container gardens 08/2012 ( photo / image / picture from Kay's Garden ) Another question about overwintering, this one is my Colocasia "Elephant Ears" seen here sitting on my porch in the blue pot. I am in zone 5, so we do get pretty cold. Pretty certain it would die if left outdoors. Do I bring it in as is (leaves still on and growing) or do I cut these leaves off and dig up the bulb? It still looks so nice, I hate to chop it down. Can I let it grow? (Or more like try to let it grow?) This will be an experiment, but I only paid 5 bucks for it so not much harm if I lose it.
If you have an unheated basement, that's an excellent place to store the dormant bulb after frost knocks back the foliage. Let it get mostly dry, occasional sip of water. As long as it doesn't rot, it will be ready to go in the spring. Worked well for me in OH, also Z5. Love your pretty pots!!
So, purple, you're telling me to leave it outdoors till the frost kills the foliage? (that may be tonight or the next night here) My basement is heated, but I could probably tuck it into the storage room where there is no vent. Ever tried to keep one growing through the winter? I assume they need sunlight and warmth, as well as humidity.
I did try a few years to keep it going but I didn't have enough light in my house and it would look terrible. And it would always get spider mites. Does it stay cooler in your storage room?
It is in the back of the basement, no vent. Not really "unheated" but not as warm as the rest of the basement. I had my Bob lug the big pot into the garage, it is supposed to get down to 26°F tonight. I have a hard time "letting go" of my outdoor plants when the frosts come each autumn. So I have to park my truck outside so the 7 big pots can be in there.
Kay, I have kept mine over the winter in the basement and it is warm. I just let it dry out and cut off the foliage. I have found that they pop right back out in the spring better than trying to start new ones in the spring. I didn't dig mine out of the pot, but the one I dug out of the ground I kept in a 5 gal. bucket with some old potting mix and left it dry. I have a dozen or so pots that need to come in for the winter and I think I will pull them out of the pots and knock off the soil since there are so many of them and leave them in the heated greenhouse in a bucket for the winter.
Carolyn, Thanks so much for your post. This will help me! It's funny how I accumulate all these lovely plants during the summer, and then have to figure out what to do with em come winter. You are so lucky to have a greenhouse. i could really get carried away if I had one!
Kay, your potted plants look really pretty! I wouldn't want to hack that elephant ears back either, it is glorious! I'd be dragging it into the garage too. I grow elephant ears too, but have not had luck storing the bulbs in the basement. They just die there on me. For the last two years, I have been keeping mine growing through the winter indoors, then gradually re-introducing it to the outside when the weather warms up. It gets a bit bedraggled indoors, but stays alive and perks up after a month or so outside. In my office at work, I am growing one year 'round indoors. It gets flourescent lighting about 10-12 hours a day, 5 days a week and is doing very well. My clients have commented on it. It is one of the purple ones like yours.
Sounds like what I had to do with my Caladium last winter. It's in a container and when the temps were getting close to freezing, I brought it indoors here in the computer room. All of the leaves eventually died off, but when there was no more chance of freezing temps, I just sat the container back on the front porch and before you know it there was new growth.
I'm in zone 5 too Kay. I leave mine out until the frost kills the tops, then I dig them up and bring the bulbs inside for storage in my basement. It works well - I have limited space for plants because I would save them all if I could! The hard part is remembering to pot them up really early in the season as they take quite a while to get going again.
Sounds like we all treat the elephant ears about the same. I tried growing on in the greenhouse but whiteflies were a problem & they got ratty looking.If the pots aren't too big for my poor hub to lift they go in the basement.Otherwise I try to dry them out well & store in shavings in a plastic box. I love those blue pots,too. Has anyone noticed how expensive pots have gotten? I had a nice white pot I hadn't used & I spray painted it blue. sNs
Sounds like we all treat the elephant ears about the same. I tried growing on in the greenhouse but whiteflies were a problem & they got ratty looking.If the pots aren't too big for my poor hub to lift they go in the basement.Otherwise I try to dry them out well & store in shavings in a plastic box. I love those blue pots,too. Has anyone noticed how expensive pots have gotten? I had a nice white pot I hadn't used & I spray painted it blue. sNs
Spider mites have been a problem for me in the greenhouse on these, so I started using rose fertilizer with a systemic insecticide in it to control the insects before they are even noticed. I love the blue pots, too, Kay. I have noticed how expensive pots have gotten and I am trying to buy for resale. Very challenging for me to buy in small quantities.
Carolyn, Do you think the systemic will work throughout this winter, or do I need to use it again? I put it in the pots that came indoors sbout 2 weeks ago. I do love my blue pots. In the past several years, I have been investing in larger, ceramic containers. I like the look of them. I don't leave any of them sitting outside in the cold months, so there is a bit of "maintenance" in owning them.
I use it when I bring them in just to knock out the population. Usually the systemic works for several months, so I think just watch them in the spring for any pests that may be hosted from another plant in your house. My suggestion would be to treat all house or over wintered plants with the systemic as long as you are not eating any of them (such as herbs).
