Mike, it is nice to be able to enjoy all the plants inside with me :-)

You guys are making me want to try growing a banana. I believe Logee's has one planted outside that they cut back and cover for winter every year.

Here, the last couple of nights have been in the mid 20's. Guess summer really is over :-(

Wendy, get yourself a basjoo. They're winter hardy and grow huge. Just cut it back after the first frost. You'll love it.

I think that is the one at Logee's. I looked at their website, and they have a pic of the one they have growing outside. I think I'll go there and buy one sometime :-)

Some years the big box stores have the basjoos, this year, none, I was lucky they had the dwarf Cavendish varieties.

Bill, and even Wendy, you should consider getting a Paludarium!! I have to get one. I have one on order

https://www.google.com/search?q=paludarium&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS964US964&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSv7Dx64v0AhUvVt8KHdXRBp4Q_AUoAnoECAEQBA&biw=1592&bih=749&dpr=1#imgrc=UFO2fYzYaFQDoM

After reading all about everyone's plants on here, I'm going to have to invent a Star Trek transporter and check out each of your homes! Some of those set ups sound wonderful!

im in NC just inside zone 8a. My citrus are all outside, but i will need to start bringing some in nights starting this weekend it looks like.

Bill, too funny.

I did forget to bring one of my hugest Hoya inside nights ago and now it's fried.((

I also forgot to bring one dendrobium orchid that was sitting on the ground and it looks like it was never affected by the 20's at night. Crazy.

Mike, it will be fine! Happened to me too many times. Left Cattleyas near an open window while we were getting our wood floors refinished. The house stunk of Poly so I opened a basement window to help with the fumes.

We spent the night in a motel and it was 10 degrees outside and I forgot to close that window. I had about 12 Cattleyas lined up against the window. I had Dends and others lined up behind the Catts.

When we came home the next day, I went downstairs to get the plants and found the window open. The Catts were frozen solid, literally! They were covered in snow and ice. The Dends were behind them and they were frozen as was about 20 other orchids.

I was devastated! Slowly let them thaw out and debated whether to throw them all out.

Long and short, I left them alone in another room. All the leaves were mush when thawed. The pbulbs were mush. All the Dend canes were mush.

The Dends died totally. The Catts actually sent up new growths. Apparently the eyes at the base survived. I was too new to the hobby to figure out how they lived, but I tossed all the others.

So, don't worry too much!

Jane

Jane, that had to be devistating. I can't imagine how you felt. I would have been so mad at myself. Glad something survived for you.

Well, thanks to all of you, I went to Logee's today and bought a basjoo. Oh, and a few other plants as well :-)

Mike, I'm so sorry to hear about your big Hoya. It's so frustrating when that happens. Last year, I forgot my big Platycerium superbum; it went through a couple of sub 32° nights before I brought it in, but it actually lived. It looked pretty ratty for a while, but now is getting a nice big new shield frond, so all is well.

Jane, I'm so sorry to hear about your orchids. Years ago, I left a bunch of phals out and we had a unpredicted sub freezing night. Needless to say, they all turned to mush :-(

Mike, those paludariums look really interesting, hmmm....

Wendy - gotcha! In the spring plant that basjoo into a permanent home outside and stand back. Within two years you'll have a small grove. They grow quick. Best of luck with it. I had one push out a flower one year but it never developed due to our short season. I was so bummed out.

I did some weeding, raking, painted ceramic pots, and took pics of autumn foliage today. Otherwise, it was really too nice to work.

That's the plan, Bill :-)

Didn't know where to put this comment, so I put it here. A few months ago I moved my plants back inside. While they were outside, my lacanosa bloomed like crazy. It would have new blooms popping out every few days. The fragrance was phenomenal. It lived in a small hobby greenhouse and the entire inside would smell of the lacanosa.

Well, it was moved inside along with everyone else. After a few weeks of pouting about living in shabbier surrounds, it finally decided it is what it is, and started to bloom again.

Now here's the odd part. No smell. She's blooming, has multiple flowers open yet I can't smell anything. Not during the day, in the evening, at night or early morning. Nada. Nutten. Strange.

Have any of you experienced this ith your plants? Blooming but no fragrance inside? Just curious is all....

Fukushu kumquat in a 30-gallon container.

One of my seed grown Fukushu kumquat tree is still outside 12-3-21

New Zealand lemonade on sour orange is outside.

Meiwa kumquat on both Kuharske citrange and Flying dragon rootstocks..

Steve

12-6-21 Fukushu kumquat and NZL on Sour have been brought in tonight to dodge the 19F early morning. fukushu has been growing solidly but slow in these frosty nights and cool days.

