Over Wintering In Iowa-Advice Needed

ADDITIONAL LIGHT NEEDED-
Does it matter whether its fluorescent, incandescent,halogen, full spectrum, grow-lights etc. ? ? ? ?

Do you add same number of hours needed each day or just leave light on all night once in a while?

Does it matter how close the light fixture is to the plant?

TEMPERATURE
Ideal for these plants during winter?

SOIL
Type need to be different from outdoor soil?

WATERING
Do watering methods change?

FERTILIZER
Do ANY plants or new cuttings require it in the winter?

AIRFLOW
Should ceil fans be on low for some air movement?

Thank you
Arlene





This message was edited Saturday, Nov 23rd 9:56 AM

This message was edited Saturday, Nov 23rd 9:57 AM

see this link

http://davesgarden.com/t/367688/

Temp/I do mine in the basement; I try to keep it around 65/70 degrees.

Soil/ Use a potting mix, I make mine own out of potting soil, spaghum peat, and vermiculite.

Water/ keep moist but don't over water. DO NOT LET DRY OUT.

Do not fertilize until spring

When my seedlings sprout I direct a fan on them for 1-2 hours a day. They say this strengthens the stems.
If you have any more questions let me know

This message was edited Friday, Nov 22nd 8:38 AM

I use regular shop lights; about 12 or 13 hours a day; a few inches from the tops of the plants; room temp (but I do have a heat mat for germinating some seeds); soil-less potting mix (pro-mix); some things I'll bottom water but I mostly water from the top; mild fertilizing when seedlings are a few inches tall; and I have a couple of clip-on fans I can sucure to the plant shelves when needed.

Paul,
On the light bulbs, why one warm and one cool?
Is that for added heat?

Each one gives a different spectrum of light waves.
These 2 lamps almost match the more expensive full spectrum bulbs.

Paul

TLC, are you asking about overwintering existing plants or starting from seed? I would like additional information about bringing non-hardy plants in for winter. Like mandevilla for instance. I brought it in, put it in a sunny window and it dropped all it's leaves. Now what?
Cecelia

Definitely - pulling in potted plants AND digging up anything you can get the spade under - wouldn't you have a more mature plant to put out in the Spring than buying at a garden center. Perhaps on some - cuttings - root them?

Many lovely plants that are perennial in other areas are not in ours. Never get very big in one short growing season.
Rosemary at my California home is like a huge shrub and the rosemary here never does too well. Have already killed
what we brought inside last month. Have learned some good things that might make a difference.
There are probably good tips for a lot of plants - like cutting back a third off the top, maybe some kind of trimming of the roots; slowly acclimating from ground to pot - from high light to lower light - to keep em happy!

If Elena sees this message, she can certainly share some advice with you. She has a rather unorthodox (but effective!) setup in her crawlspace, where she overwinters a TON of plants. I think the damp (but not wet) and consistently cool (but not cold) climate are the keys to her success. She also uses fluorescent lights, but I don't know if she gets picky about warm and cool ones, or the amount of time they're on each day.

(Paul's advice is exactly the same as what I got when I was setting up a lightstand for seedlings - don't waste your money on the expensive grow lights when you can buy one cool and one warm, and get the same effect :)

Hi Everyone,
Here is a link to ieSpell, a spelling checker for Microsoft Internet Explorer. If you don't use IE it won't work for you (sorry). I have installed it and it works great. It will allow you to check the spelling of anything that is typed into a text box (like we do here when posting at DG).

Here is the link; http://www.iespell.com/

Mike

So treelover, ie Spell works great; as you can see, it fixed my spelling in the first post on this thread.

Hope this great tip doesn't get buried and lost to others. Everyone needs a little spell checking from time to time!

Thanks Again!
arlene

Hi Arlene,
Glad you like the spell checker. I think it is a great tool. I used to do a copy and paste into a word document or an email to check the spelling of my posts, but this is much easier.
I think I am going to post this tip in its own message.
Thanks,
Mike

Think that is a good idea; maybe on the computer forum; I am now at my CA home and don't have it on this computer; was wondering how I was going to find it!

you must have ESP! Now I will download dit again!

Thanks
arlene