ready for winter?

[Rev]

just shutting down my plants now

i put them in a dry greenhouse and give plenty of daytime heat , give them their last liquid ferts and seaweed and let them dry out over the next month

then ill wrap them in hessian or frostguard and store dry over winter (june 1st plus 4 months) with maybe a light water in a warm spell

ill put them inside the shed , greenhouse or leave out in the open depending on cold tolerance - teh real touchy ones go inside with the iboga

all but a few cacti - incl the grafted lophs stay outside

so long as the frost isnt directly falling on them and they were quite dry i didnt have any troubles with lophs and subzero nights last year

they purple a bit but come back very healthy in the spring when nights warm up

[Gardener]

Thanks Rev, I've been wondering how to prepare for winter.

just shutting down my plants now

[shaman]

my mates dad makes shade and hot houses for a living.... im gettin him to build me a hot (mates rates without a doubt ) house because i figured itd help my cactus grow through winter.....true?

[paradox]

your collection looks beautiful rev, you must be very proud <___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.png

i bet they look after you as much as you look after them.

[bit]

I've closed up my mini greenhouses - they have my smaller less established cacti and succulents inside them (still outside though.

All my larger plants just tough it out on my deck in the wind and rain

[Rev]

your collection looks beautiful rev, you must be very proud <___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.png

i bet they look after you as much as you look after them.

im glad you understand <___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.png

it is a symbiosis i have with all my plants

they are not just for looks

in there are foods, fibres, cosmetics, powerful medicines, virulent hunting poisons, and living jewels i can admire, sell when i need currency or hand on as heirlooms

i am collecting them so one day not so far away i can use them to construct my habitat for a human

as landscape planst they store water in the landscpe, encouraging life and moderating temperature, they can ride out fluctuations in seasonal rainfall

for now i stand over them as i tend them, but one day ill be old and resting under the shade of the same Boab, commiphora or moringa tree and protected by the privacy of a trichocereus or stenocereus hedge

[paradox]

definately a symbiosis!

i think i would die without my plants.

i'm a bush kid and now i'm livin in the suburbs, my plants are my connection to the real world and without them i feel my life would be very dark and unhealthy.

what i give them i feel they give me back 1000 fold.

thank god for the plants.

and i also have a question regarding cacti in winter.

every year before now i have just left my cac's sort of under cover but still out in the sun during winter, largly without water and fert.

i've recently built myself a greenhouse and was pondering whether to put them in it over winter.

only thing is, is that i've read that over winter you should put your cac's (particularly trich's) in a cool place but with plenty of light to discourage them from growing as when they grow in winter they can grow thin and spindly.

so i'm wondering, if you put them in a greenhouse (with a stable temp) over winter and continue to water & fert them, what effect this will have?

or if you put them in a greenhouse but don't water or feed them, what effect?

is a greenhouse the go, or a cool, well lit place?

[Rev]

not sure where your location is but i dont think your trichs (in the san pedro group) need any protection at all if you are coastal

especially with this drought on

the cold wont hurt these puppies in the slightest.

only if it was very cold and very wet would most trichs, but not all, not like it

so the trick is keep them dry if you're in frosty cold climate

if its a warm climate then they will grow all year round

like they do in Brisbane and Perth

save the greenhouse for leafy plants

all your trich might like is an open sunny position with protection from extended amounts of rain

[SaBReT00tH]

Hey Rev, thanks for the advice!!! Do you still give water to Syrian Rue, Khat and Ephedra in winter if they're outside?

By the way I'm lovin your Pachypodiums

[Rev]

Hey Rev, thanks for the advice!!! Do you still give water to Syrian Rue, Khat and Ephedra in winter if they're outside?

By the way I'm lovin your Pachypodiums <___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.png

yeah i like the pachys

problem is imported seed is so often crap, u really need to make ur own. hence i buy at least 2 of each kind i find s i can make my own later

same with trichs too i guess if they are seed grown batch

i store my plants a few ways as they accept diff variables

theres..

Warm and moist - the hardest

generally mens bringing inside to a sunny room and supplying a self watering pot. and theyget to go outside on favourabel days

things like iboga, or if i was ready to try then yohimbe, kava etc. true tropicals

Warm and dry

this is all the dry subtropicals

pretty easy. make a greehnouse and put them in and dont water till spring

easy for me cos daytime temps are still pretty high

thes planst oft tlearte low nightime temps but not low daytime temps, esp not with wet feet

includes lophs, pachypodiums, various incense trees, boabs, all those madagascar and socotra plants

ambient dry

no protection cept maybe some frostguard over the top and kept out of the rain

hoodia, mammilarias, ariocarpus and all the cold hardy succulents

frost free moist

that is types which like cool moister weather but no frost, or do better with no frost

so put them in a shadehouse WIWO frostguard covers and irrigate as needed over winter - esp if you have a timer irrigate at 3 or 4 in the morning to keep off frost from settling

perfect example is brugmansias esp sanguinea

now anything that doesnt need one of these kinds of protection is probably in my nature strip or veggie patch

fully hardy things like ephedra major, anadenanthera,leonurus, trichocereus and allies

others liek datura innoxia, stevia and calea die off to roostock and come back in spring

excpet ! oh yes i grow pineapples and bananas, mimosa hostilis and have a damiana patch in the ground

these i just will cover with frostguard and if say like the bananas or mimosa i will wrap the trunk in straw , wrapped with hessian to protect it

