Over-wintering bare-root plants

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

More specifically, salvia -- S. guaranitica ("Black and Blue") and S. x Mystic Spires.

I tried over-wintering mother plants inside and taking cutting this past winter, which worked fine until the whiteflies made their appearance -- what a mess! And hardly any cuttings to show for it -- the whiteflies decimated them. So forget that noise.

It recently hit me that mail-order nurseries ship bare-root plants -- so there must be a way to store them bare-root until shipping time, maybe cold storage? I know how to store annual geraniums, but they're stored in a dry, dormant state -- not sure if the "throw it in a paper bag in a cool, non-freezing location and forget about it until spring" method would work with salvia (works great with geranium, though!), or whether the salvia need to be kept moist in cold storage (? at a particular temperature). Appreciate any tips/tricks you can offer!

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Comments (4)

dbarron
5 years ago
These salvias are tuberous...so it *could* work. They're usually hardy here, so we don't do such things.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
5 years ago
i was inside a wholesale refrigerator once .... it was nothing like the fridge in my house.. and i am not talking about the fork lifts driving around... lol ...

if only we all had old fashioned underground root cellers .....

i have never succeeded with geraniums .... so i dont know if there is an equivalency ....

and i dont know about letting a pot dry and holding a whole dormant pot over ... rather than BARE ROOT ...

if i were going to try this... i would pot them.. and either sterilize the soil .... or treat the soil with a systemic in fall ... so i was pretty sure it was bug free .. upon bringing it in the basement ...

every time someone asks about bringing pots in for winter ... i tell my bug horror story.. glad to have affirmation ... i wasnt the only one .... lol ... one year it was so bad.. i had a hard time watching the red wings win a stanley cup ... because you couldnt see the puck [pre hig def tv] .. thru all the swarming gnats or what not ... i think i ended up closing off the room.. and bug bombing it ... crikey ...

ken
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I winter over Black and Blue salvia by cutting back and potting it up then putting in a cool dark basement room. Once a month I give it a small amount of water to keep tubers from shrinking. In the early spring I put it under lights for new growth and plant in the garden after the last frost date. Some of my plants have been wintered over three or four years. Editted to add: when I cut it back I cut it way back to just a short stem. That should make even a large one easy to pot up. This post was edited by mnwsgal on Mon, Nov 10, 14 at 12:10
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NHBabs z4b-5a NH
5 years ago
With Salvia Black and Blue, I have tried overwintering indoors and while they survive, they don’t do well. My best results have been overwintering them in an insulated, sunny, small porch/entryway. They sprout in spring earlier than they would outdoors and so are good sized at season’s start, and they have all survived between the warmth from the house and the solar gain modifying our cold winter temperatures. Even in an old fashioned root cellar, I haven’t been successful, either potted or bare root, and my main cellar has a wood stove and so is too hot and dry.
dowlinggram
5 years ago
I'll make a comment on white fly. I brought it home from a nursery on ivy geraniums. I sprayed the plants with neem oil and soap and water occasionally throughout the summer and thought I'd got them all because they never showed any sign of being sucked dry while outside.

I bring in geraniums and ivy geraniums every fall and put them under my lights. That's when the white fly showed up again. I went to the dollar store and bought a sheet of bright yellow bristol board. I came home and cut out 20/ 5 inch squares I cut pieces of duct tape and stuck them lightly to the edge of my kitchen counter. Then I coated one side of the card with vasaline, stuck the tape to the uncoated side and slathered that side with vasaline. I carried these cards down to my lights 2 at a time and stuck them to the light fins. I did the same with the rest spacing them along the lights. I removed all the plants to the laundry sink and washed down my shelves. My plants were wet so the soil wasn't that loose. I turned on the cold water and put my hand around the plant bottom at the top of the pot with the stem between my fingers and turned the plant upside down and run the water over the plant especially the undersides of the leaves. Then I put them back on the shelves. Twice a week I sprayed them from the bottom up with neem oil or cold water. The cards caught lots of the adults and the spraying got rid of the larvae. My pants started to thrive again but I didn't give up the fight. In a few weeks I didn't notice any white fly flying around but I continued spraying until it was time to move them outside. Form now on my plants will be treated before I bring them inside.

My infestation was small and I acted fast and that was the secret of my success.

Over-wintering bare-root plants

Comments (4)

dbarron

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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