[TENroaches]

Not sure how soon your cold season starts in Pittsburgh but you have already solved a third of your problems....you don't necessarily need to keep it warm just above freezing I would imagine except for that one plant you mentioned......You should definitely consider foster care for that one perhaps at a friends house.

Lastly, depending on how understanding your parents are you could construct a makeshift hothouse if there are any windows close to ground or porch level. With the use of wood or plastic or whatever and plastic sheeting you kinda make an extension off of one of your windows and seal it. Then after it is sealed simply open the window and temperature control is basically leeched from your furnace. Not sure if it is viable but just throwing it out there.

Winter's is beginning to start. Had a frost advisory the other night. A major advantage of having the plants at home with me is I can put them in the sun during the day and back in if the nights freeze or frost, coming into winter and into spring. Last year or the year before, my VFTs started putting out bean sprout-colored growth in the garage, because they wanted to grow and it was still cold outside. So I'd put them out during the day and back in at night. They needed the additional light.

My parents wouldn't go for that good window idea. I'm not sure I even have a window that'd work well with, other than on the front of the house on the porch, and that'd look pretty bad. :-\

 

[TENroaches]

First off, beautiful plants! Smart to use the chicken wire.

You're right, you deffinately don't want to leave them outside unless they are put in the ground and mulched. Assuming your garage gets pretty cold, I would just put them in the garage for the winter. Any reason that wont work?

...and then put your capensis in a sunny window for the winter?

My garage gets plenty cold. It gets below freezing, which is a worry for me. It's attached to heated rooms on two sides, but still gets below freezing, but not too far, and probably not for very long at a time.

I may be able to fit all my plants on shelves in there. I'm not permitted to keep plants inside in living areas, so capensis in a sunny window wouldn't work, at least not in my house. Maybe a friend's.

Hmmm, I just remembered there's storage space above the garage, which might be warmer than the garage, because half of it is directly over the heated family room. There's no window, but it may be a possibility if space is an issue in the garage.

If I can fit every dormant plant in or above the garage, I won't have to take my mom's advice to "put them on craigslist for free."

 

[TENroaches]

In the spring they get to go back to a nice sunny spot and all is right with the world. As for the subtropical dews, since they don't really do the dormancy thing, they probably would have to go on the grow rack in the garage you mentioned. By the way, nice looking plants. Wish I had that much sun!

That's the big advantage of getting to keep them at home; I can put them out when the days get warmer and still bring them in at night for the freezing or frosty nights. It's a lot of work, and I found out the other day that the pots get brittle in the sun (nepenthes fell into a big mess in my house when I was trying to sneak him back out after sneaking him in for the frost advisory). The rack in my garage isn't really a "grow" rack. It's a rack full of garage-type stuff, like wasp spray and weed killer, so I'd have to move all that to put my plants on there. And there's no light above it, just a north-facing glass block window next to it. the plants in the back of the rack don't get any light from it.

My blog entry about my garage plants.

 

[Sundrew]

I took all my temperate plants into my garage last winter, and put them on a windowsill. I have winters that are exactly the same as yours, and this was fine. I think they may have even wanted it colder. Our winters are very very cold, so I doubt leaving them outside will keep your plants alive.

 

[Wire Man]

How big are the large pots? If you keep them raised off of the ground like that they'll freeze much faster than if they were placed on the ground. You could always wrap them with some sort of plastic insulation.
I'm not that much further south than you are, and I leave all of my temperates outside for the winter, even S. psittacina. All do perfectly fine.

 

[TENroaches]

My big pots are probably a foot tall and a little over a foot across, I'd guess. I have no intension of leaving them off the ground outside for winter. The only heat source is the ol' earth at night, and they'd surely freeze away from it.

 

[Wire Man]

Actually, geothermal heat is at a constant 54 F. If you can dig them into the ground somehow that will keep their roots warm.

 

[Keith]

Great discussion guys! I am preparing for my CP's first winter in zone 4-5 and I have to say I am a bit worried about what my game plan is also.

Hopefully a cold basement can work for me. I'm planning at this point to put plants against a south wall of our unfinished basement and insulate with faom packing.

Perhaps you could sell your parents on a cheap flourescent strip to mount on your garage shelving? Not great for spectrum or intensity, but maybe enough for sleepy plants. However, I would not increase lighting time to make up for weak intensity as extra light hours might confuse your plants.

 

[GrowinOld]

I didn't have the time to read thru this entire thread,
however I noticed your VFT's are still trying to grow, but lacking in enough light to do them much good.
It shows that they are not yet going dormant enough to stop growth.
It isn't that they need light during dormancy, however it shows that they are not dormant yet!
Thus, I don't understand why you are "saving them" & other plants from experiencing the short freezing temps overnight....
for it is the cold temps (warm days, cold nights, short days, etc.) that will put them properly into dormancy.

Not suggesting you are doing anything wrong, but trying to help you realize that some cold (even a bit of freezing) is not the enemy!

My other thought is to try a few plants in one location, a few elsewhere, etc. It is the first few winters where you will learn a lot!
Like what works best! There is no way around that, if you are going to master this. Besides, with a few here & others there & so on,
if one area does poorly, you won't lose your entire collection. Its like putting all your eggs in one basket otherwise.

As none of us lives there with you, only you will be able to figure out what is best..... and experience will help greatly.
Wouldn't eant to see you loosing everything with one method that was "supposed to work" but didn't!

We have all been there at one point, and it seems others who haven't will be in a similar spot as you too...
so you are not alone in this situation.
Good luck!