Keeping plants warm in winter

Posts

• Iamweedy Posts: 1,364

  November 2017

  Start tomorrow it is likely to be a very cold weekend.  Keep the plants on the dry side while they in shelter. You really do not want cold and damp together . 

  
  
  
  'You must have some bread with it me duck!'
  
  

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• Borderline Posts: 4,700

  November 2017

  There is no straight answer about when to start protecting your plants. It can depend on your type of plants, the area it will be standing in over winter and finally your local climate. For instance, you could be living in a small micro climate or in a frost pocket. 

  Bubble wrapping the outside of pots if you don't have a second pot as insulation. Some people pot into a larger sized pot to create extra protection. The gaps could be filled with brokened down used polystyrene packaging to minimise freezing pots. Keeping pots together or up against a warm wall or southlerly wall is always best but if not, the fleece can be doubled up for extra protection.

  Non-woven material is the ideal fleece as it still allows air getting through whilst keeping out frost and giving protecton. I have been recommended to try Poundland's Dust Sheet which uses the exact same material but much cheaper, just cutting to size what you need. It is not necessary to open up the fleece every day, but it is still essential your plants get some light, so when temperatures ease up, do open up the allow more air and light to minimise any rotting and encouragement of fungal diseases. 

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• Fairygirl Posts: 55,117

  November 2017

  It also depends on what's in the pots. I don't wrap anything because I don't grow anything that won't cope with my climate. I don't have the time to go out covering stuff either. Anything like pelargoniums will come inside, but some of mine are still outside in pots and we've had several frosts. 

  Most plants will cope with a few frosts but if you have anything that's small, grouping pots together, and/or tucking them against a house wall or in among plants in borders will usually be enough. Young plants are more susceptible to cold and wet too, rather than frosts. If it's getting below minus five on a regular basis or for a week or so, that's when fleece is good, but it's best to check when that's going to happen, and wrap before the cold comes in. Insulation traps in cold as well as warmth.

  What have you got in the pots? That will determine what action you take, as Borderline also says 

  It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
  
  
  
  I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...

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• ladygardener2 Posts: 371

  November 2017

  Borderline says:

  There is no straight answer about when to start protecting your plants. It can depend on your type of plants, the area it will be standing in over winter and finally your local climate. For instance, you could be living in a small micro climate or in a frost pocket. 

  Bubble wrapping the outside of pots if you don't have a second pot as insulation. Some people pot into a larger sized pot to create extra protection. The gaps could be filled with brokened down used polystyrene packaging to minimise freezing pots. Keeping pots together or up against a warm wall or southlerly wall is always best but if not, the fleece can be doubled up for extra protection.

  Non-woven material is the ideal fleece as it still allows air getting through whilst keeping out frost and giving protecton. I have been recommended to try Poundland's Dust Sheet which uses the exact same material but much cheaper, just cutting to size what you need. It is not necessary to open up the fleece every day, but it is still essential your plants get some light, so when temperatures ease up, do open up the allow more air and light to minimise any rotting and encouragement of fungal diseases. 

  See original post

   Thanks for the tip about the dust sheet.

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