New growth.

snapped over by Bird?

The New Zealand lemonade pot has been put in a much larger pot and insulated against cold as if it is in ground. She is staying outside to face the 19F tonight in cold hardy test

Record warmth incoming, I figured it would get warm again after my last big push to protect Citrus. Expecting temps in the upper 60's on Saturday and again next week, around 60 F. on multiple days. Still have the cycads, some palms, and one last Seville Orange. A few years ago, it was 70 F on

X-mas eve. I don't mind it, I think the idea that there must be snow on X-mas is ridiculous, I remember marvelous Christmases under palms in Miami and locally with snow. It's all good. Happy Holidays!

Kicked it back outside again.

Oh, dear lord, Poncirus, once I get these monsters moved, I am DONE! How do you do it? Are they on wheels? I do drag some of the massive ones (palms and cycads) out to get hosed down in January and February, but not so much the Citrus. It's love from a distance in the winter for many of them though. Lots of the subtropicals get overwintered in a detached garage. I keep an eye on temps with a remote thermometer that records 24 and 48 hour maximum and minimum temps and all time highs and lows. Purchased at HD for about $20, love it!

Ponderosa lemon

Margaritaville, my ponderosa lemon is bursting with buds. Do I need to pollinate it or are they self pollinating? This is the one Mike recommended I buy and it really took off this summer.

The plastic pots are slippery and slide well.

Bill, I did nothing for my single Ponderosa, however, mine are seasoned outdoors, not sure how the pollination occurs in an indoor environment. Maybe someone will be able to take that question. Oh, and this ridiculously big fruit is on a plant about a foot tall.

Margaritaville, wow! That's some fruit!

My plant is just about three feet tall. It grew like a weed outside, but I brought it in for the winter. It's blooming like crazy now. I tried taking some of the pollen on my finger and smooshing it around (keep your comments to yourself, I've already thought of that!). Hopefully it'll bear fruit. I sure hope so as I'd love to see it happen over the winter.

Bill, nothing. Not a hing. They pollinate themselves. The fruit just shows up out of nowhere,

That is what I love about these trees. Mines, the one bought at the same time as you is loaded with buds and made the whole grow room smell so good! I have 4 of these great citrus trees, I also have a 6 foot one sitting on my very cold porch, 30'3 by night and 40's by day doing just perfect! They can be heavy to move at that point. This tree was so loaded with HUGE fruit, that when I went to stick on the porch, one of the fruit swung around and whacked me right off the head, I got a nice lump. lol

The thorns can be tricky to get around too, Crazy

Magarit, do you keep yours stored in temps of the higher 30's too? That is quite the beauty you have there, Try lifting a tree with about 12 of those that size. Hard to balance it to stay straight up when they wave about trying to carry it. Haha

Speaking of weather. We had record warmth again. 70 a couple days ago then back to the 30's the next day. Once again this coming Saturday, higher 60's then back to the 50's. %0's and 40's and 60 for the next ten days. Nothing wintery at all. They are saying right into Christmas possible 70. Just nuts but I like it.

Bill, the only time I couldn't smell a darn thing was when I had a nasal infection 3 weeks ago. Everything in bloom and nada!!! It stunk.

By the way, I had a hoya, my sunny obscura sending out dozens of ready to bloom flowers until I forgot to water it. All dried up before they even bloomed. So mad at myself!!!

Mike, you're not being a good plant parent. I'm going to call plant protective services on you! 🤣

Meyer, all the citrus overwinter in my detached garage. Limes, kumquats and calamondins have heavy fruit, nothing else except a single ponderosa lemon. Limes always seem to do the best (thus my online name), I always thought they were most tropical, so I don't get it. Citrus start to flower in February. I have a remote thermometer to keep track of temps. I have one or two space heaters (electric, oil-filled radiators), depending on the temps. You reminded me to shut off one as it will too warm as we will be 70 F. tomorrow but overcast. Next week, 60 F. but with sun it'll top 75 F. without any heaters easy. If it's a "normal" January day, it will be around 40 F. by day and 24 F. by night, and the garage is usually 20 F. degrees warmer. If there is an arctic outbreak and drops to 5F (near absolute minimum), it probably will drop to a bottom basement minimum of 28 F for the season, and the plants have been okay with that, even the Orinoco bananas, avocados, and tropical guava. Thankfully, the record coldest weather is almost alway sunny. I am now looking at my remote thermometer. It recorded that the greenhouse/garage temp max was 63 F today and the low was 57 F. but there was a lot of overcast and of course, days are shortest. . It gave the same data for the 48 hour period as the 24 hour. It gives the all time high as 80 F. and low of 44 F. (that is since November 1st when the plants start going in). Curiously, I noticed that the temperatures rose as it filled up with plants. When this two car, loft garage was empty it was much cooler than once it filled up with plants and all that soil. Heat capacity goes up as there is more stuff in a given space. This is also a useful explanation for the plant hoarding. LOL.

