So what would you guys do with the forecast above?

I have brought mine indoors for the winter (So.VA). But the leaves are mottled and turning yellow. I have a few blossoms. Still watering about once a week with 1/4 tsp. FP and a little vingear in a gallon milk jug. Getting discouraged.

When we had the 35 line, I decided to bring them all in. I new I could not keep them cool in my house, even with the heating vents shut. To make transition a bit easier, I just brought them all in. It is a job for a whole day as some of them are really heavy. No way for me bring them in and out a couple of times even though I could have. Only two nights that had frost so far. Next ten days no frost but rain, rain, and more rain. Not a good combination.

Aprosser stop the watering. Only if they need to. You can use foliar spray for adding nutrition. My trees are in since 2 1/2 weeks now and just started to water the smaller containers lightly.

Laura, if they were mine which I have already done with a few of mines..I would group them up as close as you can and use one huge blanket, sheet or frost blanket and cover them to get you through that night. The other lows are fine, so why worry and bring them in when they are much happier out there. That is what I do...My temps was 33 day before yesterday and they did very well under a blanket. Radiational cooling can not happen this way and they will be well protected..

Literally, the top of the blanket had a little frost and just melted away at around 9..

Mike

That’s a great idea Mike. I may do that for a few of them. I can’t do it for all though....way too many. I don’t know...maybe with the plastic sheeting you recommended for my floor last year...

Laura, I don't think the plastic should touch the leaves. A sheet or blanket might be better.

Cory

Mine stay outside all year

Cory is right, not plastic..A bed sheet, blanket, or even a frost cloth will work wonders. The plastic will do but elevate it off the leaves of your trees like with a few sticks high enough to drape the plastic over it and make like a mini greenhouse. The heat from the ground will rise and be trapped! Just make sure it's not windy, but usually when it's a frosty night, the wind is dead calm....)))

Nick thanks..If I lived in Zone 9, I'd be in heaven!

I didn't pay attention to the forecast last Friday and was taken by surprise by the freezing temp and snow Saturday morning. It has been so warm and nice that I'm not at all ready -- have been doing work inside the house and dealing with damage from a fallen tree, which includes getting a new car, siding and roof.

I dashed out and got everything into either the garage or my living room, with a few lonely pots left on the patio with a frost blanket. Just this morning all went back outside to take advantage of warmer temps and weak sun. I need to spray everything down, dig up the cannas and dahlias, and make room for overwintering -- the citrus in front of the spare room window (south facing), everything else (passionflowers, geraniums, begonia, caladium, sweet potato vines) in my big north facing picture window. The oxalis, callas, amaryllis, cannas and dahlias go under the basement steps, and the fig will be wrapped up in a quilt and stay in the garage.

I had been ignoring my pots with everything else going on and found my very young key lime was infested with spider mites -- then hit with colder temps than it likes. It is down to 2 leaves! I gave it a good bath and I hope it survives. Haven't had time to check everything else yet.

Raee, don't laugh but sounds just like me. So much to do it never stops. Ivd been so busy inside that winter has creeped up on me. I still have th set my room up to bring my trees in. Winterize the yard pull up bulbs cover the ponds and wrap up roses with burlap. Just the thought of it all makes me sick. Today I'm off with lots to do. A list a mile long!! What state do you live in ?

I put mine back out yesterday (temp hit mid-70s here) & gave them a good drink of FP. Want to do another spray on them of HO (and/or combo of stuff after finding a cottony cushion scale on the Eureka yesterday... I had sprayed them 3 times in 2 weeks before temporarily bringing them in last weekend) -

There are white flies galore outside with the warmth and they discovered my pepper plants and Vegtrug herb bed, so have the sticky traps up.

Laura - when we had a brief cold spell back in mid-Oct. with some night temps in the upper 30s/low 40s, I had purchased some shrub frost covers (there are a number of companies that sell them in different sizes and for different degrees of protection). I covered my outdoor ones and kept the covers on for a few days (sun & rain can still penetrate) -

I told my sisters that I could stick some "eyes" on them and have instant Halloween "ghost" decorations. LOL I know you have many plants so maybe sheets of frost cloth thrown over groupings of trees and secured (because we all know how winds will suddenly come out of nowhere when we cover plants! ^_^ ).

