If you enjoyed this video, please "Like" and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience: 0:00 Intro To Bringing Plants Indoors In Winter 0:57 Step 1: Acclimating Plants To Prevent Stress 3:52 How To Acclimate Potted Plants To Indoor Light 5:07 Step 2: Bringing Plants Inside Without Pests 6:58 How To Apply Insecticides To Indoor Plants Safely 9:14 Adventures With Dale
@@TheMillennialGardener looking forward to video this winter of you and Dale chilling in the sunroom giving some plant updates. Winter beer needed too, haha.
Side note...home depot now has the blood meal and bone meal 80% off. Like you stated the clearance usually happens around the first week of September. Went by home depot today and stocked up...
It's regional. My local Home Depot store has not had any clearance sales yet. I've been checking. I've seen them as late as January and as early as September, so it takes some vigilance.
Yep, I had a fig freak out and defoliate. I don't have the time to do all this and a full time job. I have to use supplemental light and hope for the best.
I have a full time job as well. It’s still a good idea to do this. It can be done in mere minutes. Set them outside on the patio, spray and walk away. It’s really quite simple, and you’ll be rewarded in the long run.
This is helpful information because it explains why my olive tree dropped its leaves. My Meyer lemon and lime tree were fine with the indoor transition. My pomegranate tree also dropped its leaves but they are growing back now.
That's interesting. Usually, citrus are quite sensitive. I just ordered an olive tree, so it's good to know they're finicky, too. That all sounds like light stress to me.
Another fantastic, educational and informative video. Thank you. I am well aware of transitioning plants outdoors but never thought or knew about bringing in my plants [primarily citrus plants). I also did use my insecticide before bringing my plants in. I kept my plants outdoors for as long as possible to get as much sun as possible. Thanks to your video, I will make a plan for next year and beyond. Great lessons. Again, thank you for this important video. Be safe and well.
I'm glad the video was helpful! Some plants are harder to transition than others. I imagine cacti and succulents may be easier than evergreen leafy plants like citrus and such, but anything that can be done to help minimize the stress is helpful.
I wish I had stumbled upon this channel a few months ago, this is why my Meyer lemon defoliated. I hope it grows back in the spring. Now that’s it getting warmer, when is it safe to begin the transition back outside?
Natural pyrethrin will degrade in a matter of hours, so if you spray this at night and leave the plants outside, they should be safe the next day. Best to keep your cat indoors while the procedure is taking place.
Well that’s nice to know. Brought my lime and lemon trees in with some peppers I kept. They did fine the lemon dropped two leafs. They did go in the garage under grow lights thought
My neighbor brought his Meyer lemon inside, and it lost all its leaves in a matter of days and actually started dying back! The branches were dying off sitting in front of the patio door. He wound up giving up and planting it outside, and now it's doing great.
What do you do with your figs? Winter has just started here in the Nordics and I’m about to put my fig tree in a cold (5-10°c) garage over winter. Anything special one needs to think about? Appreciate your videos, i have learnt so much from you! Thank you and regards from🇫🇮!
Wow I couldn’t imagine how delicate the citrus are indoors. I don’t bring mine in but create rolling pallets and push my plants in and out of the garage depending on the next 48 hours. It allows me to get a third flush of flowering/fruiting on citrus and even my dragonfruits
They're very temperamental. It's a big reason why I used to cart them in and out daily. Having them outside every day prevented any ill reactions, but I have that luxury here since our days are always sufficiently warm to do so. My coffee would get pretty beat up doing this, though, because they can't tolerate temps below 50F and take damage in the 40's. I'm going to try the sunroom this winter and see how they perform, which will save me a lot of time and energy in the long run.
I brought in my citrus and pepper plants some lavender and basil and it all survived because I have LED grow lights. I did have problem with some aphids but I'm spraying it down with Dawn dishsoap and canola oil mixed in water.
Great info. Thanks. I’m going to bring my potted citrus into a similar enclosure when it gets colder. I water them every day in the summer, and fertilize once a month. No much water or fertilizer do they need indoors in the winter?
Citrus need fertilizer all year long. They grow throughout the winter, and they need just as much food in the winter as they do in the summer. They flower during spring, so they need to have plenty of nutrients on-hand for a successful fruiting season. I have a video about this issue here: ruclips.net/video/QWtspDbFtFU/видео.html
I didn't acclimate my stone fruit trees or hibiscus plants last year, and I know the leaf drop issues only too well. The weather here is going from the 80s to the 50s/60s with nights in the 30s or 40s in the span of about 3 days, so I don't have time to acclimate again this year. Would growth lamps help with the issue of preventing dropped leaves?
