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Help how to protect tropical plants from frost

training4allOfuhYf36training4allOfuhYf36 Posts: 2
edited May 2023 in Problem solving
Hi, I have just been given two large Money Trees (Pachira Aquatica) by my partner which I plan to plant in half whiskey barrel containers outside either side of my front door. This is my second pair as the previous pair did not survive the winter frost despite being wrapped in zip-up fleece covers. And at 1.5 metres tall they are too big to take into my small little flat.

I was thinking maybe if I planted them in their pots then filled the gaps between the pots & the containers with compost. This might help protect the plant from the frost as the pots may offer an extra layer of protection against the cold. I was also thinking of further raising the containers off the concrete ground with terracotta pot feet I've seen online, with a view to this further helping to protect the plants from frost. Then wrap the whole thing with another thicker pair of zip-up fleece covers this coming winter. 

Do you think this would work? do you have any other suggestions as to how I could try to protect the plants this coming winter?

Sorry if this all seems like a bad idea but I'm a complete novice when it comes to plant care. 

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    You do not say where you are, but I doubt that fleece will stop frost on a balcony or outside the front door. Even in an unheated porch it would be dubious.  The only way a money plant will survive winter in most of the UK is inside.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    The plants you have will not survive outside in a UK winter … they need to be in your flat or in a heated greenhouse. 
    They are kept as houseplants. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    It is a tropical wetland tree and should not go below 10C

  • training4allOfuhYf36training4allOfuhYf36 Posts: 2
    edited May 2023
    I'm actually in the London UK & live in a small flat that hasn't got the room to keep them inside. Nor a garden for a green house.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited May 2023
    These plants are not suitable for purpose.  You have experienced problems before; what have you learnt?

    One thing I knew before winter 22/23 is that insulation only slows down temperature equalising, not stops it.  I knew, but acted incorrectly.  I have learnt "expect the unexpected".
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Then you need to think about re-homing them and getting a hardy plant for your pots.  Anything below 10C will kill off the tops very quickly and the roots won't like the cold either.

    https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/12078/pachira-aquatica/details 
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
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