I winter mine in the ground,but am slightly warmer climate& gulf not atlantic.I'm not sure if the holes would be too big,but sounds like a winner.if holes too big could use screen.

njoynit,
I agree with you on the "big holes" and was thinking about it. Thanks for the idea to use a screen. I have 2 options, 1" chicken mesh (galvanized steel) or 1 inch sturdy green plastic mesh (I use it to make large bins to prepare and store leaf mold). I am leaning twards the plastic (slow to degrade and safer to work with).
Thanks for the idea.

Chandu, in Irmo, you should be able to leave them in the ground, and mulch heavily. I used to live in Gilbert, and we always just put a ring of hog wire around them about 3 feet in diameter and packed it full of pine straw. Never lost one. Chicken wire should work fine, and I know you probably have pine trees around you somewhere.

I misread your message. I thought you were going to leave them in the ground. I used to leave mine in, let them go dormant, then mulch like I mentioned.

bruggirl100
Last fall (afyter taking the cuttings) I had mulched the roots and the stump. The new shoots took a very long time to mature and Y. First solitary flowers started to0 appear late Aug, and only now I am expecting a good flush.
My cuttings OTOH (kept in bucket-o-brugs w/o aerator) began flowering early June. It took them some time to grow the roots and then to acclematize in the pots before going in the ground. By saving the primary rootball, I may be able to get the flowers ASAP. I have become a true brug addict. I greatly admire TNGT's trees and this year I would like to imitate his method.

That's good thinking! I'll be interested in seeing how it works. I know some people who used to plant theirs in pots, and bury the pots in the ground, letting the roots grow out through the bottom. They they just yanked them up, root pruned them, and brought them in for the winter.

I never had any problem getting mine to bloom, though, because of all that free manure I was getting from the chicken houses and the dairy farm down the road. :) They LOVE manure!

Just a little story about Irmo: My father was the engineer who designed and built I-26/126 when I was young (very young, 5-9 y.o.). He told them they needed to buy up more land because one day people would be moving out that way, and they would need to put in more exits. They laughed at him, and the Director of the Highway Department said "Who would ever want to live in Irmo?" Thus, we now have "malfunction junction" at the I-20/I-26 intersection because everything built up around that area, and there was nowhere to go to fix it. I used to go to the Okra strut every year...loads of fun! Did you ever come to our peach festival in Gilbert? I miss Gilbert sometimes.

What is:
'antibacterial and anti fungal antibiotics'?

Mamaspud,
Even at low temperature (garage in winter months) the microorganisms like bacteria, fungi and algae thrive in water that has organic matter in it. Algae are relatively harmless but bacteria and fungi may start a nasty disease due to which the stem may rot and the come spring the plant may fail to root.
The rot usually beagins at the bottom of the cutting (one which is rubbing to the bottom of the container). "Bucket o Brugs" method raises the stems and prevents mashing of the stems. I have adopted this idea and have gone a step further by adding vary small quantity of antibiotics. Last year I used expired "cipro" (10 microgram/ml) and a dab of "lotrimin" to the bucket o brugs. I changed water every month, and added the antibiotics as before. I did not notice any rot (except for minimal algal growth) in the bucket with antibiotics. For the purpose of comparison I also had a bucket o brugs without any antibiotics (water changed on monthly basis), this had a lot of slime accumulated on the bottom and sides and 3 out of 10 stems were very mushy at the bottom, they did not develop healthy bunch of roots.
I used cipro because i had some (1 year past their expiry date...but still had plenty of potency, for experimenting with plants it may be OK but definitely not to be used for serious treatment, remember that it is "expired" DO NOT USE on humans and animals unless advised by a competant authority - your doctor or your pet's vet). Lotrimin cream (OTC) came from the general stash in medicine cabinet, I made a realtively dispersed suspension by vigorously shaking a dab of the cream to some water in a ziploc bag and added this suspension to the bucket. My conclusion: Antibiotics help cuttings survive in the bucket.