My Mom lives on down in zone 7. She cuts as much off as she has to to get it inside. Keeps it in a cool type leanto greenhouse, gets down to low 40s in there. It must be a pretty tough vine. One year they were without power for several days due to ice storm and her mandie didn't die.

That's what I was looking for...temperature info. I am just sure that I read that the plant does not tolerate temps much below 50, but I can't find anything on it, now. I really hated cutting it back this early, but low temps were threatening, so I did the dirty deed and moved it to the greenhouse, yesterday.

I was tempted to leave one out and see what would happen, but chickened out. My greenhouse is unheated, but maybe if I move them back to the greenhouse a month or so before I could put them outside they will get an early start toward growth and blooms. I plan to winter them on an unheated porch...placing them next to the house wall and moving them inside when it gets really bad out.

I think that frost would get it right away if you leave it outside very long. I've had one for around five or six years now that I cut back to 10 or 12 inches tall, then bring it in and treat it like a houseplant all winter. It takes it awhile to start growing back but by early spring I'm trying to find a place to hang the vines around the window. I put mine by a south window in our walkout basement every winter. It might be a little cooler than upstairs but not much. If there was a houseplant abuse society, they would be after me. Only tough plants make it through the winter at my house and I've had the same mandevilla for several years now so I'd say it must be easy.
Mine is still outside. : (
Going to check the forecast.

Hi Christie,

How do you think they will do with a lot less light than you have to offer? In order to give it light, I would have to put them on a shelf in an unheated West porch. I can do that as long as the temps are above say 25, but will have to set them up against the house wall as it gets colder at night. One reason I don't keep house plants is lack of good windows with lots of light. I did stick 6 cuttings just in case. That's how I got them in the first place. If they were not so darned pretty, I wouldn't be in this mess. I could just close my eyes and let them DIE! LOL

I finally found some info that said they don't do temps under 45 degrees. That was what I needed to know...just what were the limits I could expect them to tolerate. They may have to spend more time indoors than I wanted.

I bring my hibiscus in and this year I brought the Mandeville in and will use grow lights on them. They are joined by most things that I have potted because the grow lights make a difference. Lots of them, though. Even one light per plant for some of them, the type you push into the dirt and turn up on the plant. I keep them downstairs because 14 hours of sunlight everyday would bug me if they were up here.

The lights you mention sound interesting to me. I have never seen those, but then I don't get to look where there is much of anything available. I kind of live 35 miles from anywhere. ;)

I just saw your question Millie but I wouldn't have known the answer anyway. sorry. I don't have many good places for house plants either. My parents house had deep window sills which I would love to have but don't. Big plants just get in the way and with four kids, they get knocked over too.
I've never heard of lights like that either. Are they on a timer? electric?

My neighbor has a beautiful Mandevilla planted in a concrete planter. Obviously, she cannot bring this into the house. Can she dig it up, replant it in a movable container and bring it inside for the winter, without killing the plant???

Thanks,
Bayla, NYC

Bayla, the answer is yes. Some keep them in active growth under grow lights and others of us let them go semi-dormant. I think low light and cool temps will keep them alive, but resting. I did read on the net that they don't like temps under 45* F. They can be cut back to 12 inches. I have seen them planted in the ground in this area, so I know they have to be dug to bring in or allowed to die. I took cuttings from mine when I cut them back last month...3 out of 6 are showing new growth under lights. I may sacrifice one to see if they root on the stem or from a node. One fellow on the forum said they cut them with only one bud/node and 1 1/2 inches of stem below the bud. He said they were stuck so that the bottom of the node touched the top of the rooting medium. New growth comes out at the top of the node, and he said the roots come out at the bottom of the bud. I am curious to see for myself.

Hello gardeners. I bought a mandevilla vine 2 yrs ago and wintered it indoors in a sunrm with south & east facing windows last winter. I keep moderate heat when it's cold because we have hibiscus and approx. 15 other plants we bring in also. My problem is, the vine has never grown over 1.5 ft. with rare blooms. I have it in a redwood pot with reg. potting soil and when outside I try to water at least every other day if not every day but still nothing happens. I have been told to replant it in a hanging moss or fiber pot. Does anyone have any answers? Thanks, Henry

Henry, wish I had a sun room for plants....I don't, so don't even try to keep indoor plants growing over winter.

My mandevillas were grown in full sun (they are tropical) on a patio with a lattice fence. The first one I had stayed in the black plastic nursery pot...the last two are in more decorative pots made of some sort of fibrous material that is plastic coated. I fertilized with Osmocote and fish emulsion. They were just small cuttings when put out this spring, but covered the lattice on one side and had dozens of blooms at any given moment. I have found it to be a very forgiving plant except for low temps.

I am also interested in the lights missouriblue. Where do you get them and how much do they cost?

OK - let me see if I understand. I can bring the Mandevilla in - and do one of two things:

1) cut it down to a few inches tall and put it in a cool room

OR

2) put it in a sunroom and grow it like as a houseplant that requires full sun.

Right?

THanks for your info.

