Evergrees Zone 5-9... winter indoors???

[Ron Milostan]

If I purchase a cedar in Alabama Gulf Coast rated zone 5-9. This cedar started here, been here 5 yrs outdoors... Take to Michigan keep outside all summer .. take indoors during winter. Why not??. Also like shimpaku grown in Florida.. Take to Michigan .. why not able to winter indoors. Keep under lights. Books say need 1000 hrs below 40 deg to survive... they live just fine in florida without this cold time. Should be able to winter indoors with proper lighting. Am asking because many apartment bonsai growers like to have on their balconies outdoors trees. Not a good place in winter. So why not indoors if tree grew up in the Southern Climates. This would enable lots of buyers to have junipers, shimpaku , cedars and other evergreen trees. One cannot bury a tree outside all winter when you do not own the property. Do we need to insist outdoor all year for evergreens which were started in tropical areas..

 

[Vance Wood]

If I purchase a cedar in Alabama Gulf Coast rated zone 5-9. This cedar started here, been here 5 yrs outdoors... Take to Michigan keep outside all summer .. take indoors during winter. Why not??. Also like shimpaku grown in Florida.. Take to Michigan .. why not able to winter indoors. Keep under lights. Books say need 1000 hrs below 40 deg to survive... they live just fine in florida without this cold time. Should be able to winter indoors with proper lighting. Am asking because many apartment bonsai growers like to have on their balconies outdoors trees. Not a good place in winter. So why not indoors if tree grew up in the Southern Climates. This would enable lots of buyers to have junipers, shimpaku , cedars and other evergreen trees. One cannot bury a tree outside all winter when you do not own the property. Do we need to insist outdoor all year for evergreens which were started in tropical areas..

Temperate trees do not do well indoors, go ahead and try it but I wouldn't.

 

[edprocoat]

I winter in Florida and summer in Ohio, I have found that all the junipers I have had over the past 40 years have been able to thrive up north and in the south in the heat. I do get the month of October and November up north but many years there is not anywhere near 1000 hours below 40 degrees. I also keep tropicals, they can not take the cold at all so I keep them indoors or outside in a box with lights for warmth. I have had no luck at all with Mughos, cedars, and many deciduous types that need the cold periods. Now Vance Wood has a theory that the Mughos may even have been affected by the altitude change, I do not know but his work with Mughos is awe inspiring so I tend to take his advice or theories with great attention when he is kind enough to share them.

I feel that many indoor kept junipers and even tropical die from lack of proper moisture, air conditioners and heaters remove moisture from the air and dessicate plants even with humidity trays beneath them. They remove moisture to keep us comfortable and plants transpire moisture so in such an environ they dry out even when watered. I have had better results when keeping plants inside using an enclosed box with a light. Redwood Ryan has made some very well thought out and implemented designs for his tropicalswhich you can see here as he has been kind enough to post pics of them.

ed

 

[Dav4]

27F this AM, and it was 21F here last week. It does get cold down south...it just doesn't stay as cold as it would up north. You can certainly try overwintering inside...many have tried...but without exquisite attention to lighting, temperature and humidity, almost all have failed.

 

[jk_lewis]

There's more to keeping a tree healthy indoors than just light!!!!!

 

[Vance Wood]

To look at an extreme example. I was once given a pretty nice Button Wood from Florida, I live in Michigan. I kept the tree outdoors all summer long and it did really well. Then when temperatures started to drop below 50* I brougt the tree in and put it under lights. I was told that they needed bottom heat which I could not provide so the tree kind of looked like crap the next spring when it went outdoors again. Over the period of the summer it did really well until fall hit again and inside it came. This process repeated itself for four seasons and each season regardless of how much fertilizer and sun it got during the growing season the winter caused losses in its health that it could not regain. That being the case gradually the tree lost more ground than the summer could regenerate and it died.

 

[GO-OK]

If I purchase a cedar in Alabama Gulf Coast rated zone 5-9. This cedar started here, been here 5 yrs outdoors... Take to Michigan keep outside all summer .. take indoors during winter. Why not??. Also like shimpaku grown in Florida.. Take to Michigan .. why not able to winter indoors. Keep under lights. Books say need 1000 hrs below 40 deg to survive... they live just fine in florida without this cold time. Should be able to winter indoors with proper lighting. Am asking because many apartment bonsai growers like to have on their balconies outdoors trees. Not a good place in winter. So why not indoors if tree grew up in the Southern Climates. This would enable lots of buyers to have junipers, shimpaku , cedars and other evergreen trees. One cannot bury a tree outside all winter when you do not own the property. Do we need to insist outdoor all year for evergreens which were started in tropical areas..

Time for brutal honesty...you cannot provide enough light and humidity to keep a pine or juniper indoors and healthy, it just cannot be done. I have a bougainvillea indoors but only under a 1000w metal halide light.

So, if you cannot overwinter properly due to your circumstances DO NOT BUY THE TREE. buy and grow the trees that can live and be healthier given your circumstances...either live with it or change your circumstances. It's one or the other. Best of luck.

 

[shayanjameel08]

Well the prolonged freezes seldom concern gardeners living in U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zone 9, where winter lows typically range from 20.