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Planto

So green! So healthy! Good job!

Hi. I know Foxtail ferns are hardy down to 20 degrees. I am in USDA Zone 7 at 6700 feet elevation. We get some cold nights in the winter. But I have had success with plants hardy to zone 9 covering for frost/snow or overwintering or cutting back to the ground. Anyone else have success with these plants? I'd consider just potting them and bringing them in in the winter but I'd sure prefer to put them in the ground. Any experience or suggestions? I have read the forum below so know the nature of re-potting etc. Thanks. New member here...

Mine are in pots and I have a few in the ground. The pots stay outside. I have both Foxtail and regular Asparagus fern. They sure don't mind the cold. But like you say, during a hard freeze, they will die back and come back every spring. Since they are so prickly and leaves get stuck in it and around it, I take those dormant times and clean up the bed so it has a happy clean home to wake up to.

Hi, I just found you. I have had my foxtail for about 20 yrs. It has lived in the ground in Phoenix,
in a pot in the AZ mountains at 7000ft and now in NV at 5000 ft. It has looked kind of stragley this summer so I am thinking of cutting it back and repotting it before I bring it in for the winter. Would it be a good idea to repot it at this time of year? The temps are still in the high 80's but the nights are cooling down nicely. Sorry I don't have a pic. My phone battery died.

Can you overwinter it and then cut it back/repot in the Spring? I think that would be a better option if you can wait.

I could but I was thinking if I repotted it now, it would have 2 months for the roots to get re-established and get new top growth before I would have to bring it inside .

Do you bring it inside every winter? How does it fair inside? I'm just curious, as I leave mine on our patio unless it freezes, then it goes in the shed.

Yes I do. It seems to do pretty well inside although it does drop a lot of needles and I end up with brown fronds.. It probably could use more light then I am able to give it but I am in an apartment with a covered patio and it is too heavy for me to move around much any more.

I wondered if you had fromd loss too. I think I tried bringing it indoors once.

I opted to keep mine in its current pot permanently (it is heavy to keep hauling around as is), so a bigger pot won't help me in that sense. It does lose some fronds in the winter, but I just cut them back come Spring.

Do you see keeping it in its current pot an option and just cutting it back in Spring as needed?

Let me try tagging someone to see if they can answer your original questions.

vicki6591 said:Hi, I just found you. I have had my foxtail for about 20 yrs. It has lived in the ground in Phoenix,
in a pot in the AZ mountains at 7000ft and now in NV at 5000 ft. It has looked kind of stragley this summer so I am thinking of cutting it back and repotting it before I bring it in for the winter. Would it be a good idea to repot it at this time of year? The temps are still in the high 80's but the nights are cooling down nicely. Sorry I don't have a pic. My phone battery died.

@needrain, I see you made some previous posts on this topic, what is you advice?

I have it in a large plastic pot and I thought I would just loosen, trim the roots and put it back in the same pot with new soil. I could wait until spring. I just thought it might do better if I repotted it now.

Hopefully Donald can help. Reading his old posts, it sounds rather challenging to break up the rootball (albeit not impossible). I tagged him because reading his old posts on this topic, he has more experience going about it than me.

I have repotted it in the past and those roots are tough. I thought I would try my electric carving knife on it. Too bad I don't have my wood carving tools any more. Some of the larger chisles would do the job.

He did me mention a chisel. I don't own one myself.

They are tough plants. I think you'd be fine to repot it now, but probably would be better to wait until early spring. Mine gets pretty ratty during the winter. For one, they don't particularly like to be moved a lot from indoors to outdoors and the reverse. For another, they can be really difficult to remove from a pot where they've grown for a while and I have done severe damage to the root systems during that process. That, combined with winter storage with cool temps and lower light before the root system recovers might cause some damage now that wouldn't happen in the spring. Are you confident you can remove it from its container without a lot of mangling to the roots? I cut out a lot of straggly growth in the spring and more of the old as new growth shows up. If it looks straggly now, you can probably cure that with some water and fertilize. It's one of rare potted plants that really responds to some fertilize. In the growing season it also responds to and uses a lot of water. Not many days that I don't give it a soaking here and it's really looking great right now.

I think I will take your advise and wait until spring to re-pot it. And give it some more fertilizer now. Thanks. I have had it too long to loose it now.

I love my asparagus fern, and have had it for many years. It's outside from spring to late summer. It has been having a harder and harder time being happy inside over winter the last few years. I kind of think that they are a little less opinionated when young. So when you put your ferns under shelter at the end of summer, is there any thing you need to do first. It's a good idea, that I and my vacuum cleaner will both appreciate.