I have a small skunk cabbage plant in a pot. My yard has no water areas, I have the cabbage in potting soil with a bowl under to trap water so the soil stays moist, the pot is under a tree so it receives some sunlight but no direct light.
For warm weather watering isn't an issue, but what to do in winter when Hoses are frozen and I can't water. Even in winter by ponds and marshes under the soil is thick, moist mud. It won't be like that in pots.
Growing Skunk Cabbage in a pot?
good question. They must go dormant in cold weather. What if you try letting it go dormant, and see what kind of root system you find? Maybe, if possible, take out of the soil, and refrigerate over winter?
good question. They must go dormant in cold weather. What if you try letting it go dormant, and see what kind of root system you find? Maybe, if possible, take out of the soil, and refrigerate over winter?
I read they go dormant late summer early fall, cause leaves emerge in January or February as this plant creates heat allowing it to grow in dead of winter. For now in summer its easy to provide water, but winter unless there is ice in the soil there won't be any moisture.
The plant is too big (and too smelly) to keep in the fridge.
well--I'm guessing that the shorter day length makes it go dormant.
Unless someone else chimes in, I'd say let it go dormant in the pot, and just leave it somewhere outside all winter. It should stay moist, with minimal watering to make sure. . Start watching in January, making sure it is moist then as it starts to grow.
You might want to insulate it by putting the pot in an even larger pot and putting leaves or wood chips or something in between. Then another insulating mulch layer over the top once it is dormant. The idea is to make it less likely to freeze, but if it does freeze, hopefully it will only do it once and then stay frozen until spring.
Repeated freeze-thaw-heat up cycles are usually harder on plant than having winter just once.
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