All of those fiber/peat/cardboard pots that they say you can just stick right in the ground... you can't actually do that. We've seen multiple people here on the boards (including myself) that have dug plants up at the end of the season only to find the entire pot still pretty much intact. They simply do not rot away correctly. Down under the soil they are away from light and air, and all of the bacteria that would normally decompose them can't reach that far down. Roots will also automatically try to avoid any hard surface when they can, which means they'll naturally try to coil around in there instead of punching through. It just ends up causing more trouble than they're worth. Feel free to use them, just make sure you take them off before putting your plant in the dirt (easiest way to do that is to soak them real good and then just tear them apart in pieces).

There's no reason to give them special treatment in the fall. Like tjicken said, it's when moving them outside that you need to be careful. When temperatures drop, mine go straight into the basement under grow lights and stay there until late spring. Indoor light is never as intense as the direct sunlight they get outdoors, so there's no risk of burn. Low humidity and moderate temperatures are no problem for succulents either. The only thing you want to avoid is the combination of moderate temperatures and low light which will cause many plants to etiolate. I aim to give my plants plenty of light to avoid this, but some people prefer low temperatures to induce dormancy. Also, winter is a time when I really appreciate having a very porous soil to prevent rot. If plants are in a warm, sunny location, though, this may be less of a concern since they will dry out faster. And sp./spp. is short for species, as greenman said. It's used when the species name is unknown.

Hi, Jerry. Actually, I couldn't stand it one more day and moved them all outside yesterday :). We are having nights in the 40's and 50's for the next two weeks, and likelihood of frost after 4/15 is small here. What I learned: The biggest thing I learned is that lights are not a panacea, and they don't even approximate real sunlight. The winter still seems too long, and plants are much more likely to get pests or to sicken indoors, no matter what you do. The next biggest thing I learned is: Spray everything and give it a gimlet eye in outdoor light before bringing inside. I had scale on a couple of things that got pretty far along. Digusting. It's hard to see until it's pretty far along, and I didn't see it til I got them outside. Can you believe it? Put your lights near water and in a place where water on the floor won't do any damage. Carrying water very far is a burden when you need many gallons of it, and you just can't keep water off the floor no matter what you do. All in all, I was a bit disappointed. I expected too much from the lights-- wonderful thriving plants. That I didn't get. About half did ok and survived without getting denuded. The other half lost leaves constantly, looked miserable or had pests. Jasmines and artabotrys did the worst. The jasmines lost leaves continually. Ditto the arta, and the arta suffered dieback of several branches. Murrayas lost leaves and got ugly. I think it may have been mites. Brunfelsias did fine, even bloomed! Michelia alba, too. Aglaia also did well, also bloomed from time to time. Citrus, too. On balance, it was was better than the crowded feeling that comes from too many plants in your living space. And certainly better than just giving the plants over to certain death. And I enjoyed my trek down there every day and had many peaceful and happy hours puttering there. But I hated watching some of the plants sicken and come to near-death. It's terribly depressing, especially when you can't stop the decline. I think I am going to give up on the plants that I can't seem to winter indoors and concentrate on the ones that do ok. I hope this helps!

I can tell you that bananas do not grow below 52 degrees, so not much point moving them out earlier unless you are dying to make room in your house. Tropical hibiscus aren't crazy about temperature swings, you may get some yellow leaves when it gets chilly, but they'll definitely survive down to 40 degrees with no trouble. But they won't grow much. I usually go for the first week of May, onto my front porch which has a roof and faces east, so it's a little more protected from sun, wind and possible frost. Most of my plants are so big that I'm NOT moving them in again until fall! I suppose if you want a rule of thumb, I would guess maybe 50 degree low at night and no lower would be suitable, but I'm sure others have different opinions. If you're really ambitious, you could look up each kind of tropical on the web and see what recommended minimum temps are.