Tropical hibiscus, jasmine, bougainvillea and small citrus trees will do quite well indoors if they’re in a bright spot where temperatures are at least 60 degrees. Indoor plants make our homes beautiful, but they can also be more work during the wintertime. It is flourishing here in North Texas. Here is our guide on how to keep your indoor plants alive. Hop over to the summer plant care tips instead. “You don’t want to fertilize your plants during the winter, only during the growing season.” Use half the amount that the box tells you to. Also, ask where to plant and how to care for a plant before you purchase it. Finally, clean off dust and grime from the exterior of the pot. Monrovia reserves the right to remove comments deemed offensive, vulgar or inappropriate at any time without explanation. Care for your plants according to a consistent schedule. Because if left outside, it would not be able to survive due to the level of coldness in your growing area. Plants need light, water, support, nutrients, and an adequate air supply. Discover new plants and design ideas for your garden, 817 E. Monrovia Place Azusa, California 91702-1385. Still, don’t waterlog the Nepenthes and spray their leaves once or twice a day! Ease the stress by learning the basics of how to take care of indoor plants in winter. The first thing to remember about hibiscus winter care is that hibiscus in the winter will need less water than it does in the summer. “You don’t want to fertilize your plants during the winter, only during the growing season.” Use half the amount that the box tells you to. 2. Winter is the easiest time to kill an indoor plant, but these tips will help them thrive during the chill. Lauren has worked for Aurora, Colorado managing the Water-Wise Garden at Aurora Municipal Center for the Water Conservation Department. The garage never goes below 32 degrees but tends to hover in the 40’s and low 50’s all winter. For indoor plants, fertilize in the spring and summer. Why Plants are Worth the Winter Care. It’s important. When you bring plants indoors in winters, try to provide the warmth, above 50 F (10 C) is fine. Tropical plants like the same conditions as humans. You can always shave excess dirt off a root ball with your shovel, but it will be impossible to reattach a severed root. Why Plants are Worth the Winter Care. This way you'll be certain of the lower range of their temperature resistance. logging into shop.monrovia.com. Keep this in mind and take the necessary steps and you’ll have an indoor garden that lasts. And if possible, keep it where winter temperatures drop to about 50 degrees but not below the mid-40s. Or get a desktop humidifier to direct moist air toward plants. Failing to do can result in your house becoming infested with bugs. Tonkadale is a design driven garden center located in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Do you have a chart so I can understand what my zone ? Plant protection in winter can take many forms: you can warm the soil, you can wrap a shrub, you can block the wind. This keeps the plant dormant but the plants never freeze. Water sparingly – about twice per month. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. Image via A Beautiful Mess. Putting your plant in this kind of location will trick it into thinking it's still in its growing season. You can even bury them, pot and all. Use garden shears or a spade to cut stems to approximately 6" (15.2 cm) long. Lauren Kurtz is a Naturalist and Horticultural Specialist. Everyone’s home and climate is different. This helps reduce the negative effects of this activity. Just read the package directions and cut in half. Wrong season? Watering is needed, but not too much or too often. For tropical foliage plants, you may only want the top inch or two of the soil to dry out before you water. Protective barriers - Keep the snow, wind and ice off your plants with protective barriers. Look for varieties and cultivars of plants suited to your climate. Humidity should be high year-round. Spray both the soil and the entire plant (leaves, stems, etc.) bloom for next year. If you plan to let your plants simply go dormant, let them rest in a cool place (40 to 50 degrees F) with little or no light—their leaves will gradually yellow and drop.They can then spend the winter in an unheated basement, unheated garage, or even a cool closet. Before you bring the plant inside, prune off any dead, damaged or diseased leaves or twigs. Tips on how to keep your tropical houseplants happy over the winter and also how I overwintered my tropical garden plants. Don’t be alarmed if they drop leaves–just continue to care for them and they will re-leaf in time. Like anything in this world, excessive amounts of any one thing is often a bad thing, even if that substance is necessary for survival. Many tropical plants grow to quite large sizes. Discover (and save!) Some plants may take up to two months to start regrowing. The exact frequency you'll be watering is influenced by many factors, though, including how warm or cool your home is, the humidity levels, how big your hibiscus is, how big its pot is, type of potting mix, etc. Removing the struggling parts of a plant will encourage healthy growth elsewhere. Bring potted plants indoors. Other than giving your plants sufficient light while they’re indoors, a key to keeping plants alive through winter is providing the temperature and humidity they need. Choose your plant's home wisely. Some great candidates for growing indoors in winter include … There are 