Maureen

If you can't find the lights mentioned in one of the posts a cheap shop light with 2 40 watt full spectrum tubes would work in an area that has dim light , would help it survive the winter , I use them for my orchids that are in the house back from an east window , supplemented with the lights .Wal Mart has the shop lights and sometimes has the full spectrum they are not the plant/ aquarium lights that are blue , Hope this helps a little . Gin

Ginge, I have a set of shop lights set up for cuttings. the problem may be the difference in height in the plants. I made 6 cuttings when I cut the Mandevillas back to bring in. As luck would have it, I have 6 cuttings that took. They won't be the same height, so don't know how this will work. Also, the house may be too warm and dry, since we use wood for heat. We keep a large roaster pan on the stove for humidity, but still dryer than I would like it for a tropical. I think I would rather have them go dormant for winter, but right now they are growing and still blooming.

At my garden club,a lady said that she put her mandevilla under the house-unheated but didn't freeze.Mine is on my unheated south facing porch.I have grow lights.They are great fun and the shop lights work fine.The 4 footers are good.I had some of the 2 foot ones but the bulbs are prohibitively expensive.Mine are on a timer-on for like 18 hours and then off.I have had good luck with cuttings and seeds when I have time to play.If you build a shelf for them you can put the lights on adjustable chains to raise and lower them according to the plants size.Posy Pet

Posey Pet, that is exactly what I ended up doing. It had started to make new growth before it got to cold for the unheated greenhouse, so I brought it inside the house. The only window I have that is convenient, is a north window with a bookcase in front of it. I keep hooks in the ceiling for shop lights, because that is where I start all sorts of winter houseplant cuttings, and seed flats. I don't do many houseplants for myself, but do start them for others who bring me exotics from other parts of the country. If they are short, they get "bagged," and if tall, they go under soda bottles. Usually, I play around with one or two for the summer season and then dump them.

I use the small gauge chain from a hardware store for raising and lowering and a timer. I have the same rig over one bed in my greenhouse for my garden plant flats in early spring. I set some concrete blocks up in the bed and use boards to make a shelf to raise them above the late lettuce that may still be growing in there.

The Mandevillas have grown like crazy and are now covered with buds. One has found the chain and gone to the ceiling, so I'll have to hack it back soon. I didn't expect buds because the runners with buds are above the shop light. Hurry spring!

I have lost two mandevillas in two years. There is a lady here that has huge plants every year. I finally stopped and asked if she bought new plants every year or are they the same ones of 4 years ago. She says she cuts them back to about 6" and puts them in her garage in the dark. The only heat they get is when she has driven her car and it is put in the garage. She waters it about once a month. About Feb. it starts sending up shoots and she puts it out around Easter Sunday every year.(after the last freeze) The new shoots die, but more replace them. They are in about two gal. pots. I am going to try it this year. I live about 45 miles NE of Dallas.

I have a garage which I have been over wintering Oleander and have for 6 years. I cut them back, stop water but once a month or 6 weeks they are against a heated house wall and behind cardboard a wool blanket and plastic. There is nothing of the plant showing but the top is top. Would it be possible to do the same for the Mandevilla plant over winter if I cut it down to 6 inches and decrease the water the same as the Oleander. Other years I have but it in a south window but it is getting too big and I really don't want it there. I have a southwest exposed sunporch that never freezes and I was wondering about that also anyone got any ideas. The sunroom has two walls that are directly connected to the house and also there is a heat vent that I could open.

I have overwintered two different types of Mandevilla vines twice now (this winter will be the third).

The first summer they were both about equal in display.

This past spring, once placed outside, in full sun, one of them thrived and put on a dazzling, never ending display of bright new blooms and healthy foliage. This plant had smaller, smoother, and deeper green leaves with a smaller, almost red flower The other, looked extremely healthy, with beautiful foliage, but never set a single bud! This plant has a larger, lighter colored, and very textured leaf, with very large, very pink flowers (when it flowered at all!).

I had kept them both in bright windows with no direct sunlight, and under almost identical temperatures, allowing for the two different rooms they were kept in. I then set them outdoors in a bright location to harden, once danger of frost had passed, then into sun, and began using the same fertilizer, diluted, twice per month.

Even allowing for their obvious varietal differences, aren't the two results extremely unusual?

This winter I'm allowing them to go dormant, and keeping them in a day and night cool dirt floor cellar, where the temp's a fairly constant 55 degrees

Is this a good idea and if not, what is?

Thank you.
Beth.

Beth, you gave me a very good idea about overwintering my white 2-year mandevilla. Cut it back and let it go dormant in the dark under the greenhouse bench in the cool part with the cannas and caladiums. It's twining and blooming all over the place right now, really making a pest of itself, so if it gets put away, that frees up space I need.

After all, aren't they a tuber? Why can't we let them rest overwinter at about 55 degrees? I let my various colored cultivated sweet potatoes rest as bare tubers, and they start up again in spring and want to be potted.

About the different flowering habits - different varieties, different results. I'd take cuttings of the prolific flowering variety and give the other one the heave-ho. Or maybe give it another (last) chance???
Sunny

I'm in Zone 7, and my mandevilla vine is more floriferous than ever! We've had several freezing days and it's still going quite strong. I've it mulched very heavily, and covered with some fall leaves. I was quite amazed that it's still doing so well since many references say 40 degrees is the minimum temperature for them. I'm wondering if it may be a perennial since it was able to withstand a few 20 degree nights....

In a green house, they tended to look ratty and unloved when it was below 60 even. I think the key there would be to decrease watering, and the college interns splash everything...but that's only a gut reaction.