RAI

Hello,

I just purchased my first 2 hardy plants and wanted to know if its too late to plant them outside in NJ, Zone 7. The plants are about 2 feet tall and I don't know if they will survive the winter this year.

If not, would they survive in my garage. The coldest it gets is about 45 degrees. If I need to store them, what size pot should I use...

Thanks a bunch,
Ryan

Bob

Are they Basjoo? If you could find a way to keep them till April or May depending on temp you might be better off since they're so small and probably have smaller roots. I'm putting quite a few Hardy and non- hardy in a glass porch with an oil heater and some lights. I've overwintered Basjoo indoors in an area where the bottoms of the 5 gal pots literally froze yet the tops stayed green and they did fine.

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chong

Bob,
With your oil heater, make sure that it's near a source of outside air. Otherwise, it may produce Carbon Monoxide, and then there go your plants. How big is the glass porch that the plants will be in? Maybe an oil heater may be overkill.

Bob

Hi Chong , the porch is an unheated /uninsulated 6' x 16'.(and leaky old windows so yeah there's some air) I've overwintered plants before years ago with a very small ceramic heater but like I mentioned the bottoms of the pots froze. This year Im going to put a layer of foam insulation down as the floor and figured the oil heater( It's a new electric one with a thermostat that looks like my cast iron radiators)) might be best as it will get down to single digits if left unheated. What do you think?

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chong

Funny, I didn't think of that oil heater, I have one in my greenhouse! That should work. Place it and the styrofoam sheet in the coldest area, the farthest away from any heat source from the main building (the building itself gives off heat).

Is there a wattage difference between the ceramic and oil heaters? If they are the same, and if the ceramic heater has a circulation fan, it will help to recover the heat in the space faster after any doors have been opened. You just need to place it in the coldest spot.