I had frost cover last spring and wind blowed them off. Some tips got burned but nothing too bad. I have to think about a solution for next spring.

All tropicals still out here in NJ, including mangos, sugar cane, jack fruit, avocados, guava, papaya, and citrus. Thus IS the ‘Garden State’. Just came out of the hottest October ever recorded here!

My car odometer has me measured at 3197 miles from my trees.

Steve

Jurasico-I’ve been meaning to ask the group about avocados. So you grow them in pots? Have you had any fruit yet? What is your setup like? I’m extremely interested in container avocados and mangos!

Anybody else grow avocados in containers?

Susanne - those covers that I bought have a drawstring at the bottom with one of those plastic barrel cord locks that lets you cinch the cord, and keep it tightly drawn around the pot/plant base. I know the feeling of years and years of chasing after all manner of coverings that started blowing away and my being out in the chill trying to secure the things more than I already had. :-o

Steve - I didn't realize you drove out west!

steve are you going to California?? Where?

Next stop home and a hotel on the way

mikerno_1mich, I am in central Ohio. It looks like it will be reasonably warm, but rainy or overcast, until next Tuesday, then temps start dropping to freezing again. Maybe if I cluster everything in front of the garage (which faces full south) and cover with a blanket, I can wait to spray etc until we have a sunny day. I have to spend today and maybe Monday (my next day off) looking for a car. I'm suffering from decision paralysis on that.

Still outside in NYC but this week we had some high winds that did a number on my trees, neighborhood trees and powerlines. I was away at work for a few days came back and home and have been shaking my head since. Lost a grapefruit, kumquat and mango so sad. Later today and tomorrow I plan to start getting some inside.

So sad. I hope they will recover.

Cory

Allana, avocados are not the easiest of tropicals in containers despite their appeal. If you like tropicals there are others that are lots easier! Thing with avocados is that their root system is brittle and they do not transplant well, so planting in a larger container is recommended. Mangos are actually easier and even small ones will fruit. I also grow the tropical guava and that too is good in containers, as are loquats. But the latter I constantly have to protect from the deer that love to eat their leaves. Believe it or not, loquats are quite cold hardy but as an edible evergreen, have to containerize and shelter them in winter from hungry appetites, btw, must tropicals are strangely avoided by hungry animals. Good luck!

dwarf pomegranate

Winter and early Spring blooming Camellia

PS, Cory, reputable nurseries usually aim to carry hardy cultivars of marginal plants. Even those notorious big box stores were selling the cold hardier Kumasaka camellias (a cultivar of C. japonica). I grow those and a variety that was identified as either April or Spring Promise. Flowers less showy than on the Kumasaka but this plant has bloomed in December (blooming now in fact), but big bloom comes in March and buds are surpringly resistant to cold snaps. Regarding the Dwarf Pomegranate, in the ground they are cold hardy to about 5 F. Mine have been in the ground for years and never any problems. Mine still is in foliage, flowering done, but it will go deciduous for the Winter.

Jurasico, thank you for posting pictures of your camellia and pomegranate. Good to know my pomegranates can go in the ground I thought they were only good to 15-20 degrees. One of mine is in full bloom and the other is not. They are next to each other. I have 8 camellias but not all are hardy to this area. So far I have kept them all in pots until they grow a little bigger. I'll go out later to take some pictures. Are you in Southern NJ?

Cory

Dnet that is a very painful sight. I hope you can safe them from this disaster.

Jusasico I had a whole hedge of those camelias when lived in japan. Always surprised me with the winter blooms. So beautiful.

No, not South Jersey,.Northeast (so proximity to water and city adds about one zone). BTW, South Jersey can be funny; if you are in the area of the Pine Barrens, the temps can drop like a rock at night due to sandy soils.

So yesterday, I was looking at temps into the extended and I saw temps forecast to the low 30's toward end of the week, now they are seem to have bumped them up by 10 degrees. But it did inspire me to start bringing some of the citrus into my garage. Still have out Citron, Lisbon, Valencia, Blood, Samatsu Mandarin, and maybe 8 Seville/Bitter oranges that grew from seed (in my experience one of the fastest and most robust of Citrus from seeds).

Cory, confused by what kind of Camellias you have. Are they japonica?