Great timing with very informative video as always. Gardening is hard work but a "labor of love" I'm willing to do for my family's food and in my hobby love of some tropical plants I grew up with in Hawaii. I'm following your method on my young bananas, as well as my several Papayas 1st time growing ever and in 8b just to see if I can. I too am doing pest prevention before all plants are tucked in. The sneaky buggers can decimate everything once they get lil warmth.
@@TheMillennialGardener I actually have 26 in pots to overwinter as my first time growing plus from seed. I'm gonna split between 3 diff areas I protect plants overwinter. Wish me 🤞 and I'll let you know progress or not. I will say I am using your straw method of wintering bananas as I need to protect the root and trunk.
I brought my two small Lemons in (I have a Meyer lemon and a variegated one, both new purchases this year) and I didn't have any significant leaf fall. I wonder if it is because I cut them back by a third or more to shape the trees and to make them easier to deal with in the house. They're right against a west facing window and all they did was start growing new little branches and then the larger Meyer lemon got buds and is blooming. Maybe the remaining branches had all been in the shade of the taller ones I cut? I don't know. I also don't know when lemons are supposed to be pruned, but I needed them to fit. What I DID get in abundance, was aphids. omg did I get aphids.
Yes, absolutely, and if you're in a climate where the days are very short, adding a supplemental grow light is a great idea. However, you'll still want to acclimate them to the artificial light. Grow lights are not the full spectrum of the sun, even if they say "full spectrum," so you'll still want to acclimate them some. The added light may reduce the acclimation process.
My orange tree and the kumquat remain outside in my patio all year round. I couldn't bring them in out, as I am 70 thin. Last year when trying to repoting my roses I almost break my arm. It hurts all year long till now is getting better. But my trees stay healthy besides the weather sometimes in the 30s. They stay under a roof next to wall to protect them from hail rain and wind. They do good. We are in northern california so it's not too bad. To keep pest away I mix lavender oil with water and spray, mist the leaves and trunks. Never seen any since
Weather in the 30's won't harm a kumquat or almost any variety of sweet orange. Kumquat's hardy into the teens and most sweet oranges to the low 20's, and sometimes even colder. Granted, everything is more cold sensitive in pots, because the roots are exposed above-ground, but they'll still tolerate frosts and light freezes with ease. An option is to get yourself a pull cart and cart them in and out as necessary on cold nights like I would do with my non-hardy citrus and coffee: ruclips.net/video/-iVYC2fgwyM/видео.html
Hey this is a question on a different topic but I also live in NC in zone 8. I was wondering where I could get some turkey compost like you got to fill up my garden beds come January. I'm building a garden from scratch and going all in. Thank you for all the help so far!
I got mine from Hoffman Ecoworks in Southport. I recommend them. I filled all my beds with their turkey compost. It took 20 cubic yards over two seasons, and it was worth every penny.
So bring pots inside. I’m in zone 8b (Texas) My concern is growing turmeric and a 6 ft fig tree. Do they need a special light? I’d love to have them in my livingroom, if light is needed they’ll have to be in the garage where temps are almost as low as outside.
Deciduous trees don't need to be acclimated once dormant. For fig trees, if you allow the figs to be frosted on, lose their leaves and go dormant, you don't need to acclimate them to indoor light, because they're dormant and don't need significant light during dormancy. You may want to treat them for pests, though, because there could be mites or aphids hiding. This procedure is for plants that stay evergreen and always require light: citrus, coffee, mangoes, bananas, avocados, anything that keeps their leaves year-round.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thanks so much for this video, even though I dont' have a sunroom! I am in NC, 7b and have been carting my meyer lemon and figs in and out of the garage on any nights we have mid-30's or lower. Is there a certain low temp that you bring your figs into the garage? If so, how many frosts or how much time would it take for them to go into dormancy so they can just stay in the garage without light or water? Then in the spring, how do you handle getting them back out of dormancy?
Hi Anthony, Can I use grow light which has different brightness levels to acclimate potted plants when I bring them indoor ? Love your channel and LOVE Dale.
Thank you! You can use grow lights, but grow lights don’t have the intensity of the real sun, so you should slowly transition the potted plants to the artificial light. I would still follow this procedure when transitioning them indoors to minimize a negative reaction.
All pots I use in real life are linked in my Amazon Storefront in the video description. I have a video on my favorite fruit tree container here: ruclips.net/video/LuBHbBmh3hU/видео.html Smaller ones are linked in the storefront.
Need advice before planting sweet potato in huge pots to prevent compacting potting mix. Can l mix in coco peat through the potting mix to make it lighter for the tubers to grow in?
