The ones I bring indoors don't need repotting until the following spring.
Adenium
tender succulents
Abutilon--This last winter I left the 3 containers with different abutilon out on the covered deck for winter. Two of them made it.
A. 'Bella Pink' and A. 'Dennis' are the ones that survived.

Beautiful.

I grow alot of my plants in the basement which gets full south facing light throughout the day. It is definitely on the cool side in the winter which seems to keep plants happier over the winter and helps keep bugs away. I also mist everyday in the morning, happier plants seem to mean less bugs. For plants like brugs and pelargoniums/geraniums I basicly bring them in, shove them in a dimly lit corner and forget them most of the winter till they go back outside again aside from a few infrequent waterings. Other plants like flowering maples that will grow well over the winter and bloom get a good washing off with the hose and if there is a sign of bugs like spidermites those leaves get removed. One other thing that seems to work well is small frequent waterings, especially for flowering plants, give them a small ammount of water each day in the morning so the soil stays evenly moist....no wilting means less stress
I've done the same as Trish too, repotting in the fall. Never had any problems with that. I have personally found that as soon as plants are stressed in some way they attract bugs so I try to buy plants that will enjoy the conditions I have. These are just some of the things that have worked for me.


Lynn, I love that Bella Pink! I used to have the same one but I lost it. Now I have a nice red one that is looking to grow quite large!

Steven great advice.
I've had Pink Bella for about 5 years now.
I had a red one called Voodoo. I planted it in the ground against the house. It came back for three years.

Trish said:

No one ever told me I shouldn't repot in the fall. I'm sure if they had, I would have surely killed some plants, but since neither me nor the plants were told, we managed

Me too Trish. I do some things that raise experienced gardeners eyebrows, but it works for me, so I just have to figure my plants love me anyway.

And yes, I agree with Lynn, everything depends on the logistics you are dealing with.

So they make seeds??? Those are pretty..

Voodoo doesn't set fertile seeds. At least not for me. : (

The Bella series can be grown from seed, they flower after a few months. I grew the yellow ones once, they were really pretty.

I also agree with Lynn that your logistics are important and where its going to be growing in your home. Different locations require different care. Customers at work ask me "how often should I water?" and I try to explain that it depends on where its growing and there is no set rule.

Lynn, that Voodoo looks alot like mine, sadly mine had no name but the colour is about exactly the same.

The leaves are huge on Voodoo. About the size of my two hands together. Does yours set seed?


Steven do you know anything about the longevity of the abutilon plants? Are they a relatively short lived plant?

The red one is new for me so I can't say yet but it seems to drop the entire flower when its done, but the leaves on mine aren't near that big. Hopefully they will be in time I had the Bella pink in the past and it did set seeds although I never got them to sprout.

That is what my Voodoo did, never did make seed pods. When I got it in a gallon pot from the nursery the leaves where already good sized. After I planted it in the ground they got huge. I am sorry that it did not come back last year, not sure why.
I also lost my variegated one this winter. It was sitting on the covered deck alongside Bella Pink and Dennis. Not sure why it didn't make it. The leaves were beautiful.

I am going to try drenching with merit after the hummers have gone.. never did find an answer if systemic travels through the nectar or not.. so I don't want to take a chance.. been squirting mealies with alcohol on some of my coleus & lantana .. so I am guessing they will be in the soil.. the coleus I will make new cuttings of and inspect them before doing so.. if there is any question.. I dip them in a cup with alcohol before planting.. plants from outside go in my basement with lights.. and new seeds & cuttings to upstairs away from the possibility of infestation ... I had no gnats until I received new plants shipped to me right before spring.. been using coco coir for all my potted plants and the problem with them just went away.. mealy bugs however.. I fought with them all winter last year.. until I bought the merit

Great tips, Alison!

Allison what is Merit?

I would think any systemic type treatment would show up in nectar. Glad you mentioned that as I had never thought about the possibility of poisoning the hummers, bees, etc that we all want to have around.

I got rid of fungus gnats with the use of systemics and peroxide drenching. This winter I did not have any in the plants I brought indoors. Mealy bug did however attach a few of my tender succulents, others of the same family they never went near.

it's a systemic too
http://www.google.com/products...

Interesting. Thanks Allison.

Bayer Dual Action Rose and Flower spray has the imidacloprid (merit) in it and is easy to find in the garden sections and ready-to-use. The label says it kills insects on houseplants too. I used it for the first time this year on my Japanese irises and boy did it make a difference with the thrip problem I have had every year. I applied just when the irises were up about two inches, long before the appearance of bees.

There are a lot of precautions on the label so you want to be sure to read it all.

Lynn, what systemics were you using? My biggest indoor problem is fungus gnats in my lily seedlings that I grow under lights over the winter .

Ortho Rose fertilizer with systemic. I used it last fall when I brought the plants indoors and noticed that there were a few fungus gnats flying around the sun room and kitchen. It seemed to work very fast. I did not have any more problems.

I use the yellow sticky strips too and they work well but I have a feeling they do their egg laying thing prior to visiting the strips. A little bowl of vinegar with the mother in it also attracts them (they get in and can't get out) but anymore I am all for getting the big guns out as long as the chemical isn't too hazardous and can be used inside. To put it simply... I've lost too many plants (seedlings are very vulnerable).

I tried the vinegar and they would fly all around it, even land on the edge of the bowl, would not fall in.