Preparing Houseplants For Winter; Plus Be Careful What You Prune In Fall
This time of year I am still working hard in the garden. I’ll be out there a lot the next three months praying for the snow to hold off long enough for me to complete as much as possible before being stopped by Old Man Winter. Right now I’m preparing my houseplants for winter by treating them with a systemic insecticide and also spraying them with a horticultural oil. Using both of these methods seems to work quite well in order to keep any insects on the plants now and any eggs of insects that haven’t hatched out of the house.
I’ll start bringing the plants in next weekend and slowly moving them around to get them acclimated to the house. I try to keep the windows open as long as possible in the fall to give the houseplants fresh air and some outdoor levels of moisture.
I have been pruning a few things still this time of year, but don’t like to prune evergreens right now unless I have to. The reason is that pruning will help to send a message to the plant to create new growth where the cuts have been made. If the winter sets in early, then the new growth can be damaged by the winter.
It’s especially important not to prune plants which are tender anyway. For example I have an evergreen against the house called a cupressus arizonica. This plant is native to the dessert southwest of Arizona, Californian and New Mexico. In other words, I have not business growing it here, but here it is. I grew this from a plant about 12” high and now it’s quite tall over 12 feet. If I prune it, I must do it early in the summer just after the new growth and I certainly can’t prune it now.
Other plants like a hardy boxwood would still be ok to prune if you had to, but you’d be better waiting until spring if you can. Last month I pruned one of my taller hollies which was literally flopping over due to the heavy top growth. If you have something like this now, you are probably better to prune it since the snow could do damage to it later in the winter.
Other plants can be cut and divided now. Perennials tolerate a lot of moving this time of year as they are starting to go dormant and can easily be moved. You can also divide and move things like hosta right now. I have been tearing them up from the garden and putting those I don’t want on the compost pile. Eventually, they will break down and end up back in the garden as compost.
Finally, it’s still not too late to put in some seeds of your favorite greens. I plant much of these things in containers this time of year so I can move them into the garage when we have very cold weather later in the fall and early winter.
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