Nervous about winter protection

[amcoffeegirl]

Bought this one mid April. Now getting nervous about winter protection.
I’m going to keep it inside my garage but I will still be opening my garage everyday and it will still be very cold in Iowa.
I know it’s just a stick in a pot but I would like it to live.

 

[sorce]

Newb! lol!

I think it was one of the earliest Mirai lives on winter protection [preparing for winter?] that has the most valuable nerve reducing information. It is also what solidified my belief about winter, especially coupled with watching some "out of state" trees die last winter.

He talks about how trees prep for winter constantly throughout most of the beginning. Making more and more "antifreeze" by converting sugar blah blah...

My Virginia Elm and "say we cant keep em" JBP both survived 2 winters with temps below all FH.
Then died last winter, the mildest one, because of the early Halloween Snow and Freeze.

That early snow and freeze was the nail in the coffin.

So.

I believe it is more important to utilize shelter to extend the period of "antifreezing", using it only to avoid the nail in coffin of early freeze.

Not worrying so much about how low the cold gets with just an open door, or well into winter.

Sorce

 

[JudyB]

Let it get all the cold temps you can while giving wind protection, then move to the garage when it's getting brutal. It should be ok, even if the roots freeze occasionally in your garage, that will temper the worst of the temp swings. If it's a regular A. Palmatum, they are not terrible to keep in most protection schemes. I had some like that back when I was doing the garage thing and it worked. Good luck with it.

 

[PeaceLoveBonsai]

Let it get all the cold temps you can while giving wind protection, then move to the garage when it's getting brutal. It should be ok, even if the roots freeze occasionally in your garage, that will temper the worst of the temp swings. If it's a regular A. Palmatum, they are not terrible to keep in most protection schemes. I had some like that back when I was doing the garage thing and it worked. Good luck with it.

I might add to remember to water. It’s always been difficult for me to find the right amount and it makes a huge mess, but is none the less necessary.

 

[ConorDash]

Looks like Kotohime to me.

 

[BuddingBonsaiBrother]

Sorry if you thought of these things already. But, if your garage is attached to your house place it next to the wall that the house is on. I would also keep it propped up off the floor like put some 2x4’s below it. I live in New England and keep my trees on a farmers porch ( no insulation on the walls. ) in a insulated box. But I like to make a nest of crumpled up news paper and plastic bags around the pot.

The first cold nights I leave the plants out, like cold enough for a thin layer of ice to form on puddles, but not the whole puddle freezing solid. I try my best not to let the root ball freeze solid. If the tree is in bonsai soil, I water on cold cold nights (when the trees are in the box on the porch that is.) I know this sounds backwards, but I’ve read the water blocks the cold air from hitting the roots.

it’s also important that once the trees are in the cold you don’t panic and move them inside to the warmth of the house.

This is what I do, but just a heads up I’m not an expert or anything. I have a couple of trees that are over 8 years old now, but I’ve never taken any classes or anything. Also who knows maybe this winter will be the winter I loose them all; my landlord sold my place and I’m gonna have to scramble to find a place to store them this winter, if I don’t have to get rid of them all together.

 

[Dav4]

Your goal should be to let the tree get exposed to repeated and consistently deepening frosts and freezes through fall and into winter to establish cold hardiness. Palmatums are generally hardy as landscape trees well into zone 5... that means that, as a potted plant, they are fine with temps falling into the teens... frozen soil is not a big deal at all and the tree could easily spend the entire winter sitting in it as long as it is out of the winter sun and wind. My palmatums stay on the benches until temps fall into the low 20's F, then they get placed on ground if it'll get colder. I'm going to want to offer more protection to the root zone if it falls below 15 F... that means either mulching the pot or moving to an out building or garage. With that said, you're going to have a hard time keeping your tree dormant through the winter in an attached garage, even in Iowa. I'd place in a location that you can easily monitor that stays consistently near or even below freezing for as much of the winter as possible. Make sure the root ball doesn't dry out- snow and ice cubes on the frozen soil surface work great- and keep an eye out for vermin... mice love de-barking maples along with many of our other favorite bonsai subjects.

Fwiw, this is how I would treat pretty much any cold hardy material except the outliers... extremely cold hardy species like Rocky Mountain Junipers and Amur maples just stay on the benches all winter long or on the ground with little or no protection, while olives might get a frost but I won't let the soil freeze if I can avoid it.

 

[coh]

I recommend getting a remote reading thermometer with min/max function so you can track the temps in the garage. If it's out of the wind I wouldn't really worry about the top, but the roots could be an issue if it gets cold enough. I don't know what the cutoff is, I've had potted maples exposed in my barn (no mulch around the pots) and they've survived a couple of days in the single digits. But those were larger nursery containers, for something in a small pot like this I'd feel safer keeping those roots from getting below 20 (I keep most of my deciduous trees at/above about 27 and I know that's plenty safe enough). That could be accomplished by putting the pot into a container filled with some kind of insulation.

As others have mentioned, make sure it doesn't dry out and keep an eye out for mice. They could destroy that trunk in one night. Set traps and keep up with them if you're catching. Let it go fully dormant by allowing it to be exposed to progressively colder weather in the fall. I put most of my trees into winter protection here around Thanksgiving but each year is a little different.

 

[penumbra]

I keep my small JM, and those I have not had a full season, in a cold frame next to the house that gets very little winter sun. I will be building a larger cold frame this month.
You really have to monitor a cold frame toward the end of winter because things bud out early, especially JMs.

 

[Paradox]

If you are just opening the garage to get the car out and go in and out so its only open for a few minutes or so, it should be fine.
If you are leaving the garage open all day, that might be a problem in the real deep cold days of winter.

 

[papkey5]

Along with the advice you are getting, here is my two cents.

I live in zone five and even though it’s nearly August I have started thinking about my set up for overwintering my trees. I found these articles and thought I would share my research.

this first one clearly explained to me the several methods of structure or structureless Overwintering. It includes common winter damage

https://rngr.net/publications/ctnm/volume-7/chapter4.pdf/at_download/file

the next one helped me understand light requirements for conifers.

Light Requirements for Dormant Evergreen Bonsai

Good luck

 

[roberthu]

You may be surprised how much heat the garage retains during winter. I remember one year we had a brutal winter in central Indiana. The outside temp was -15F in the night and my attached garage was never below 28F. No heating whatsoever. If your garage is detached then it’s a different story I think.

 

[amcoffeegirl]

I recommend getting a remote reading thermometer with min/max function so you can track the temps in the garage.

I will look at getting this.

 

[Cadillactaste]

@amcoffeegirl Look for one with an alarm. Mine beeps when it needs my attention. Remember on warm winter days...we vent with a door open as well. Those warm days can be concerning if it stays warm to long.. this venting is important.

 

[Paradox]

Along with the advice you are getting, here is my two cents.

I live in zone five and even though it’s nearly August I have started thinking about my set up for overwintering my trees. I found these articles and thought I would share my research.

this first one clearly explained to me the several methods of structure or structureless Overwintering. It includes common winter damage

https://rngr.net/publications/ctnm/volume-7/chapter4.pdf/at_download/file

the next one helped me understand light requirements for conifers.

Light Requirements for Dormant Evergreen Bonsai

Good luck

My conifers spend the winter in a cold frame located on the north side of my house. I dont have it covered unless temperatures are going to drop below 30 degrees F. They get very little if any sunlight all winter. So I agree wiht the articile you posted in that they dont need light to survive winter. I have kept them also in a garage that has one window not even near thier benches so its pretty much dark all winter. No issues at all with either method.