Still have out the cycads and a few big palms but most of the work is DONE!

Margaritaville, are those garage plants under lights? My garage stays above freezing, but there isn't very much light at all.

Thoughts?

Mike, here are a couple pics of my ponderosa lemon. The little webby things in one image are baby spiders. I keep killing them and they keep returning.

So what do you think? Let everything develop or trim some? The two pictures don't do justice to the plant as it has several other branches with buds as well!

Thoughts or suggestions anyone?

Bill, sorry I did not respond sooner. These forums have become so dead lately, I stopped checking for feedback. Regarding the light in my own garage. There are two car port doors that face directly south, unobstructed, full sun, all day and the doors are 50% plexiglass. This time of year, the low sun angle brings direct sunlight into the front part of the garage to maybe midway back. So the keep the Citrus and my bird of paradise and a few other plants right in the front but the other plants are pretty shaded for the season. But plants do get dragged out over the course of the winter to get watered heavily and if it's mild, they stay out for a few days. So no, I basically don't use artificial light in the garage but do in my basement for the more tender plants.

Margaritaville, hanks for the update. My garage just isn't suitable since there's not much light. I did bring my BoP inside for the winter. If it makes it, great. If not, oh well.

You have a great holiday and keep growing those plants. Best of luck with them.

Hey Bill, nice tree! i am no expert, but just glancing at your first picture, those sure look like spider MITES and not beneficial spiders. If you haven’t yet iI would consider spraying neem oil.

I am also of the opinion that although some trees seem to like it inside, the angle and intensity of sunlight this time of year just isn’t as good as the spring or summer, so iI would hold off on pruning until the tree has a good chance to start building up energy stores. If the plant seems pretty content where it is at during a poor growing time of the year, I say leave it be!

Bill I have both the Giant (White) Bird, Strelitzia nicolai) and S. reginae (Orange Bird). I started to overwinter one of the Giant Birds in my garage last year for the first time, it was fine. Also have one inside the house if it's too cold for the Giant and it has issues (it's now too big for the house). The Orange Bird is alway overwintered in the garage and this will be the first year it decided to flower. It sent up two flower stalks two weeks ago. Regarding the Citrus, being that they are in a detached and very crowed garage, I really do not obsess with them this time of year. Biggest issue is to keep up with watering..., even under chilly conditions. I did notice that something is flowering among the citrus now. I don't prune them in the winter, nor feed them. I did pick two ripe limes and made a terrific mojito last night. People who said that they did not care for mojitos, could not believe how much better it was when prepared with fresh fruit as opposed to something from the supermarket. Made my holiday! (Supermarket limes can be sooo dry and tasteless in my opinion.) Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Bob, I have never had spider mites before. I thought these were baby spiders. I spray them every day with Bayer 3 n 1, but maybe they are mites. The 3n1 never seems to knock them all down, so I'll try Neem oil tomorrow, which I also have. Thanks for the heads up.

Margaritaville - I'll be over at 8 tonight. Mix me up a batch! 😁

Bill, your plant would look horrible if you had spider mites. I don't see them unless you can take a closer image. I'll bet you loved the fragrance of the blooms)))

I would do nothing. ALL that fruit will develope and they are very tough plants!!

"Margaritaville - I'll be over at 8 tonight. Mix me up a batch!"

After the last few years, I am running out of limes!

Margaritaville - I promise not to drink too much!

Mike, there wasn't any fragrance at all. No one in my family could smell anything.

I must live in an odor free zone!

Just brought into protection one giant Butia/Pindo and four giant cycads. Cycads are hellacious to move even on a dolly while trying not to kill oneself. I was watching the temp minimums to drop below freezing even into the extended, then they seemed to change the forecast and we are back into the 50's soon enough, weather whiplash. Well, at least it got me moving. I am done with the annual plant migration but STILL doing leaf removal. There are 16 bags of leaf debris waiting curbside and if you look at my yard, it looks like I did jack. Oh, and most of my trees are broadleaf evergreens (6 M. grandifloras), so have no idea where all these leaves came from. it NEVER ENDS!

I hear you on the leaves. I have a red maple that only dropped three leaves so far! All the oaks are bare, but not this guy. There's also a sweet gum which never fails to piss me off. It too is still full, and when the leaves finally decided to fall, there are a bazillion spikey balls that will grace me lawn throughout the winter and spring. I'll be taking those things up for months!