Sweet potatoes are not picky. They’ll grow in peat, compost, etc. Are you in the Southern Hemisphere? Sweet potatoes require very warm temps. They are purely tropical, so make sure temps will never drop below 50F before you plant slips.
@@TheMillennialGardeneryes in the south of Australia & it’s been really cold & wet for ages! Ok, heading off to get bubble wrap to cover the pots individually to help with the temperature. Cheers & thank you.
I noticed the plants you were showing are all in what looks like a self watering pot of some kind. I looked on your amazon storefront and didnt see them there. Can you share where you got them and if you would recommend them???
Self-watering containers with reservoirs at the bottom are extremely rare in reasonable sizes. They're almost all too small. Those pots I use for my citrus were carried by Walmart 5-6 years ago, and I haven't been able to locate them since. I only use those types of containers for citrus. For all my other trees, I'm slowly converting them over to the high quality black containers I have linked in my Amazon store.
So, at what temperature should you start this process? I have a couple citrus and stone fruit trees all in containers. The citrus I always thought was fine to keep outdoors until 32 degrees or under which is considered a light freeze I believe. I have nights this week and next swinging as low as 30 up to 40 degrees. The citrus are Meyer, Key, and Lisbon.
It depends on what you're growing. My variegated Eureka lemon and Key lime are not frost tolerant, so they can't be exposed to frost. They start coming inside when I start seeing upper 30's pop up in the overnight low forecast, because I've had countless instances where a forecast of 39 degrees turns into a 33/34 degree light frost. So, you'd want to begin the acclimation process when those upper 30's start popping up. You can use those initial, sporadic cold nights to begin the acclimation process where you carry them indoors on those first couple cold nights, then when it warms up, carry them back outside.
Citrus trees will drop their leaves if the humidity grows too low in an indoor environment. Ideal humidity should be at 45 - 50%. Use a humidifier, if necessary. Misting your tree regularly will also help replicate the tropical climate these trees vibe with.
My sunroom gets very humid, especially after you water the trees. The last few days, it was so humid the windows were fogging, and the trees still started shedding some. It's incredible how sensitive citrus trees are to changes in light. The coffee trees have been a lot easier to manage.
Grow lights do not match the sun. Think of it like this: you can grow your plants under the most intense, full spectrum grow lights available, but if you suddenly carry them outside during the summer, the leaves will burn and the plants will be badly damaged or killed. That's because the sun has spectrum of light and intensity that no man-made light can match, and plants that grow under grow lights don't develop that UV protective coating on their leaves that plants outdoors get. It's the same thing as when you bring them inside during winter. Even the best grow light setup is going to have missing components of the spectrum, so it's best to slowly acclimate them. You may be able to reduce this process and they'll acclimate more quickly, but it's best to do this in a couple steps.
Dude, use a mask when spraying that! I know you are young and it probably is not bothering you or you are breathing shallow, however it is dangerous even if labeled natural. You don't want that in your lungs. I am a musician who in younger days worked in manufacturing around various chemicals and you need that protection. We always protected our lungs. Nice video!
I was preparing to move a Meyer Lemon inside. I moved it about 10 feet from where it was - still in full sun but on my deck. It drooped for a few hours. They’re so temperamental! I never knew I needed to acclimate them to going indoors. I was heartbroken as I watched it lose every last leaf.😢
They're tricky, for sure. Citrus have been the hardest for me to acclimate to indoor light. They're much easier to acclimate outdoors, which is funny, since in their native habitat, they grow in understories. You'd think they'd be less temperamental, but they are.
Citrus periodically drop their leaves throughout the year. Evergreen trees like citrus simply don't have a defined drop period like deciduous trees do, and they periodically replace leaves throughout the entire year. Citrus, like any tree, can drop their leaves if they encounter enough stress. Drought, heat, cold, UV intensity, prolonged darkness, insect attacks, disease and other issues can all result in foliage drop. Plants drop their foliage as a last-ditch life preservation reaction to concentrate their energy and preserve the trunk.
As long as the tree is still alive and none of the branches are brown or dying back, the tree should recover. Giving it some higher nitrogen fertilizer may help it recover. Meyer lemons are very temperamental and need to be acclimated to indoor light in phases. I've seen them lose all their leaves multiple times from the transition shock.
One day I hope to be as great a gardener as you. So far I just threw my sensitive container plants in my Amazon greenhouse back around Halloween. I never really get pests in there and the citrus love the heat. I may be in 9a/potentially 8b Southern California, but at 3,500' I've been getting much more frost than you.
