Thanks for your reply Pagan.

The temps stay that way for about last few days of Dec and first 2 weeks of Jan.

I was not planning to unpot & hang them...too much work. I have a balcony which I can kind of cover on the open side, to keep them in for that period however, they would be in dark.

I was basically wondering if they could live in darkness for those 2-3 weeks. Am sure the leaves would fall off if light is held off for that long, along with no water and cold temperatures. I am mostly worried about the grafted ones, because I feel they are not as hardy and acclimatized as the arabicums (ungrafted).

Requesting more inputs of other members living in northern hemisphere regarding best practices for overwintering these as the winters there are more severe than ours... or any old links in this forum...

Hi Sinha I haven't personally experienced a dormancy period since most of my plants are still seedlings they are indoors. My outdoor larger specimens will be put indoors for the cold season. They will receive as much natural light as one south facing window can provide. They will be kept in a heated room. I will not be unpotting them but they will not get watered until they begin to show growth again. I wish I had more experience to provide you with some suggestions. Do you have a storage area or shed?

Tracy

No shed just a long side balcony which I think I will cover with a transparent polythene sheet. That way they will get some light, I think

Did you mean sealing your balcony from top to bottom and end to end? If so, then it basically becomes an extension of your house, especially if you are using material that will keep some heat in. Adeniums will go dormant in the dark but only ish. I've tried storing them in a closet once but since they were warm in there (about 20C when the heat is on during the day), they kept putting out leaves anyway, albeit very slowly. Without water, the leaf buds sometimes dried out. That was five months in the dark for three adult grafted plants.

Your balcony will be colder, especially since the floor is concrete. I strongly suggest getting planks of wood and carton on top of that to keep the pots off the concrete. The cold damage that happened to my Jaw Phaya started from the roots--I left it out on the concrete porch long before frost even started. I am betting the substrate was getting significantly colder than ambient temperature.

If you can hang a few shop lights in that space, that can only improve their situation. Place them close to the top of the plants (i.e. 5 to 10 cms, if using T5HO fluorescents). Or you can read all the posts here about LED lighting.

Also, don't take out the leaves, it will just expose raw spots. Let them drop on their own and clean out the debris. If you are not lighting them, do not water. Do not feed. Your plants will not respond uniformly to stress either and you might lose some.

Pagan

Thanks Pagan.I won't water them during that time and keep them elevated. Can't install lights in such a small place as its not feasible. You understood my exact problem . Appreciate it. :)