Re: Overwintering pots

I overwinter pots outside every year for my sale in April here in Zone 5.
Last year I had about 300-350 pots.  Most are in gallons, a few larger.
Those can be grouped against the back of the house or in a protected pathin
the back yard.  Anything in a quart gets sunk into the ground.    I throw
straw or shredded leaves over everything and they do fine.  About april 1 I
uncover them and move most to full sun so it can warm the (mostly) black
pots and get the roots and new growth moving more quickly.

I overwinter some tender plants and small hardy woody cuttings in the
attached garage, about 45-500 in the winter.

Kitty
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Meum71@aol.com>
To: <perennials@hort.net>
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 1:58 PM
Subject: Overwintering pots


> In a message dated 8/16/2005 11:16:59 AM Central Standard Time,
> bhayes@pronetisp.net writes:
> regarding using big pots to keep perennials in, I just did this to some
> "fairie'"roses which I've had a long time,
> moving them over and over to get them to do better;  I think the pot will
> work, but need the lowdown on how
> to keep them over the winter, here in NYS, zone 5;
> You need a location that will avoid the conditions that kill a plant when
> overwintering:
>
> Freezing and thawing in the winter.
>
> Too cold or warm
>
> And growing to soon in the spring.
>
> If the plants are hardy its best to have the pots freeze in the fall and
stay
> frozen until normal spring growth should occur. I use straw and tarps for
> this. with only a few pots you should move them to a location that is out
of the
> direct winter sun, cover the pots after they have frozen solid.  Rodents
can
> be a problem too-so the use of some bait for mice and "VOLES" is needful.
>
> If the pots are not to large for you -- digging a hole in the ground and
> burying the pots a few inches over the rim works very well. Cover with
some straw
> or leaves.
>
> You can over winter less hardy material by digging a deeper hole and
burying
> them deeper in the ground-if we have snow cover I can over winter zone 6
> plants this way here in zone 4.
>
>
> I have late hard frosts here and trying to keep any thing in the garage or
> basement does not work because it starts growing to soon in the spring.
>
>
> Most plants overwinter best on the dry side instead of being wet.
>
> Paul
>
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