Be careful with the pop-up greenhouses. While they get warm during the day, they usually lose 100% of their heat during the night. Sometimes, it gets colder inside those kit greenhouses than outdoors, which is hard to believe, but it's true. I wouldn't call myself a great gardener. I just really love doing this stuff, and I stay vigilant with my plants. When I find things that work, I try to pass it on to as many people as possible. I want to go back to a time where everyone grows something.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you and you are so right. I had to learn that the hard way, it was colder in there at first. Even with a block foundation, a north side wall, and sealing the windows the greenhouse retained very little heat. Insulation on the sides and a second cover helped quite a bit. I think the Christmas lights and some tarps saved me last year. I would not recommend anyone use a cheap kit if they want real frost protection. Given I've probably spent 5x the cost of the greenhouse trying to improve it, a professional build would have made more sense. I also have to keep the shade cloth on hand in case it gets too hot in there. Your gardening is very impressive, especially considering you have career and family obligations too. I'm just a student with a lot of free time and am not nearly as productive as you! You could be called the vigilant gardener, the batman of gardening.
@@Frank-fs5nv Thank you. I do run incandescents when we get in the 20s or the days are in the 30s. I have been collecting small water jugs and adding them as I can. I would love to find some water barrels for many things but have not found them at a good price.
Ya, well, my Meyer Lemon has very little leaves, yet it has blossoms on it. I am sick about this situations. Also, I have these little black flies. I washed the leaves with a pesticide and removed 2 to 3 inches of old soil, added new soil. Still I have a huge problem going on. So I guess I did not get all the eggs. I need a grow light and hydrogen peroxide to kill these freaking little black flies that how has invaded my whole house. What to do......shake my head.
Way too much work doing this. Better to just build a narrow sunroom along the south side of the house that gets full sun, and build a clear Rollo deck type of roof and front from twin wall poly carbonate that you can just roll up and down go between outdoors and indoors conditions.
Spending a collective hour is not as much work as building a $40,000 sunroom, I assure you 😂 If you don’t want to bring pests indoors or have leaf drop issues, this is what you have to do. Otherwise, your options are to take risks with pests and plant health or not grow anything in containers requiring overwintering indoors. It took longer to film this video than it did to do this 3 separate times over half a month.
Natural pesticide or not it still can be toxic to people. Fumigating it like that OMG I wouldnt want to be your neighbour. There should be other ways to do that, safe ways but you wont tell coz you get paid for it by the manufacturers.
I don't think so. This is a 15-20 minute process, especially if you only have 2-3 potted plants. You can do this complete procedure three times in less time than one grocery shopping trip to a single store. Otherwise, you're going to risk sick plants and pest infestations.
If you enjoyed this video, please "Like" and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience:
0:00 Intro To Bringing Plants Indoors In Winter
0:57 Step 1: Acclimating Plants To Prevent Stress
3:52 How To Acclimate Potted Plants To Indoor Light
5:07 Step 2: Bringing Plants Inside Without Pests
6:58 How To Apply Insecticides To Indoor Plants Safely
9:14 Adventures With Dale
Nice new sunroom. Great place to sit and relax during this upcoming winter.
Thank you! I’m looking forward to it.
@@TheMillennialGardener looking forward to video this winter of you and Dale chilling in the sunroom giving some plant updates. Winter beer needed too, haha.
Side note...home depot now has the blood meal and bone meal 80% off.
Like you stated the clearance usually happens around the first week of September. Went by home depot today and stocked up...
It's regional. My local Home Depot store has not had any clearance sales yet. I've been checking. I've seen them as late as January and as early as September, so it takes some vigilance.
Wow! My Home Depot stores all the chemical outdoors all summer long so I’d only get it if it’s free.
Yep, I had a fig freak out and defoliate. I don't have the time to do all this and a full time job. I have to use supplemental light and hope for the best.
I have a full time job as well. It’s still a good idea to do this. It can be done in mere minutes. Set them outside on the patio, spray and walk away. It’s really quite simple, and you’ll be rewarded in the long run.
Your citrus output is amiable. Good job.
This is helpful information because it explains why my olive tree dropped its leaves. My Meyer lemon and lime tree were fine with the indoor transition. My pomegranate tree also dropped its leaves but they are growing back now.
That's interesting. Usually, citrus are quite sensitive. I just ordered an olive tree, so it's good to know they're finicky, too. That all sounds like light stress to me.
Love to see adventurous dale :)
Another fantastic, educational and informative video. Thank you. I am well aware of transitioning plants outdoors but never thought or knew about bringing in my plants [primarily citrus plants). I also did use my insecticide before bringing my plants in. I kept my plants outdoors for as long as possible to get as much sun as possible. Thanks to your video, I will make a plan for next year and beyond. Great lessons. Again, thank you for this important video. Be safe and well.
