Overwintering in a small tool shed

[bambam]

Just started bonsai, and living in central Ohio (zone 6a) have been scouring the Internet about over wintering.

I first thought about putting shelves in my garage, which is unheated but shares 2 walls with the house, and has insulation on the other walls. The door opening has me afraid of temperature changes, and the garage stays fairly warm (30-55ish in winter).

I have an idea which I want to throw out to the community for opinions. I want to take a small standing tool shed (see photos) and build shelves in them. The shelves will have tall sides where I can place the bonsai pots inside, and surround the pots with mulch up to the first limbs in an attempt to insulate them. My only concern is there will be no sun to my junipers (have read conflicting claims on the junipers aun the winter and sun).

I wanted to get your perspectives on if this is a good idea, or a waste of money.

 

[lordy]

I would not recommend this setup. First, you will need to remember to water, and that is IF the trees are sufficiently insulated with mulch. I acutally have one of those sheds, and while they probably hold out the weather, they probably wont hold out any cold, so why not just put them on the ground (better in moderating the air temps) so you dont need to worry so much about watering?

 

[GrimLore]

I wanted to get your perspectives on if this is a good idea, or a waste of money.

As he said - not a good solution. You did mention your garage stays 30-35 and were worried about temperature fluctuations. Keeping that in mind if you let the plants go dormant outside you could bring them into the garage against the coldest wall BUT on the floor not shelves. If you are concerned about water place them on those cheap Boot trays from Home Depot. Once they are frozen and dormant and in they will be sheltered from wind and hopefully get very little light(might need to block a window). Being on the ground will keep them as cold as possible giving them a decent "sleep" time. Once frozen the temperature changes will not change the temperature of the plants enough to cause problems as the concrete holds cold pretty darn good.
It gets a little more complicated and I am tossing out the indoor setup for the first year of most any wintered plant no matter what the "tag" says. For instance I have some Boxwood, Rhododendron, Shimpaku, and other Junipers this year that are all very capable of being wintered outside and will be in 2016. This coming winter however they will be wintered in the shed as they all came from growers down South... That tells me they need to acclimate to our colder climate for a full season and based on past experience they will then do better in the future outside where they belong.
If the plants are acclimated and healthy there is no better way then outside but acclimation to the North is often needed.

Grimmy

 

[JudyB]

What plants are you overwintering other than juniper? Which I think you don't really need to protect too much here in Ohio, at least not the southern half. Where in Ohio are you? The junipers should be fine, dug into a mulch bed protected from the wind. They need no sunlight when dormant btw. The trick about an enclosure is keeping them dormant. But the answer largely depends on what other trees you have.

 

[Dav4]

Google "Cold frame", or do a search right here....

 

[Cypress187]

I rarely overwinter my tree's in the middle of the summer.

 

[bambam]

I have a green mound juniper, a Chinese elm, and a Chinese juniper which will need dormancy...as of now, you know how it goes.

 

[JudyB]

Sounds like right now, only the elm would need extra. But I think you are right to think ahead. If you do a building, you'll want it to be dark so no heat buildup, you'd want heat mats or a small heater for the coldest days/nights. You'll want fans for circulation, and an exhaust fan setup for getting rid of excess heat when we get hot snaps in the winter and on sunny days. If you get a thermostat setup and electric louvers this can all be automated. If you want more info on this, let me know, I have a nice overwintering house here.

 

[bambam]

I rarely overwinter my tree's in the middle of the summer.

Haha...I am not a procrastinater and don't wanna be caught off guard.

 

[M. Frary]

Or get trees that can handle the cold in your area. I'm down to one chinese elm. Had a couple nice ones too. Last winter took them out. The one I have left must just be a trooper.
I keep all trees outside year round. For winter I put down a bed of straw on the north side of my shed. Nestlé the pots in and cover up to the first branch with straw. Like I said I lost some nice chinese elms last winter. Not because of my set up but because they are from out of my hardiness zone. The one that survived must have been getting tips on how to make it from the American elms that were sitting next to it. Now those are tough trees.
I also had a large japanese maple I put in the shed. The mice ate all the bark off within a week. It's not just the cold you need to worry about in the winter. The V.C. get hungry and nice juicy bark and buds are very attractive. I've already killed 5 rabbits this year and expect to do in more. Preventative measures for winter.

 

[GrimLore]

Haha...I am not a procrastinater and don't wanna be caught off guard.

On average how tall will the plants be?

Grimmy

 

[bambam]

On average how tall will the plants be?

Grimmy

12-18"

 

[GrimLore]

12-18"

At our last place I had a lot of small whips, seedlings and smaller collected stuff. I found very large plastic storage containers at Walmart that were under 5 dollars. Took a few home and drilled a few drain holes in the bottoms. Placed a lot of plants in them and put them on the shade side of the house on the ground. This year I am doing far less but I am thinking about taking two and drilling some air holes around the top rim for air circulation and pretty much leaving the tops on them for a few days here and there when the weather is insane. At the old place never used the tops but they all wintered well. For the youngest stuff I stuffed Pine Horse bedding in between the pots/containers and not certain I even needed to. Think of them as little wind breaks that restrict mice, voles, squirrels, and perhaps rabbits with the tops on and properly vented. Inexpensive and really do not look terrible either.

Grimmy