Tips for Bringing Your Houseplants Inside for the Winter

Now that cold weather is setting in here in the Northeast, it's that time to start thinking about bringing your houseplants inside for the winter.

Our friends at Costa Farms offer these great tips for bringing these beauties inside and keeping them alive until it's safe to bring them outside again in the spring.

Bring houseplants in well before the first frost. Some tropical plants, especially, don't even like temperatures in the 40's. Plus, the cooler temperatures often are the signal for the plants to start going dormant. September is not too soon to bring plants indoors.

Repot the plants if you can. Fall is not the best time to replant houseplants; spring is better for that. But you don't want to bring in the pots that have been outside all summer with all the critters that live in them now... like pill bugs, millipedes, and spiders, just to name a few. So consider repotting the plants with fresh potting soil before bringing them indoors.

Check plants thoroughly for pests. Pests can hide in many places on the plants, especially on the undersides of the leaves. If a plant seems to have a pest problem, such as mealybugs, spider mites, aphids, etc. don’t bring it inside with other plants until you are sure it is pest-free. You may need to use an organic spray to kill the pests or wash all leaves thoroughly to remove them.

Consider not bringing plants back indoors if they are diseased or otherwise unhealthy. Plant diseases and pests can spread quickly to other plants indoors so it's safer to toss out a diseased or pest infested plant than to end up infecting all your houseplants.

Give the plants a little bit of fertilizer for a boost going into winter. Then just water the houseplants when needed through the winter until it is time to set them out again in the spring.

-Stacey
Garden Media Group

Ellen says, "It Works!"

Ellen Wells, contributing garden writer for the Boston Globe and editor at large of Green Profit, gave her mother a bottle of the FreezPruf and told her to spray half of her begonias and not the other half. They had a frost the other night, and Ellen says, her "mother says the begonias she sprayed look fabulous and the others have succumbed to the weather. So ... it works! She said she'll definitely use it next fall.

Ellen added, "I should remind her she can also use it to put plants out earlier in the spring, as well."

We're waiting for FreezePruf pictures! Send yours to us and we'll post how you beat Jack Frost this year!

New this fall from The Liquid Fence Company.

Frost Countdown. What's Your Date with Jack?

I can’t believe summer’s over and we’re watching the weather reports for the first “freeze warning” signs. We could have frost hear as early as October 10!

Normally I would be panicking, but now, while everyone else is playing the guessing game as to when the first frost will occur, I’m using the brand new FreezePruf. It’s just been introduced and works like “anti-freeze for plants” to help plants survive hard freeze. It's like moving your entire landscape 200 miles further south -- up to 9 degrees colder.

Check out this interview with Dr. Dave Francko, Univ. of Alabama (Watch video: Science Daily).

No matter what you’re growing, you could use a little more time this season. Find your frost date by just Googling city or the biggest city near you.

New from The Liquid Fence Company.