I'm glad the video was helpful! Some plants are harder to transition than others. I imagine cacti and succulents may be easier than evergreen leafy plants like citrus and such, but anything that can be done to help minimize the stress is helpful.
I was watching another video of yours and this one appears all your videos are so good I love them
Thank you! I'm so glad you like them!
I wish I had stumbled upon this channel a few months ago, this is why my Meyer lemon defoliated. I hope it grows back in the spring. Now that’s it getting warmer, when is it safe to begin the transition back outside?
Thank you for posting this! Very helpful.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you so much for these great tips! This is really helpful for me. Happy gardening Millennial Gardener.
You’re welcome!
Great video… I have three fig and one peach that I need to protect
Thank you!
FYI, peaches do fine in the cold. Most peaches need a certain amount of chill hours to produce fruit next fruiting season
Please be aware that pyrethrin is toxic to cats, so don’t let your cats anywhere near plants that you’ve treated with it.
Natural pyrethrin will degrade in a matter of hours, so if you spray this at night and leave the plants outside, they should be safe the next day. Best to keep your cat indoors while the procedure is taking place.
Really good advice! I had no idea about the need to acclimate. Might explain issues I've had in the past! Thanks 😊😉
It makes a difference. Some species are more temperamental than others. Citrus are more difficult to acclimate indoors than most plants.
Well that’s nice to know. Brought my lime and lemon trees in with some peppers I kept. They did fine the lemon dropped two leafs. They did go in the garage under grow lights thought
Perhaps the lights rescued them. I'm sure it didn't hurt.
Such great information MG! Thank you 😊👍
You’re welcome!
Now I know why my Meyer lemon trees died. Thank you. I will do better next spring and summer. Have a great day and happy gardening 🌿🌱🍋🍋🍋🍊🍊🍊😊🤗🥰🐾🐾🐾
My neighbor brought his Meyer lemon inside, and it lost all its leaves in a matter of days and actually started dying back! The branches were dying off sitting in front of the patio door. He wound up giving up and planting it outside, and now it's doing great.
@@TheMillennialGardener I can't plant it outside. I'm in Virginia in zone 7 😔 I tried to root cuttings but they didn't survive either.
What do you do with your figs? Winter has just started here in the Nordics and I’m about to put my fig tree in a cold (5-10°c) garage over winter. Anything special one needs to think about? Appreciate your videos, i have learnt so much from you! Thank you and regards from🇫🇮!
Wow I couldn’t imagine how delicate the citrus are indoors. I don’t bring mine in but create rolling pallets and push my plants in and out of the garage depending on the next 48 hours. It allows me to get a third flush of flowering/fruiting on citrus and even my dragonfruits
They're very temperamental. It's a big reason why I used to cart them in and out daily. Having them outside every day prevented any ill reactions, but I have that luxury here since our days are always sufficiently warm to do so. My coffee would get pretty beat up doing this, though, because they can't tolerate temps below 50F and take damage in the 40's. I'm going to try the sunroom this winter and see how they perform, which will save me a lot of time and energy in the long run.
Oh man, wish I had seen this before I pulled my rosemary in, it's toasted now 😥 it's ok for my first garden tho, live and learn ❤
Aww! Well, luckily it's pretty easy to find a rosemary transplant for a few dollars that can be started again. Hopefully, this won't happen again.
I brought in my citrus and pepper plants some lavender and basil and it all survived because I have LED grow lights.
I did have problem with some aphids but I'm spraying it down with Dawn dishsoap and canola oil mixed in water.
Thank you 😊
You're welcome!
Can you move plants back out on a nice day during winter or should you leave them in the garage?
This is complicated.. I'm risking it w my satsumas. Do you leave your figs out year-round?
Great info. Thanks. I’m going to bring my potted citrus into a similar enclosure when it gets colder. I water them every day in the summer, and fertilize once a month. No much water or fertilizer do they need indoors in the winter?
Citrus need fertilizer all year long. They grow throughout the winter, and they need just as much food in the winter as they do in the summer. They flower during spring, so they need to have plenty of nutrients on-hand for a successful fruiting season. I have a video about this issue here: ruclips.net/video/QWtspDbFtFU/видео.html
If you are using grow lights do you still need to acclimate them?
Yes. Plants grown under lights need to be slowly and carefully acclimated to real sunlight.