P.S., I like to think I'm in some protected microclimate..., like Shangri La. LOL.

Cory, I have even seen the large varieties of Pomegranates sold in nurseries for hardy plants. The Russian is hardiest among the non-dwarfs. I have a few containerized poms as well but did not keep track of the Russians, son not chancing it.

Jurasico, so you must live near me. It is mostly quite mild where I am but we do get to -5° and even -10° sometimes. I am hesitant to put my newest camellias in the ground yet as some got frozen a few years ago. I will write more in a little while...have to go out right now.

Cory

Beautiful setup and trees, Jurasico, Cory, Corey, Jenny and Alanna! Love the pictures.

I love getting a visual glimpse into the different setups that everyone has. So many different varieties of plants! What a feast for the eyes! :)

Dnedd, sorry about your citrus loss! I share your pain.

Cory, meant to say, you have quite an amazing setup for your plants, and all those orchids! My orchid collection is now limited to a few Phalenopsis plants. My favs are The moth orchids, Vandas, and Cymbidiums.

jinny - I finally decided to go on and bring them in last evening. The forecast was for 60s today and 70s tomorrow but then had heavy rain chances today and tomorrow, much colder mid-week (50s day/40s night), and a possible frost/freeze by the end of next week... and I figured there's nothing worse than trying to drag in heavy plants with wet thorny branches smacking you in the face. lol I fed them last Thurs., gave them a last spray of HO on Friday, and in they came yesterday evening.

I put the Tango (left) up with its fellow mandarin (my newer Kishu far right) & the blood lime (center) upstairs -

Everyone else is sitting in my living room with some temp lights near the back door (these all have to go downstairs to the basement as their final stop). lol

L --> R is variegated pink lemon, Eureka lemon, Thornless Key lime, Thai lime & baby Meyer (plus a near-dead FW "entry" Kishu cut off from the pic).

Again my thanks to Evan for the suggestion of using HD mixing tubs! They (medium size) were less than 6 bucks each and are sturdy.

The forecast for my area next Friday and Saturday night will be 30-32 degrees! I will probably spray a couple times this week and bring it in Friday after sunset.

My Meyer has been dropping leaves like no tomorrow these past few weeks. The leaves are yellowing in that old age pattern but so many of them have fallen. Is this happening because my tree didn't have a new flush of leaves? I got my tree at the end of summer so I can't tell how much it grew this past spring and if it even did. My only hope is for the Meyer to love the indoor conditions and push new leaves. It has so many flowers but probably only 20 leaves left. My Meyer seems to being going down the same path as your Meyer Sammers.

Wow everyone!! You guys have great places for them lights and I can't believe many still have their outside including mine...

This is the last day of partying for them in the big wild and free(((. What I can't believe is still how green they are even though I have had very cold temps at night..What gives???

Here they are all on a table and on the ground...

Beautiful Mike.

Cory

Lookin good mike

Great looking trees, Mike!

Mike looks like a citrus jungle. Beautiful

Ooo I envy you Mike! They look so lush and perky and happy.

I finally caved and decided to bring my trees in last night, I thought I still had a week or more before it was needed but the lows tonight and tomorrow are 33 and 32. I already pushed them going down to 34 a few nights (not in a row) and they did fine but I wasn't going to tempt fate too much. I am still working on getting the room set up as I couldn't get the futon out of that room without taking it apart which I didn't have time for yesterday, but hope to tackle tonight. With the futon still in there I couldn't fit all my trees in the same room so all the smaller ones and my ST are in the living room instead. I need to get a few more bulbs and reflectors but I have the lamps and fan on timers to run from 7 am to 4 pm. Last year I pushed it by running the bulbs 12 hours a day and the trees suffered. I am hoping by keeping it cooler and a bit less light they won't get so stressed/dried out but I'll adapt if its not enough. I'll get pictures tonight when I hopefully get the rest of the trees in there.

Also fun times, my boyfriend decided that he doesn't like them in the house now that he see's them in there and started showing me links on building a DIY greenhouse. I tried to explain to him that we should have done that months ago and that I don't know enough about them to build one and be confidant that I won't murder all my trees by not insulating it enough. It was sparked by me saying I looked into the costs of having a greenhouse built at our next home that would fit what I currently have being pretty expensive (for me I know they are much more expensive options) 6k-8k (without heat and water factored in) and he was appalled and said I could build my own for under $1k. I am sure I can but I am not crazy about testing my handiness (or his) against the cold and well being of my trees. Those of you with greenhouses, did you build your own or have one installed? pro's and con's of both?

