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Re: 5) El Nino and Protecting plants?


>
>Date: Mon, 13 Oct 1997 20:43:19 -0600 (MDT)
>From: stamper@highfiber.com (sp)
>To: indoor-gardening@prairienet.org
>Subject: El Nino and Protecting plants? 
>Message-ID: <199710140243.UAA13213@kewlaid.highfiber.com>
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>>
>>Sorry this post doesn't really have anything to do with indoor gardening!
>>I've read up on El Nino and it seems as if NM is gonna have a really cold
>>winter. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to protect tender plants
>>(passiflora and oleander). Any advice would be greatly appreciated! TIA
>>
>>Sujan
>>
>>

Hi Sujan,
 It depends on the oleander variety and your USDA zone. We are zone 8, just
on the border of zone 7. We grow them in the ground in a fairly protected spot.
 The regular red ones are generally hardiest here. If we have a mild winter,
they bloom the next summer. If not, they survive, look windburned and
generally like hell, and we hope for a milder winter next year. I'll usually
take the time to prune off each dead leaf, we only have 3 plants.
 2 years ago, while we were having the winter from hell (for this area
anyway), our 'reds' died back almost all the way to the ground. They came
back fine (but slowly) and bloomed for the first time this summer (well
worth the wait).
 The regular whites and pinks are the next hardiest, then the double yellow,
then the dwarfs(up to 5ft). This area lost a lot of dwarfs 2 years ago.
 We've lived here for 6 years now. Most winters we wouldn't do anything.
After the winter 2 years ago, if we're going to get clobbered again, I'm
going to wrap a bunch of things.

 Simply wrapping them in a layer of burlap will help tremendously. The wind
affects them as much as the cold.
 Try gathering the branches loosly together with some string -  starting
from 8-12 inches from the base, tie the string end to a large branch, then
wrap it around the plant, working upwards, in a spiral. It's much easier to
do with 2 or 3 people. 2 to gather the branches together loosly, and 1
person to wrap the string around (just) the plant. :-)
 Then wrap the burlap twice around the plant. Leave the top open, so it
doesn't overheat. Best to use some cloth that will breath, like burlap or
(if you have too) an old sheet. I wouldn't recommend plastic, but I could be
wrong. We've just never done it that way.

 As a guess, the passiflora will probably be much less hardy. You could
remove it from its support, lay it on the ground and cover it with a 3-6
inch layer of dirt (like they do further north for climbing roses and fig
trees.) or you might try potting it up, set it near the garage, and sticking
it in the garage on really cold nights. Like some people do with banana
trees here.

 In case you were wondering, we lived in Hawaii for 5 years. I still try to
pretend we live there during the summer. ;-)
 During the fall, I have to drag in all the tropicals. The more "tropicals"
that are "mostly hardy", the more I can leave outside. :-)

Hope this helps, feel free to ask for more if I haven't explained it very
clearly.
Good luck,
Matt Trahan <matttrahan@ecsu.campus.mci.net>
USDA zone 8/7(too cold), Sunset zone 31, AHS heat zone 7/6(too hot),
northeastern N.C.

http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/7478/

It all needs doing... and I'm kinda focused in a scattered sort of way.
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