I'm going to be getting a tent from ebay. Still not sure where I'm going to put it...

Dain have you figured out your lights and heat yet? You probably need a good size tent for trees and seedlings

I'm wondering the same thing for winter here in central Florida........ Wondering if the garage would protect the obesiums enough.....

John I know that Obesium's can tolerate down to 50 degrees. Some of the others are similar but there is one that tolerates cold better. Someone else will have to give that name.

Being in FL you stay warmer then most. But not sure if you have been the area that got snow last winter. Is your garage insulated. Most of the winter it should be fine. I know some people in south FL grow them outside.

garage not insulated, we get 50's readily and once in a blue moon a freeze. I worry about wet / cold during their dormant period. Say a 60 to 55 degree cold front with the accompanying rain....... For this I will bring them in on the screened porch. For colder I'm thinking the garage with work lights to add some heat. My fellow Floridians may have ideas. I live in a very small house 765 sg ft under air and I use the garage to charge my Chevy Volt so there is no "easy" answer. I dreamed of emptying my pond & building a green house.

All my Adeniums both mature and seedlings just have to man-up and take their chance with whatever this winter throws at them here in the UK. I don't particularly like, neither can I afford to heat the house to a high temp. All unused rooms are not heated, why heat 5 bedrooms when I alone occupy 1?They have a permanent position in my large south facing windows to get as much sun as possible either in summer or winter, the central heating will be used as and when I need it, not my plants. It's often set to 17/18c which I find acceptable given our past few winters have been reasonably mild, that said for a couple of weeks in the 'Narnia' of 2010/2011 IIRC we went down to -17c! I just let them do their own thing and water them less. The adults sometimes drop all their foliage, the seedlings obviously don't but all still get a little water. It's just a case of crossing my fingers, tightly!

Gill

Gill, have you measured the relative humidity in your unheated rooms in the winter? A friendly advice: If you do not heat the rooms, you should measure the humidity. If you do not heat the rooms the relative humidity increases (cold air contains less water vapour than warm air = higher relative humidity). In the fall and winter the humidity should not be greater than 50 percent (preferably less). Is it above 60 percent, you could end up with mould problems (potentially harmful).

Marica, Good topic, I am new to Adeniums. I have started many from seed in the last month, so winter care is of interest. Some seedlings are outside and some remain indoors in my basement grow room, where they all will be in the next month or two.

The light in the room is a 1000W MH HID light, 14 hours in the spring and summer and adjusted down to 10 hours in mid winter. A fan keeps the air circulating 24/7. I do not heat the room, plenty of heat generated from the light. Temps range from a high of mid 80'sF. in summer to lows in the low 60'sF. in winter.

From the above posts, I see my seedlings will probably be kept growing all winter.

Joe

As I too will be doing my first wintering over of adenium this year, this is a great thread, Marica! I am very interested in everyone's replies. Good point Rick about keeping leaves but maybe not showing any active growth. My temps will definitely be low enough in my art studio to induce dormancy but with my lights and heating pads, maybe not!

Tenting: You can go to Walmart and buy a clear vinyl shower curtain for about $10. When cut and resealed with clear box tape around the edges, or folded and stapled, it is stupid easy to make custom fitted high quality tents for your shelving units at almost no cost. Only concern is deciding if you want the top open or enclosed due to heat and air flow issues. Velcro tabs down one edge for easy opening or adjustment.

I don't tent my shelves but I have my studio enclosed from the rest of the house so I can control the temperature and humidity in that one room and let the rest of the house be normal comfort. A ceiling fan helps with air movement.

This is one end of my art studio in winter with my coffee, cinnamon, orchids, streptocarpus, etc - shown here last February, 2016. I have a ton more plant stands with lights on the other end not shown here, as well as a 75 gallon fish tank that along with a humidifier, helps keep things from drying out. I've also moved to wicking plants on water filled trays with grids so now I have to watch that the humidity doesn't get too high! Lots of air movement helps.

Hyn Patty, Impressive set-up!

Joe

Thank you! It's my winter time anti-depressant along with upbeat music. ;)

Thanks Martin for the heads up on potential humidity/mould issues. To date I've not noticed any problems, despite never checking the levels. So maybe it would be best practise to have the radiators in those rooms just open to 'take the edge' off the cold. This is something I need to get checked out this autumn/winter, so I appreciate you bringing it to my attention :-)

Apologies Marica for the OT swerve!

Gill

Hyn Patty, nice setup but the choice of reflective material used in a tent matters. Actually a lot. By choosing the wrong material will cause loss of light (less reflected). I recommend using a (high) glossy white plastic material.

A tent and a reflector are two different things. Usually people tent for humidity concerns. You can obviously use a white glossy vinyl instead or even a chromed silvery material for tenting. For gesneriads I don't want the lighting that strong. For adeniums are you right that you will want it more intense so it's a good thought to add and consider. You probably still want the front clear so you can actually see your plants but that's up to you. Good advice, Martin. My walls are already white.

I use a tent 1) to keep a fairly high average temperature (by insulation), 2) to get the most out of my LED units (by reflection), and 3) to hide that awful purple LED light. ;-)

It makes sense to have "open" shelves for growing less heat and light demanding plants. On the other hand, my adeniums certainly benefit from the tropical conditions in the tents. I really cannot grow them outside the tents. The light levels in my condo is not suitable and growing outside is not possible in my climate with short cold summers.

Makes sense, though I'll never have have those horrid purple LED's here, tyvm. ;)