[Rev]

rue - no luck

but it naturally goes dormant in winter - yellows off to roostock

i went hunting in SA for wild planst but couldnt find. i think i could easily keep a wildcrafted plant. its just keeping seedling alive thats tricky

Khat - i store this warm and dry. never fully dry though

Ephedra is on my rockery with the trichs and cold hardy cacti - so drainage is quite good. theres a stone mulch

it purples a bit from the first frost but quickly recovers. if i was worried bout a bad year id cover it with frost guard

it gets any incoming rain which is usually not much over winter here

ive only lost them to sunburn when young girdling the stem - hence stone mulch now

they are very hardy

ive given up on sinensis - too hard to grow - major is teh best so far

Edited April 16, 2007 by Rev

[Gardener]

Rev, we fully worship your words of plant advice.

My khats are in thr ground. Melbourne. Should I dig them up and put em in pots and brings them in for winter? Or can I leave them where they are and enclose them with a plastic tepee?

And I have subtropical young fruit trees, eg. a wampi tree, an ice cream bean and a jaboticaba and more. If i wrap their trunks with straw and hessian won't they get mould in there? and maybe bugs?

excpet ! oh yes i grow pineapples and bananas, mimosa hostilis and have a damiana patch in the ground

these i just will cover with frostguard and if say like the bananas or mimosa i will wrap the trunk in straw , wrapped with hessian to protect it

[Rev]

Rev, we fully worship your words of plant advice. https://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/applications/core/interface/imageproxy/imageproxy.php?img=http://members.optushome.com.au/neptune4/smiley_s/999.gif&key=f7e2e5a30a57e4109fe663b84642af7e3b1c3c4941447b652926c658f1f63319

LOl yeah you can brush off my other obscure ramblings as madman talk, but if i start talking about growing plants and shroom i REALLY REALLY try and get to the truth and heart of the matter. because knowing this cant be overstressed in its value

My khats are in thr ground. Melbourne. Should I dig them up and put em in pots and brings them in for winter? Or can I leave them where they are and enclose them with a plastic tepee?

And I have subtropical young fruit trees, eg. a wampi tree, an ice cream bean and a jaboticaba and more. If i wrap their trunks with straw and hessian won't they get mould in there? and maybe bugs?

ok i have never lived in Melbourne. but i read often that subtropical fruit trees can go as far south as Tassie. ive spoken to people who've fruited mangoes in coastal tassie

I do not reccomend disturbing planst this late in the season

and you are correct that in a winter wet clime the hession straw woud just rot and cause trouble

the reason i need to protect is cos we get frost. overnight temps of -3C lat year. about 20 - 30 frosts ovre a 4 month period

but the days are warm

wwheras you prob dont get frost but the days are cold

this IS such a fundamental difference to make

perhaps the other big one being tween frost and freeze - luckily i know nothing of the latter

the bureau of meteorology has changed their website heaps

im just trying to reorient myself

go here and find your closest weather station

past in the number below and downlaod the pdf

ie

tabulam post office

057018

in theory - in actual fact theres no data yet :rollesyes:

great upgrade BOM!

important data is

Mean minimum temperature (Degrees C) - helps mange subtropicals that dont like prolonged cool days . it weakens them

Lowest temperature (Degrees C) - frost can form below 4.4C if the topography favours it

ok i give up till i figure out the new BOM. the old system was so easy

till then

yes teepees are good - especially if made of or lined with bubblewrap for insulation

plant against walls or other areas that give thermal mass bufferring of cold nights

i have old plastic drums and barrels filled with water all through my g/house and i intend to collect more. these store daytime het and radiate it out at night

if it stays too col for too long then get a heatmat

ill post when i find a good commercial source

bottom heat is so much more important than top heat or artifcial lighting

till i can get my head straight on this webste...

[Gardener]

Thanks mate! Do you mean to get a heat mat for OUTSIDE plants? Like, run a powercord out thru the garden?

yes teepees are good - especially if made of or lined with bubblewrap for insulation

plant against walls or other areas that give thermal mass bufferring of cold nights

i have old plastic drums and barrels filled with water all through my g/house and i intend to collect more. these store daytime het and radiate it out at night

if it stays too col for too long then get a heatmat

ill post when i find a good commercial source

bottom heat is so much more important than top heat or artifcial lighting

[Rev]

consult a sparky it can be done safely

but no i mean professional heatmats like they use in commercial propagation setups

id expect they arent ever cheap, but compared to the shite sold to the general public they would be

DL once said they had good ones as water bed heaters

attach a decent thermostat and youre laughing

best used on an insulated surface to avoid creating a heat sink below