Cory, thank you since your comments have always meant a lot. I have learned much form all your beautiful trees and all your good set ups!

Kvet, Susanne, Jinny lee, Steve, gracious!!! Your comments are much appreciated...

I give credit to lot's of fertilizer, vinegar, a good soil-less mix, and God know what else...)) I am a bit surprised they held on to their rich green color...Very surprised since I have never had then do this exposed to very cold temps..Strange..

Sammers, was that not one of the hardest things to do? It pains me every time..Thank God for artificial lights!! Oh boy Sammers, he better be nice at least until next spring..ha

It certainly is energy draining, even for me I took multiple breaks between cleaning out the room, assembling the lights and actually moving in the trees. Just a bit more tonight then I'm done and can focus on figuring out this years winter care routine. Your plants look great! mine did really well with the low temps and only my fear made them finally come inside.

Oh he will be, but he does like to make his point heard. I am very spoiled in that he lets me cover every foot of the outside in plants and only raises an eyebrow or shakes his head. Is now that we have a small sun blinding him from the spare room that he thinks the plants belong outside in their own room lol.

Mike, your trees look incredible!!! Did you finally bring them in? It’s got to be cold there. Mine came in this weekend. I still have eight that need to come in this afternoon. I still don’t know how I’m going to manage watering them!

You have a citrus oasis, Mike! Beautiful!

My trees are still outside here. The trees at my dads are in for the winter (in his sun room).

I've about decided to do the IN/OUT game with my trees here this winter (in at night, out in the day). Last year I experimented with a few trees doing that and they did extremely well. Last winter we only had 16 days from NOV 1st to MAR 1st that didn't get into at least the 50's during the daytime. Many were 60's and 70's. On the days too cold, they sat inside by windows.

We rarely have long bitter cold snaps here. So, I'm going to try and do without any grow lights this winter. Luckily all the trees at my house (calamondin, satsuma, quats) are not too big to move daily, and are more cold hardy than the bigger trees at my dads house. I need the exercise too.

Hey Laura,thank you! I hated SO MUCH to break down the plastic sheeting over the rods I made as a temporary greenhouse almost like a hoop one made of P.C pipes...The sun would create heat in that green house and send all the fragrance of the flowers into the open door to that tent right into my home every day...Like hot air filling my house with sweet smells. I will, miss that. The worst part as Sammers said was bringing them in. I don't worry about them outside even when it's cold, but I worry about the inside with no bright open skies....Ugh

Calamondindave, I thank you so much. It is just like that! I will miss it for sure. I HATE winter! I was thinking, why don't you make like a hoop greenhouse from P.V pipes like I did right up against the warm side of your home? You made never have to bring them inside even in cold nights..Just use a little space heater!

That is a good idea, Mike. I wish I could. Unfortunately my house setup is as such there is no free side open for that, without re-landscaping heavily. The only open & sunny side is on the front facing the driveway, and our circular driveway goes right up to the front steps. I put my trees in the driveway in the daytime. Our yard is a total natural setting, woods only, no grass. We are on top a wooded hill. I thought about putting a small greenhouse on the deck, but it gets very little sun back there, only the driveway and windows in the front of the house gets sun. I'm getting close to making a greenhouse at my dads house - that's where I have planted many things. There's 2 sunny acres to play with over there.

Mikey my friend beautiful tree's very nice so nice to see your pics . I see that you broke a few branches lol you should have seen mine after I brought them in broken branches everywhere sad . I hope that all your tree's are in now a huge artic cold front is soon to pounce on us it might fall to a big zero here Friday night with snow on Sunday . IT'S BACK !!

Take care buddy.

Brian

Fukushu in ground insulated from north side cold. South side below light also insulated.

New Zealand lemonade enclosure insulated.

Steve

Hey, Mike and friends! We had our first dip down to 33F, so now all my citrus are in the greenhouse. Meyer lemon fruit are ripe yellow, and my Moro blood oranges are turning orange. The variegated lemons are losing their stripes and turning yellow.

Josh