Annuals: need some help please first time of wintering my daturas, 0 by gammy3

gammy3 wrote:
I copied this from a member's post in 2008........
DATURA…..OVERWINTERING 40 degrees
They can also be potted in a 16+" pot if you have the room and a cool place to store them.

As the plant stops blooming in the fall when days get shorter, you can dig it up. (This year I waited to dig after first frost.) Remove all soil. Cut the stem back to 6". The roots are thick like a carrot, and finger-like at this point. They can be trimmed without harm. Leave small roots on the plant. Barely moisten some peatmoss (not wet) and put it around the roots. Put the roots in a plastic bag up to where the stem joins the root. Tie it loosely or use a rubber band. Or put the root in the bag first, then spread peat moss around the roots. Whichever is easier.

Place the bag with the roots in your fridge over winter, or someplace where the temp is similar. The plant will go dormant. It is a perennial in warmer zones. I believe they are hardier than people think.

I noticed in April, shoots growing at the base of the plant while still in the fridge. Also had formed new roots inside the bag. Life appeared to be stirring. How the plant knew it was spring while in the fridge, only It knows.

When you see this, remove from fridge, punch drainage holes in the bag and stick unplanted in a pot for support and water with plant food. Place the pot in a protected place with morning sun to harden off. Plant in the garden when it is past frost date in your area.

Treated as such, the plant grew huskier and bloomed earlier, than seed sown.

The pic didn't post so I looked for the post...and it is.....Daturas: DATURAS-how to store dormant in fridge over winter the url is http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1051779/

The post is by blooma and it starts the page. Hope this helps...IF...yours is a datura...BUT you just may have a brugmansia as I've not heard of a pink datura. Brugmansia hang down.....
Datura point up a bit. The pic I'm using is a dbl datura I have....notice that the flowers point a bit upish...
good luck with it.....gammy3

Here are the roots after I removed the soil and before it was tucked in a bag.
pic ic on her post....for each of the following also
Peat tucked around the roots in bag.

Bag closed up to the base of the stem ready for the fridge.