19 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. When I would bring my Tropic Escape hibiscus in for winter, I ended up watering it about once a week or so. Keeping Indoor Plants Warm In Winter. [1] Only one site said to keep it cool & dark to produce Easy-care plants that do best indoors are generally varieties prized for their foliage and that can handle lower light conditions indoors. Keeping plants alive indoors can prove next to impossible to some, but it really isn't all that hard to do. Don’t be tempted to jack up the heat, as warmer air temperatures can lead to leggy growth and insect problems. It's not uncommon for a few plants to fail. Hint: add a few drops of peppermint oil to your brew to make it smell fresh, not funky. I have successfully over-wintered Mandevillea “Alice du Pont” by repotting into a molded fiber (pulp pot) for the Winter and leaving it outdoors. Do read the label as some plants including dracaena and ferns don’t fare well with this product on their leaves. Don’t be tempted to jack up the heat, as warmer air temperatures can lead to leggy growth and insect problems. Watch for pests. Enter your email and we'll email you instructions on how to reset your They deliver color, form, and texture you can count on in the garden. Get good coverage of the leaves (top and bottom) and remember to spray under the rim of the pot too! By clicking "LOGIN", you are This article has been viewed 3,781 times. However, plants aren’t actively growing during the winter months so they don’t require as much water.Test the soil using the tip of your finger, if the top inch is dry go ahead and water. Makes the leaves, well, shine. After planting, you'll have to care for your plant according to its needs. Put the plant on a tray full of pebbles and fill it with water to just beneath the bottom of the pot, group plants together, and consider adding a humidifier to the room. Be sure to bring them in before they become popsicles. This is essentially a piece of fabric used to completely cover and protect plants from cold damage. In winter, they might need water once every two weeks--check the soil moisture with your finger and water your plant when the soil feels dry 2 inches deep. Gather all tubers, bulbs, and corms. Keep material separate and pack it with peat moss, wood chips, or sawdust. Here are 10 ideas to keep your plants happy in the cold, dark months: Burlap Plant Cover Who Should be Over Wintering Hibiscus? Adjust Your Watering Routine . Inspect the plant carefully for any insects. This may involve things like regular. 2. Always approachable. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. Start by wiping larger leaves with a damp cloth and if leaves are smaller, hose them down. Set your calendar reminders and just do it. Having the right houseplant winter survival tips keeps your plants alive until spring. Much easier outside than in, right? There are lots of opportunities to consider and important decisions to make before the main event. Check out Instagram for all kinds of ideas – @thejungalow, @urbanjungleblog and of course @tonkadale. Mealy bug, scale, aphids, and others all show up at the darndest times – like January (how do they do that?). Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. And they do just fine. Your plants will thrive in spots that have both the right amount of sunlight and a consistently mild temperature. #3: Keep the Light Bright! However, for them to be effective, plants need to be cared for during these months, as well. How to keep your indoor plants alive through the winter 1. By Megan Nichols and Jessie Jacobson of Tonkadale Greenhouse, Minnetonka, MN. Bring potted plants indoors. Required fields are marked *. You might be in luck if you have a plant that tolerates low light like the Sanseveria. But in the middle of winter, when the days are cold and gray, and the house is dry, your houseplants can have real trouble to survive. Kid friendly. Always original. Increase the light. General light classifications are low, medium, and bright. Another concern for growing tropical plants indoors is the dry air in winter. If you’re keeping tropical plants outside over winter, just keep the trays filled with about an inch of water and the greenhouse cover will do a fine job of keeping that moisture in and that humidity up! This also helps keep pets away. Well, lo and behold, I actually have a green thumb. Don’t be tempted to jack up the heat, as warmer air temperatures can lead to leggy growth and insect problems. With bare branches and the absence of blooms, we can’t help but notice the shapes and silhouettes in our landscape. If your home doesn't have a sunny window, you can use artificial plant lights. There are some varieties that are bred hardier than others, making them better options for cold environments. When I would bring my Tropic Escape hibiscus in for winter, I ended up watering it about once a week or so. When you bring plants indoors in winters, try to provide the warmth, above 50 F (10 C) is fine. You can overwinter your tropical plants by continuing their growth phase indoors, allowing them to hibernate, or by using overwintered bulbs, tubers, and corms to regrow plants. I always thought I would have a brown thumb because my mom wasn’t very good at keeping plants alive. The spray cleans off the leaves, too. We know ads can be annoying, but they’re what allow us to make all of wikiHow available for free. Indoor plants, whether they are year-round houseplants or plants you brought inside to over-winter, can