The cycads, did you grow them from seed? They're supposed to be prehistoric aren't they? Do they grow quickly?

Bill, YES, they are prehistoric and NO, did not grow them from seeds, but can you believe I have had some of them for 40 years. They grow in flushes, they will look like varnished plastic and then within two weeks sprout a new crown of some 6-20 new leaves. So they are FAST within the period of new growth, and in Florida, can have two growth spurts per season. They also sucker, so there will be more of them for propagation. They are pretty easy but are NOT house plants..., NEED TO BE OUTSIDE. I have serious DEER and this plant is DEFINITELY NEVER gonna be touched by any deer..., maybe a dinosaur. When the leaves first emerge they are very vulnerable to damage and by the end of week two they are indestructible, unless you are a dinosaur. Not sure of hardiness..., maybe 15 F and I am going down to 25 F but they are valuable now, and plants in containers are never as hardy in a pot as in the ground. One of my gardening themes is paleobotany (prehistoric plants), thus, the cycads, ferns, magnolias, Japanese plum yews (Cephalotaxus), Araucaria (Monkey Puzzle), Gingko biloba, and Dawn Reds (Metasequoia). I guess the modern world ain't really doing it for me, LOL.

My Japanese Bloodgood Maple is one of our favorite trees and it too drops leaves very late toward the end of November. But at least THIS year they turned red and did not linger on the tree as frozen brown leaves for the winter, they do that some years if it's too warm in Autumn, which it was this year, but they did not freeze. My gingko goes from solid green to yellow debris it seems in a day. I hear you about the Sweet Gum, never had one but my neighbor is still bitchin' about his after decades of separation from it.

Here is a pic of one of the C. revoluta plants. Also grow Zamia, Encephalartos and Dioon among the cycad genera.

Ok, now I need to grow a cycad! I live outside Doylestown in PA and have a southern exposure, so they'd be perfect to put into an area with a micro climate. Now I need to get one!

See what you did? 🤣

My last tree to come in for the year came in today

seed grown Fukushu kumquat from seed

Kumquats are terrific plants! I have a couple of those and the calamondin (which is a kumquat hybrid). I do get a lot of fruit on them, as with the limes, not so much with oranges, lemons could be more productive but Ponderosa is a vigorous fruiting plant. Think I will get out to garage and water them today. Regarding the cycad if you do get one, they are poisonous. In fact, if you google online you will find all sort of horror stories, to the point of hysteria. Now, I cannot imagine an animal or child eating these leaves, but if they do, it can be fatal. Especially fatal are the seeds in their cones which a child or animal might eat. Neither my cycads or citrus ever come into the house, too big and prickly but when I do work with them, I wear long-sleeved shirts and gloves (and already wear glasses), but I have never had a contact reaction from touching them, not like darn poison ivy which iS my gardening nemesis.

Poison Ivy?? Tell me about it!

I love those palms and cycads...Great growing and I too will get one some day..Do they need a lot of sunlight to stay full like that? Or do they grow leggy if not?

You always have beautiful plants)))

Bill, you make me laugh. Seems we go through the same stuff come every season. Never stops..lol

Meyer, cycads were seasoned under some Eastern Hemlocks and Gingko in an eastern, northern, or western filtered exposure. Yes, they can tolerate full sun in the humid East but will burn if you don't acclimate them, and all mine grew even under outdoor, somewhat shaded conditions. They WILL NOT put on normal new grown indoors, it will look leggy and deformed. They are really not "houseplants" and wanna be in the fresh air. The single most available cycad sold around the world is a Japanese species, Cycas revoluta, probably because they have good cold hardiness for a subtropical (about 12-15 F). I overwinter mine in a garage. Gritty mixes are good for these as they need excellent drainage.

Again, I have DEER so anything I put out has to be quite deer resistant, so many of the plants I have in the yard are poisonous. Animals seem to get it and avoid poisonous, deadly plants, I am not poisoning Bambi here. Citrus are not toxic as far as I know but animals tend to avoid them..., thorns and the fragrance turn them off. So anyone need a list of deer very unfriendly plants, let me know. Pets may be different, most want to naturally munch occasionally on greenery, outdoors, they have a lot of choices, but inside, they may have fewer options, so I advise people to grow some animal friendly, grass seeds for the curious pets and they will leave the toxic, exotic ones alone.

Just brought my Seed grown New Zealand lemonade tree inside So far it has seen temperatures of 22F,22F, 20F, 25F, and many hard frosts to date. I am warming the roots up to hibernation temperatures for an in ground tree so I can put it back outside for the up coming 17F, 13F to determine cold hardiness of this cultivar 01-02-2022

Steve