Bringing the plants in for winter...

I can hardly believe it, but here it is, Oct. 13th, and Pittsburgh has not had a frost yet! This year, I'm ready. The sunroom is cleaned out, the plant lights are up and I ready to go. I was wondering what everyone did to their plants before they bring them in for the winter. I know they need a good rinsing off/shower, but are there other things that I should do to make sure that I don't bring the outdoor pests, etc. indoors for the winter? I'd rather not find a 1 inch long black and yellow striped spider and a bunch of spider mites in my sunroom one morning! Just wondering. Thanks, Liz

this is Michigan and in my area we havent had a frost either and its so darn wonderful to see daylilies still blooming and even the roses

***dont we still get an indian summer??

**I would keep spraying them with soapy water for a few weeks I hate to bring anything in to my jungle(house) I keep the outside ones seperate from the houseplants that never go out-- during the coming in period till om sure none have anything!!!!!!
luck to you
dori

Great idea. I will start spraying with soapy water. The frost is inevitable. If i am bringing the plants into an area with grow lights, do I still need to bring them in and out for a week or so to adjust them to the inside? I know the temperture will be different inside, but the lights should get them going. What do you think?

One thing I recommend is to leach the pots before you bring them in. That way, if worms and dirt-loving creepy-crawlies got into the pots over the summer, they will simply float down the drain!

I do this practice every year. It seems to work well and the plants probably wouldn't mind the leach anyway!

Lisa

KiMFDiM,
What is the process of leaching, I bring in bugs every year. Thanks.

I'm giving this a bump because I want to know what "leaching" is, too.

Well I am very sad to say, I brought my plants in for the winter about 3 weeks ago. I wanted to get them used to the indoors. And now i can say they are all dying..every one of them, i will have to take pictures to show you all, The leaves are falling off, they are droopy. i have water them and debugged them but they do this every year when i bring them indoors and then when i put them back out for the summer next year they will perk right up again, although mostly all of them are just stems at first. This is sad to me cause i have alot of money invested in them and just love them. Cant bare to see them all die all the time.
Does anyone have any suggestions to this to help me keep my plants alive and healthy


Thanks,
Char

I was checking our temps for this weekend. I'm gonna HAVE to work on my plants tomorrow. The night temp is supposed to be in the low 40's in town, and I live a couple of miles out, which means it's colder at my house than in the city.

I'm going to spray mine with soapy water and see if I have some neem oil to spray on them. I believe the neem is supposed to give a light coating so any eggs that have been carefully deposited by some caring insect mama won't hatch, but smother! Does that sound cruel? No! No! No!

When I was little :) my mom brought some fall branches, grasses, etc., inside and put them in a tall basket in the corner. One day we came home and there were praying mantises all over the place! And there just wasn't anywhere to put them in the dead of winter! Those poor little creatures.

Here's hoping your plants make it safely inside before the freeze!

I brought the bougainvilla in today and brought the plumaria onto the porch. The bouggie is starting to bloom big time. It is deep red outside, but gets pink "blooms" later in the winter. The Lantana will shed leaves big time after bringing it in.

Here is a couple of links that might help.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/539106/
http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/plantsci/landscap/pp744w.htm

When I bring in plants I've been using last year and this year a product called End All. You can buy it premixed in a spray bottle or concentrate. I buy the concentrate. I than water my plants with it really well as well as spray the foliage. Between this and the yellow plant stickys I was able to keep my plants under control. Once in a while if I noticed a bug or two, I would spray the plants and the soil.

Quite a few of the plants I brought in, I've placed them down in the basement either under grow lights or near the lights. The basement is cooler and has more humidity than on our main floor. With my brugmansias, I left them in the pots and put them in darker corner to let them go dormant and water maybe 2 or 3 times until I can start getting them ready for Spring.

:) Donna