Chuck104, you might want to try some PB Blaster penetrating oil. I was also reading recently that some people are making a good penetrating oil out of a 50/50 mix of acetone (such as nail polish remover) and automatic transmission fluid. That could also be worth a shot. Let them soak in for a while, and try again? If you have access to something like a 3-jaw gear puller, or something else that will let you try to crank it off by turning a screw, that could also help out. I'm assuming you were able to remove the bearing & shaft from the auger housing. If not, then disregard the gear puller comment. If it came to that, you could also try heating the bearing, while trying to avoid adding heat to the shaft. The bearing might expand away from the shaft by enough to help get it off. But the heat would cook the grease in the bearing, and maybe destroy it. So I'd use that as a last resort, since you may really be committed to replacing the bearing if you try heating it. Again, if it is out of the machine, and the bearing is exposed, you could also cut it with something like an angle grinder (either one slice through it, or cut it in half), and get it off that way. baymee, that's a great writeup! I have a 1993 MTD. And mine, despite being stored indoors, has noticeably more rust than yours, so kudos! When I bought mine in ~'02, the impeller would turn, but the augers wouldn't. Both shear pins were intact. Drove out the shear pins (both of them were bent, but had not broken), and opened the auger gearbox. In my case, the gears were all fine (fortunately), it had just sheared off the woodruff key that prevents the brass gear from spinning on the auger shaft. About $.70 later I was back in business. I always thought that was very lucky, but I never appreciated quite how lucky until reading this. Why mine simply sheared the key, and yours shattered the gears, I have no idea. I'm glad you got it fixed, though, nice job!

Hi Frank, I'd be cautious of the temperature swings in the shed. I've read that a plastic, pop-up greenhouse can get to 60 degrees on a sunny winter day. That's when outside temps are in the 20s! Also, the mid-30s is awfully close to freezing. An occasional frost won't kill the plant, but the leaves will be badly damaged. I have a thermometer that shows the high/low temps within the prior 24 hours. I've found it invaluable to monitor the temps on my plants. As for the exact process, I'll tell you what I do here in Michigan. Plants are outside all summer and are watered and feed well. They come into the house about October 15. The date depends on the weather that particular year. I withhold water so that the soil dries out and they're placed in a dimly lit, cool area. This year we've had a warm fall and temps won't start really cooling until next week. I'll give them a sip of water (to prevent the roots from shriveling) and put them in the root cellar. Then, I'll really start watching the temperature. If the area cools to the desired temps, I count that toward my timing for bloom. If the temps stay warm, I'll extend the time. During the dormant period I give them a sip of water every month or so. (Larger pots won't need as much as small ones.) Too much water in the cool, dormant period will lead to root rot. Yes, start them to the growth-cycle gradually. Give them a sip of water, a little fertilizer, introduce light and some warmth. Within a week or two, increase all to normal conditions. These are just guidelines, you'll find what works best for you. It took me a couple of years to test my process out and still some are reluctant to bloom. Others may not bloom until May, June or even later (out of season bloom). Good luck. Gail P.S. Some people use Christmas lights wrapped around their plants on the occasional freezing night.

Alana, I'm colder than your zone so some of my experience might not apply, but once the roses (and bulbs) start growing, there's nothing I can do to convince them to stop. They might get a bit frost nipped here and there, but unless you get weather returning to the 20's for several days in a row (and that's all day, not just a brief tip in the night), you should be fine. Apparently roses when they first start growing in spring have nature's equivalent of "antifreeze" in their canes and they're more insulated against cold snaps than they are later in the season. Roses like the rest of the garden are reading a multitude of factors that you may not be aware of (e.g. day length, soil temperature, moisture), and they usually know what they're doing or can recover from it if not. As for pruning, I prune off obviously dead wood as soon as the crocus and such come up, which is before the official forsythia blooming start to pruning season. Dead wood is dead, and the rose doesn't know you've cut it until you get into live cane. If you're worried that it's too early to prune, leave an inch or so of probably dead wood on the tips, and it'll just be a haircut to the rose, not a stimulus to start growing more cane. Once you can tell that the rose has indeed given up on that cane, and you feel better about stimulating growth, you can do a second round of pruning to get rid of those stubs. In my zone, we always have to do 2 or 3 rounds of pruning to get rid of cane that was only temporarily alive in the spring, so this isn't unusual for us. Bottom line for me is I prune off dead wood as soon as I feel like being out in the garden, and then do a more detailed prune once the leaves are definitely emerging. I figure if it has leaves it's going to be subject to weather variations with or without my pruning, and I want to get it done before planting season starts. Cynthia

Well first , do you have unnamed or named daylilies? If you have named daylilies the easiest thing to do would be to look up the plant on either the AHS database or Garden.org daylily database . It will tell you there what your plants are as that is part of the registration process. If they are unnamed plants .....perhaps you can check with your local Daylily Society to help you determine what your plants are . I can only speak to what I observe here in S.W. Ontario Canad a. Right now we have no snow so checking out the plants is easy . I will go take some pics to show you what I mean For the most part the Dormants are just that ...no green growth showing at this time what so ever . As you can see no growth showing ( the green you see is a darned dandelion ! ) Most of the SEV's have some short green fan tips close to the ground i.e.new green growth showing but most if not all of the older fans have died back to the ground some even go completely dormant . The EV's however have fans that although mushy at this point are still quite green. Here is an interesting discussion about just this topic. https://garden.org/thread/view/32194/dormant-evergreen-and-semi-evergreen/ Hope this is of some help.