be affected by factors such as temperatures that fluctuate from daytime heat to evening chill, dry air, short days, and limited light. If you need one more reason to turn up the heat, your plants will stay alive longer in warmer weather. Set plant pots on pebbles and put the tray in a warm sunny spot (or on top of a radiator). She earned a BA in Environmental and Sustainability Studies from Western Michigan University in 2014. Some varieties, which require a lot of light, are challenging to overwinter, including tropical hibiscus, mandevillas, jasmine, bougainvillea and citrus. It’s a fun process, but oh-so-slow, so prepare to be patient. Nothing adds a lovely tropical flare quite like a tropical hibiscus. Be careful your cover doesn't crush the plant. The best way to keep indoor plants warm during the winter is to put them in a warm room, rather than one that gets cold. If you want to try and keep them as houseplant and maybe even coax a few blooms (success is generally a cross between the right conditions and sheer luck), follow these instructions: Tropical Hibiscus:  Prune hibiscus 3 times between now and spring, first at the end of October, then again in December, and in February. The ideal winter environment for most flowering tropical plants would be approximately 50 degrees at night and 65 degrees during the day. You put on a splendid performance in both the garden and in containers in which you were planted. Prepare for this in advance as once you find the right spot, you don’t want to have to relocate due to too tight a space. While watering is essential to your year round care for hibiscus, in the winter, you should only water the plant when the soil is dry to the touch. We don’t have harsh winters but it can get down to single digits occasionally. Make sure to reinforce the inside of your container with a plastic saucer so they don’t leak. Also, most indoor plants enjoy a growth spurt later in the season when their pot-bound roots are unbound and planted in a clean, slightly larger pot. This will keep the plant alive and active during the winter months. So light is a necessity if you intend to keep your tropicals alive and actively growing all winter. Having plants around your home is great all year round. You have cared for your plants and watched them grow and flower. Dear D.B. However, you may want to clean these off, first. Last Updated: March 29, 2019 While hibiscus plants will do fine outdoors in the summer in most areas, they need to be protected in the winter. Under 50 degrees and they’re less than happy. with insecticidal soap a week or so before you invite them into your home. To prevent this damage, you'll have to "overwinter" your plants, which is a term used for cold weather protection measures. East window..no green house…thanks. Putting your plant in this kind of location will trick it into thinking it's still in its growing season. Please help us continue to provide you with our trusted how-to guides and videos for free by whitelisting wikiHow on your ad blocker. What about a greenhouse for tropicals? Keep your plants safe from the temperature below 50 F (10 C) as it can be harmful to them. In a low-sided tray, place a shallow layer of pebbles. There’s no denying that winter reveals our garden’s success stories. Keep a spray bottle handy, and mist your plants daily. Keep this in mind and take the necessary steps and you’ll have an indoor garden that lasts. Choosing perennials that flower more than once in ... Getting ready for the gardening season is like planning a trip. You made me look good as I cared for you with ease. A good rule of thumb is to begin preparing to bring plants indoors when the temperature reaches around 50 to 60°F (10 to 15.6°C). These can stay outside a little longer to take full advantage of the sunlight. This article has been viewed 3,781 times. However, these kinds of plants tend to be more sensitive to seasonal changes in temperature. Some of your regrowing material may not sprout. Also, ask where to plant and how to care for a plant before you purchase it. You obviously wouldn't winterize carnations in California in the same manner you would winterize roses in Rhode Island. You owe it to your fragile specimen to keep it alive. Research source She earned a BA in Environmental and Sustainability Studies from Western Michigan University in 2014. The exact frequency you'll be watering is influenced by many factors, though, including how warm or cool your home is, the humidity levels, how big your hibiscus is, how big its pot is, type of potting mix, etc. Over wintered last year but no flowers this year. How to keep your indoor plants alive through the winter 1. I’ve found that if these plants are watered every three to four weeks, depending on the … Leave the dirt outside. Still, don’t waterlog the Nepenthes and spray their leaves once or twice a … Jun 11, 2019 - Keeping houseplants alive through the winter can be a huge struggle. ... Perennials fit the adage of working smarter, not harder. The Biggest Challenges in Winter Houseplant Care. Nov 17, 2019 - This Pin was discovered by Raffaele | Ohio Tropics Housep. A water-soluble fertilizer is fine or use a compost tea brew. Once indoors, place hibiscus in bright light with some direct sunlight daily. Remove and throw away rotten plant matter, and rejuvenate shriveled matter with a light mist of water. By: Lucinda Gunnin 21 September, 2017. Water and humidity are the next issues. Find the average temperature and humidity of that region in the winter, and copy