need to know where you are to understand winter.. big city name ...

and are they potted.. in what.. what size pot ... etc ... btw: how small are they???

do they grow in your area naturally???

they are not houseplants .. they need to go dormant ... and stay dormant all winter ...

they are not children.. that need special protection in a zone appropriate place ...

and do you know the latin name.. which Sycamore ???

a pic might help ...

bottom line.. they are trees... lets try not to love them to death ...

the base issue is.. about the media and the pots and winter ... dormant trees dont need a lot of water ...

ken

I’m curious as to how zone 11 freezes at night.

^^ Yeah, that's not right!! 😑 Zone 11 never experiences freezing weather. Minimum winter low is 40F.

We really need to know geographic location to be able to provide any helpful advice. Some zones will require winter protection: others will not

This zone 11 gets down to 30 regularly and into the 20's occasionally. I'm in Hesperia, CA near Victorville. California sycamore grows naturally here near streams etc. Not sure on the variety. Some were from seeds I gathered and some were volunteers

That is a SUNSET zone 11 and has very little to do with winter cold tolerance. You are USDA zone 8b/9a - almost identical to mine. I do no winter protection at all for any containerized outdoor plants, including quite small ones. They all fend for themselves outside all winter and with virtually no losses.

You can keep them grouped tightly together and close to the house or bury the containers up to their tops in mulch. Or if you want to be extra careful, dig a hole in your garden somewhere and heel them in, pot and all. But sycamores are tough...I wouldn't be overly concerned.

I haven't figured out how to post photos yet. Believe it or not I haven't posted since Houzz took over. I guess I have figured it out. I like the large rubbing alcohol bottles becay=use they're deeper than most six-packs. I can leave things in them longer before disturbing them

Now we know where you are we can definitely say ’leave them outside’. They’ll be fine. The only thing you might want to do is give them a little chicken wire cage to keep birds or animals from disturbing them when rootling for food.

is there drainage in that pot ..

it will go dormant.. it should lose its leaves .. but dormant trees dont need much of any water ... unless sun hitting the pots dries them significantly ...

that is why .. presumably .... gal suggested ... to group them together ... so there is less impact on individual pots ... even better if in shade.. as dormant plants dont need sun .. and even better if you put them under an eave or something to protect from too much rain in winter.. if you get that in your part of CA ...

trees have spent millions of year seeding themselves all over the face of the earth ... they dont really need you being a helicopter dad and all that ... and rankly.. in my experience.. the more you try to outwit ma nature.. the harder you make it all ...

just put them somewhere as suggested .. group them.. and otherwise ignore them until bud swell in spring.. and then continue to ignore them.. lol ...

just dont forget. .tiny pots.. in direct sun.. can heat the roots and most trees or plants.. dont like that ... it makes it hard to water properly ...

now spend the rest of winter figuring out what you are going to do with them all should you succeed ...

i apologize for missing the z11 reference.. but if you edited the post.. to add it.. ...

ken

ps: they will probably need to be put in larger pots after next year ... and that is when you will hope you lost a few more over winter.. lol ... its hard to edit excess stock ... but at some point ... just how many do you need or want.. in other words.. fear success ... lo

btw.. once they drop the leaves.. they are going to look like toothpicks stuck in pots ..... dont freak out at that ... you are going to have to have some faith that they will leaf out next spring ...

ken