I didn't acclimate my stone fruit trees or hibiscus plants last year, and I know the leaf drop issues only too well. The weather here is going from the 80s to the 50s/60s with nights in the 30s or 40s in the span of about 3 days, so I don't have time to acclimate again this year. Would growth lamps help with the issue of preventing dropped leaves?
Great timing with very informative video as always. Gardening is hard work but a "labor of love" I'm willing to do for my family's food and in my hobby love of some tropical plants I grew up with in Hawaii. I'm following your method on my young bananas, as well as my several Papayas 1st time growing ever and in 8b just to see if I can. I too am doing pest prevention before all plants are tucked in. The sneaky buggers can decimate everything once they get lil warmth.
Papayas in ground in 8b? If that's the case, I'm very curious to hear how that turns out.
@@TheMillennialGardener I actually have 26 in pots to overwinter as my first time growing plus from seed. I'm gonna split between 3 diff areas I protect plants overwinter. Wish me 🤞 and I'll let you know progress or not. I will say I am using your straw method of wintering bananas as I need to protect the root and trunk.
Side note I have several over 5ft. With very healthy trunks and foliage. Just from this spring.
I brought my two small Lemons in (I have a Meyer lemon and a variegated one, both new purchases this year) and I didn't have any significant leaf fall. I wonder if it is because I cut them back by a third or more to shape the trees and to make them easier to deal with in the house. They're right against a west facing window and all they did was start growing new little branches and then the larger Meyer lemon got buds and is blooming. Maybe the remaining branches had all been in the shade of the taller ones I cut? I don't know. I also don't know when lemons are supposed to be pruned, but I needed them to fit.
What I DID get in abundance, was aphids. omg did I get aphids.
great video....
can i use artificial light on my lemon trees...???
Yes, absolutely, and if you're in a climate where the days are very short, adding a supplemental grow light is a great idea. However, you'll still want to acclimate them to the artificial light. Grow lights are not the full spectrum of the sun, even if they say "full spectrum," so you'll still want to acclimate them some. The added light may reduce the acclimation process.
My orange tree and the kumquat remain outside in my patio all year round. I couldn't bring them in out, as I am 70 thin. Last year when trying to repoting my roses I almost break my arm. It hurts all year long till now is getting better. But my trees stay healthy besides the weather sometimes in the 30s. They stay under a roof next to wall to protect them from hail rain and wind. They do good. We are in northern california so it's not too bad. To keep pest away I mix lavender oil with water and spray, mist the leaves and trunks. Never seen any since
Weather in the 30's won't harm a kumquat or almost any variety of sweet orange. Kumquat's hardy into the teens and most sweet oranges to the low 20's, and sometimes even colder. Granted, everything is more cold sensitive in pots, because the roots are exposed above-ground, but they'll still tolerate frosts and light freezes with ease. An option is to get yourself a pull cart and cart them in and out as necessary on cold nights like I would do with my non-hardy citrus and coffee: ruclips.net/video/-iVYC2fgwyM/видео.html
Hey this is a question on a different topic but I also live in NC in zone 8. I was wondering where I could get some turkey compost like you got to fill up my garden beds come January. I'm building a garden from scratch and going all in. Thank you for all the help so far!
I got mine from Hoffman Ecoworks in Southport. I recommend them. I filled all my beds with their turkey compost. It took 20 cubic yards over two seasons, and it was worth every penny.
@@TheMillennialGardener thank you very much!
So bring pots inside.
I’m in zone 8b (Texas)
My concern is growing turmeric and a 6 ft fig tree.
Do they need a special light? I’d love to have them in my livingroom, if light is needed they’ll have to be in the garage where temps are almost as low as outside.
Deciduous trees don't need to be acclimated once dormant. For fig trees, if you allow the figs to be frosted on, lose their leaves and go dormant, you don't need to acclimate them to indoor light, because they're dormant and don't need significant light during dormancy. You may want to treat them for pests, though, because there could be mites or aphids hiding. This procedure is for plants that stay evergreen and always require light: citrus, coffee, mangoes, bananas, avocados, anything that keeps their leaves year-round.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thanks so much for this video, even though I dont' have a sunroom! I am in NC, 7b and have been carting my meyer lemon and figs in and out of the garage on any nights we have mid-30's or lower. Is there a certain low temp that you bring your figs into the garage? If so, how many frosts or how much time would it take for them to go into dormancy so they can just stay in the garage without light or water? Then in the spring, how do you handle getting them back out of dormancy?
Hi Anthony,
Can I use grow light which has different brightness levels to acclimate potted plants when I bring them indoor ?
Love your channel and LOVE Dale.
