Howdy Millie,
I've found the best method for cuttings over the winter was a pit coldframe, or hot bed if I can get to the horsemanure pile at a local stable. A double-plastic cover overtop keeps the heat in better and- keeps it from getting too hot during those infrequent warm spells of Ozark winters. Only real problem I've had was with the rats and mice getting in and eatting anything that was ediblr, so a half dozen set traps are placed in them from the start. Strong

Haven't tried either method. I always worry that they'll get too hot under plastic since we tend to have a few warm and sunny days even in the winter. How does the double plastic work?
All I did for my little seedlings this year is put tree protectors around them. I got those plastic ones that look like a spiral and cut them into thirds since my seedlings are so small. I have about eight cornus kousa seedlings that I sprouted from seeds this spring, but they have been in the ground since about May so maybe they'll be tough enough to get through the winter without a cold frame or anything. ???
Stupid rabbits ate my aronia seedlings way back in early fall before I had a chance to put anything around them.
I did mulch a little crape myrtle seedling that came up volunteer. I should go out and add some more mulch since it's going to get so cold this week. brrrrrr

Hello Strong and christie,

I have tried the cold frame...works fine if I remember to open it on a really sunny day, but I always forget, so the soda bottle is my solution to the problem. I leave the cap off for ventilation and don't have a problem. I used to toss a piece of fiberglass window screen over the top of the bottles for some shade, but that was a pain...sometimes a bottle would get knocked over. I am hoping that I have solved all problems with the old hay. I have it loosely piled up to the neck of the bottle...no caps on so it can breathe. I may have to fluff it again in late Feb./Early March, or add some more. The soda bottles have never allowed a rabbit, rat, or mouse to sneak a meal, but I did have one cutworm come up inside one and eat the leaves off a rose cutting last spring. If anything tries to tunnel in they will run into the nursery pots. My percentages of takes have been higher done this way than under mist. I have never done the cuttings earlier than the first week of December.

Isn't it funny how we all have our own variation of the same principle? Use what you have at hand. Think I will just stick some in the ground...do nothing else, and see if there is an easier way, yet. ;O)

A very starved old stray cat came to live with us last winter...not many rabbits, mice, or rats left on the place. This old guy takes his hunting very seriously even though there is a good supply of cat food at hand.

Millie, are these rose cuttings? I have never tried the Fall/December cuttings. What is the latest you have taken them? I just winter over seedlings or perennials in pots in a cold frame made from straw bales and when it stays freezing I totally cover them, no light. Has worked for several years this way. This year I had a good supply of chopped leaves so I just covered them with those. Be interesting to see what survives.

I did get out yesterday and finish putting away some hoses and finished mulching with the bagged leaves. I also had to re-staple some plastic on the GH/Cold frame (it isn't heated and is really just a make-shift thing), but it serves me well in the Spring. This year I moved my Grow-lights to the now abandoned milk parlor and will try to do my growing out there. I should be able to keep it pretty warm and I have hot and cold water, a gas range, and floor drains for clean-up. I hope it goes well. My plans are to build a small lean-to type GH on the south side of the parlor if I get enough sunlight there. I am going to monitor that closely this winter.

GD

gldno, yes, nearly all rose cuttings. I have three rose of sharons in the lot because my son and I saw one grown as a single stem, tree like plant. He wants me to do one for him.

How late to do winter cuttings is controlled by the weather forecast for me. I watch it pretty close, but this year the wet conditions caused me to be about 10 days later than the past two years. I suspect, but haven't tried, that they could be done in early Feb. just as well. Again, I think there is a better chance of the soil being too wet to work in the garden in Feb.

I made hay bale cold frames when living in Oklahoma some years ago...works just fine. the trick for me was getting the flats of young plants set at the proper angle to catch the sun...I was using old windows, and had the plants in active growth in late Feb/early March. I'm using the beds in my unheated greenhouse to hold over tender plants this year. (Thermal mass, I believe) The soil in the beds store enough heat to radiate heat up around the pots of plants I have buried in them. I may have to start the water heater to keep up the warmth if we have a week or so of below freezing weather with no sun. We built in hot water lines under the top soil in the raised beds in there.

The abandoned milk parlor has lots of possibilities. What a great place to rig up some kind of bottom heat to grow callus and keep the tops cool enough to retard premature top growth. I am still trying to figure out a way to immitate a water bed setup for bottom heat. I know I would have to use heavy plastic to prevent water from getting to the heater. What I have in mind is a piece of plywood with perhaps 1 to 1 1/2 inch lip around it. Center the heater...cover with heavy plastic...fill with slightly damp sand, and cover with more plastic. I think it would heat the sand better if there was some moisture, but haven't tried it yet. Anyone out there with experience? Low natural light and temps just barely above freezing should keep the tops from bud swell. When time for starting garden flats, the temp could be raised and the heater setup used for seed germination. There used to be a woman greenhouse operator in a nearby town who had a wooden box rig with damp sand. It had a false bottom...a heater went under the box, on the floor. There was room for flats inside sitting on the sand. It had a lid to hold in humidity so the flats were not covered. I wish I had paid more attention.

You may find that you will get plenty of sunshine on the South side of your milk parlor in winter. Mine is built on the North side of a large walnut tree. Works out fine...walnuts leaf out late enough to have all my garden plants either in the garden or outside when it leafs out. By then I am needing some shade for whatever is left in there. I already had a water hydrant in place, so it all worked out well. I don't have an old milk parlor, but do have an old (1896) ice house that we restored. It is now wired, so I have been known to use it to store plants. I have considered trying it for winter cuttings, but have had problems with sow bugs and silver fish in the past. It has a dirt floor, so plenty of humidity...almost too much for my canned goods, but it stores apples really well.

Don't know about you, but I love to problem solve...almost more than the growing at this stage of my life.