it as best as you can in your home. Lauren has worked for Aurora, Colorado managing the Water-Wise Garden at Aurora Municipal Center for the Water Conservation Department. Outdoor plants often become home to ants, pill bugs, or other unwanted creepy crawlies. The best place to keep your indoor plants. He goes to nurseries looking for fruit trees and I check out the indoor plants, and we both usually come home with something. The best way to keep indoor plants warm during the winter is to put them in a warm room, rather than one that gets cold. They should all be brought inside before the temperature gets too cold from them. If you place the pots near a heating vent or a drafty window, the fluctuations in temperature may place too much stress on plants. Most sun loving tropical plants have similar requirements during the late fall and winter months. Growing your palm in a container and moving it indoors for winter will protect it from cold weather. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 3,781 times. Before you bring your houseplants indoors for the winter, dislodge loose leaves or potential stowaway insects with a strong spray of water from the garden hose. They require a sunny window in a room where air temperature stays about 60-70 degrees and a humidity level between 30 and 45 percent (mist leaves or place a pan of water among the plants). In winter, they might need water once every two weeks--check the soil moisture with your finger and water your plant when the soil feels dry 2 inches deep. Succulents can often go quite a long time in the winter without water, especially if temperatures are cooler indoors. Each plant will have its own ideal temperature range, but most kinds of tropical plant suffer damage when exposed to frost or temperatures below 50°F (10°C). Hang, group, combine, mix and match and/or display at different heights. Thanks, My tropical hibiscus is huge and resides outside planted in the earth. To avoid stressing them, bring indoors at the first sign of cool evening temps. The spray cleans off the leaves, too. In many cases, decreased growth indoors is common. Keeping Your Banana Plant Alive. Summer temperatures should be 70 to 85 degrees, although gardenias tolerate hotter days. How can Inprotect it during cold snaps? All Rights Reserved. If possible, try to mimic the temperature and conditions … These include: Heavy mulch - At least to two inches. For indoor gardeners who want plants to keep growing and even flowering this time of year, artificial light may be the answer. Your email address will not be published. Read the directions. In cold climates, keep the humidity below 30 percent to avoid condensation on your windows. The ideal light and humidity for many tropical plants may be more than your home can provide. Mandevilla, Jasmine & Bougainvillea: They’re likely in flower now, but flowers will diminish quickly as the days shorten. Use a frost cover, which are available at most home and garden stores. Generally, you should transplant your tropicals in the evening and lightly water them following transplanting. Water carefully. Many tropical plants grow to quite large sizes. Indoor plants can even help deal with Seasonal Affective Disorder. If you love me and want to keep more alive so we can enjoy another summer together next year, here’s what I, your fabulous tropical plant, needs. You may want to leave a drop cloth, a mat, or a similar kind of holder beneath your pots. Before you bring your houseplants indoors for the winter, dislodge loose leaves or potential stowaway insects with a strong spray of water from the garden hose. If you water more than this, you may damage the roots. The ideal light and humidity for many tropical plants may be more than your home can provide. % of people told us that this article helped them. In some cases, excess water may leak out of the pot and dirty your home. "Extreme changes can stress plants out," The Sill, an online plant service, warns. The ideal daytime temperature for plants ranges between 65-75 F (18-23 C), and the night temperature of 55-65 F (13-18 C). © 2020 Monrovia Nursery Company. Like I mentioned above, most indoor plants are from tropical regions of the world, and they can’t stand the cold. One of my favorite things to do with my husband is to go plant shopping. But a few easy to follow tips and new habits will keep your indoor jungle thriving through winter. Most plants prefer a daytime temperature between 65°F and 75°F, and a nighttime temperature between 60°F and 65°F. Err on the side of caution when digging. password. (Check out aspca.org for pet friendly options.). Keep your plants safe from the temperature below 50 F (10 C) as it can be harmful to them. Increase the light. Thank you. Deserts are cold at night! Choose fabulous containers like baskets, buckets and ceramics to drop your liners into – preserving the drainage while showcasing your specimen. Store your packed crates in a cool, dark place with a temperature that is consistently 40 to 50°F (4.4 to 10°C). Repot in a container that’s at least one (two is better) size up from the current one, use fresh potting soil, and make sure your container has a drainage hole. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/0\/0e\/Overwinter-Tropical-Plants-Step-1.jpg\/v4-460px-Overwinter-Tropical-Plants-Step-1.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/0\/0e\/Overwinter-Tropical-Plants-Step-1.jpg\/aid8307933-v4-728px-Overwinter-Tropical-Plants-Step-1.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"