Thank you! You can use grow lights, but grow lights don’t have the intensity of the real sun, so you should slowly transition the potted plants to the artificial light. I would still follow this procedure when transitioning them indoors to minimize a negative reaction.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you for your prompt response.
How about humidity?. Here in the Northeast the low humidity during winter can do some damage.
Where did you get your pot and what size are they, thanks you.
All pots I use in real life are linked in my Amazon Storefront in the video description. I have a video on my favorite fruit tree container here: ruclips.net/video/LuBHbBmh3hU/видео.html Smaller ones are linked in the storefront.
@@TheMillennialGardener thank you so much ☺️
Need advice before planting sweet potato in huge pots to prevent compacting potting mix. Can l mix in coco peat through the potting mix to make it lighter for the tubers to grow in?
Sweet potatoes are not picky. They’ll grow in peat, compost, etc. Are you in the Southern Hemisphere? Sweet potatoes require very warm temps. They are purely tropical, so make sure temps will never drop below 50F before you plant slips.
@@TheMillennialGardeneryes in the south of Australia & it’s been really cold & wet for ages! Ok, heading off to get bubble wrap to cover the pots individually to help with the temperature. Cheers & thank you.
I noticed the plants you were showing are all in what looks like a self watering pot of some kind. I looked on your amazon storefront and didnt see them there.
Can you share where you got them and if you would recommend them???
Self-watering containers with reservoirs at the bottom are extremely rare in reasonable sizes. They're almost all too small. Those pots I use for my citrus were carried by Walmart 5-6 years ago, and I haven't been able to locate them since. I only use those types of containers for citrus. For all my other trees, I'm slowly converting them over to the high quality black containers I have linked in my Amazon store.
So, at what temperature should you start this process? I have a couple citrus and stone fruit trees all in containers. The citrus I always thought was fine to keep outdoors until 32 degrees or under which is considered a light freeze I believe. I have nights this week and next swinging as low as 30 up to 40 degrees. The citrus are Meyer, Key, and Lisbon.
It depends on what you're growing. My variegated Eureka lemon and Key lime are not frost tolerant, so they can't be exposed to frost. They start coming inside when I start seeing upper 30's pop up in the overnight low forecast, because I've had countless instances where a forecast of 39 degrees turns into a 33/34 degree light frost. So, you'd want to begin the acclimation process when those upper 30's start popping up. You can use those initial, sporadic cold nights to begin the acclimation process where you carry them indoors on those first couple cold nights, then when it warms up, carry them back outside.
Can I apply the pyrethrin at night? I get home too late from work.
Yes. You should apply it at sunset or later. Night is absolutely fine.
Citrus trees will drop their leaves if the humidity grows too low in an indoor environment. Ideal humidity should be at 45 - 50%. Use a humidifier, if necessary. Misting your tree regularly will also help replicate the tropical climate these trees vibe with.
My sunroom gets very humid, especially after you water the trees. The last few days, it was so humid the windows were fogging, and the trees still started shedding some. It's incredible how sensitive citrus trees are to changes in light. The coffee trees have been a lot easier to manage.
Will a full spectrum grow light shorten this process? 🤔
Grow lights do not match the sun. Think of it like this: you can grow your plants under the most intense, full spectrum grow lights available, but if you suddenly carry them outside during the summer, the leaves will burn and the plants will be badly damaged or killed. That's because the sun has spectrum of light and intensity that no man-made light can match, and plants that grow under grow lights don't develop that UV protective coating on their leaves that plants outdoors get. It's the same thing as when you bring them inside during winter. Even the best grow light setup is going to have missing components of the spectrum, so it's best to slowly acclimate them. You may be able to reduce this process and they'll acclimate more quickly, but it's best to do this in a couple steps.
Dude, use a mask when spraying that! I know you are young and it probably is not bothering you or you are breathing shallow, however it is dangerous even if labeled natural. You don't want that in your lungs. I am a musician who in younger days worked in manufacturing around various chemicals and you need that protection. We always protected our lungs. Nice video!
I was preparing to move a Meyer Lemon inside. I moved it about 10 feet from where it was - still in full sun but on my deck. It drooped for a few hours. They’re so temperamental! I never knew I needed to acclimate them to going indoors. I was heartbroken as I watched it lose every last leaf.😢
They're tricky, for sure. Citrus have been the hardest for me to acclimate to indoor light. They're much easier to acclimate outdoors, which is funny, since in their native habitat, they grow in understories. You'd think they'd be less temperamental, but they are.
I´ve heard that citrus drop their leaves when the Roots stay cold, while the leaves are too warm.
May that be, what happened?
