Winter Care for Tropicals and Other Tender Plants

This is the information from Bruce McDonald, the propagator at VanDusen, for Diane Eyre and all those of you who like to try to overwinter those 'push the envelope' special plants.

• Plants are dug up just after Thanksgiving and brought back into the nursery.
• The root ball is severely reduced until it fits into the appropriately- sized pot. It looks very harsh, but the plants respond to it- sort of like a large-sized bonsai treatment.
• Top growth is reduced for some species.
  • Brugmansia and Fuchsia are given a hard pruning back to older, thicker wood, to the point of complete exfoliation.
  • Lantana and Tibouchina are given a lighter pruning.
  • Bananas can have their foliage reduced drastically. You will find most of their leaves will turn yellow anyway, so you are just speeding up the process.
  • Do not remove any fronds from Treeferns. They don't respond well to excessive rootpruning either.
    
    
• The plants are potted up and given a once over for pests and dead tissue. Plant is cleaned up if necessary.
• The potted plants are placed in a cool greenhouse that is 12-13c for the winter. Minimal watering is required until the following spring.
• Fertilizer should be given in a limited manner, if at all until the following spring.
• Light pruning and clean up if necessary, but most likely won't require pruning until the spring.
• Keep on top of pests on the fresh growth.
• Damage will show up down the line.
• In late spring, harden off the plants slowly, placing them out in early May and slowly acclimating them to the outdoor temperatures and sun. Do not put directly out into the sun.