Citrus periodically drop their leaves throughout the year. Evergreen trees like citrus simply don't have a defined drop period like deciduous trees do, and they periodically replace leaves throughout the entire year. Citrus, like any tree, can drop their leaves if they encounter enough stress. Drought, heat, cold, UV intensity, prolonged darkness, insect attacks, disease and other issues can all result in foliage drop. Plants drop their foliage as a last-ditch life preservation reaction to concentrate their energy and preserve the trunk.
@@TheMillennialGardener thanks for the detailed explanation :)
Btw love the videos. Your motivation makes it just so much fun to watch.
Ah...so that's why my Meyers Lemon lost its leaves...hope they grow back. It did produce a cluster of blooms, though.
As long as the tree is still alive and none of the branches are brown or dying back, the tree should recover. Giving it some higher nitrogen fertilizer may help it recover. Meyer lemons are very temperamental and need to be acclimated to indoor light in phases. I've seen them lose all their leaves multiple times from the transition shock.
One day I hope to be as great a gardener as you. So far I just threw my sensitive container plants in my Amazon greenhouse back around Halloween. I never really get pests in there and the citrus love the heat. I may be in 9a/potentially 8b Southern California, but at 3,500' I've been getting much more frost than you.
Be careful with the pop-up greenhouses. While they get warm during the day, they usually lose 100% of their heat during the night. Sometimes, it gets colder inside those kit greenhouses than outdoors, which is hard to believe, but it's true. I wouldn't call myself a great gardener. I just really love doing this stuff, and I stay vigilant with my plants. When I find things that work, I try to pass it on to as many people as possible. I want to go back to a time where everyone grows something.
I would consider adding a heat source like incandescent Christmas tree lights and some jugs of water inside the pop up tent.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you and you are so right. I had to learn that the hard way, it was colder in there at first. Even with a block foundation, a north side wall, and sealing the windows the greenhouse retained very little heat. Insulation on the sides and a second cover helped quite a bit. I think the Christmas lights and some tarps saved me last year. I would not recommend anyone use a cheap kit if they want real frost protection. Given I've probably spent 5x the cost of the greenhouse trying to improve it, a professional build would have made more sense. I also have to keep the shade cloth on hand in case it gets too hot in there. Your gardening is very impressive, especially considering you have career and family obligations too. I'm just a student with a lot of free time and am not nearly as productive as you! You could be called the vigilant gardener, the batman of gardening.
@@Frank-fs5nv Thank you. I do run incandescents when we get in the 20s or the days are in the 30s. I have been collecting small water jugs and adding them as I can. I would love to find some water barrels for many things but have not found them at a good price.
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Thanks for watching!
Now the question is…. In nc it’s warm, my lime tree is starting to bloom full force after I pruned it, when is the last frost? Lol
Depends where you live in the state. You’ll need to consult a last frost date map. The differences between eastern and western NC is vast.
@@TheMillennialGardener I’m in lillington, so, probably April, but with this mild winter, honestly I’m not even sure anymore
I love my plants but carry in and out are so heavy. I need help 😂
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Thanks for watching!
How are the “Dale-Figlettes” doing?
They’re done for the season. We’ll see how next year goes.
@@TheMillennialGardener please do. Thanks.
Ya, well, my Meyer Lemon has very little leaves, yet it has blossoms on it. I am sick about this situations. Also, I have these little black flies. I washed the leaves with a pesticide and removed 2 to 3 inches of old soil, added new soil. Still I have a huge problem going on. So I guess I did not get all the eggs. I need a grow light and hydrogen peroxide to kill these freaking little black flies that how has invaded my whole house. What to do......shake my head.
Way too much work doing this. Better to just build a narrow sunroom along the south side of the house that gets full sun, and build a clear Rollo deck type of roof and front from twin wall poly carbonate that you can just roll up and down go between outdoors and indoors conditions.
Spending a collective hour is not as much work as building a $40,000 sunroom, I assure you 😂 If you don’t want to bring pests indoors or have leaf drop issues, this is what you have to do. Otherwise, your options are to take risks with pests and plant health or not grow anything in containers requiring overwintering indoors. It took longer to film this video than it did to do this 3 separate times over half a month.
Natural pesticide or not it still can be toxic to people. Fumigating it like that OMG I wouldnt want to be your neighbour. There should be other ways to do that, safe ways but you wont tell coz you get paid for it by the manufacturers.
That is way too much work☹
I don't think so. This is a 15-20 minute process, especially if you only have 2-3 potted plants. You can do this complete procedure three times in less time than one grocery shopping trip to a single store. Otherwise, you're going to risk sick plants and pest infestations.
I NEEDED this video!!!!!!!!!!
I’m glad I could help!