How are your adeniums doing now winter is here?

8 years ago

Hello everyone, just wondering how the plants belonging to those of us in the colder climates of the globe are doing so far this winter?

Our temps here in the UK have plummeted these past few days, my outside thermometer went down to -6.6C last night, and in some areas it was -13C. The ground is blanketed in snow and we had freezing fog overnight and this morning.

I was on holiday for most of November and I came back to my 8 plants looking very different from when I left home. They weren’t watered for 4 weeks and they sat in my unheated home still in the sunniest position. Most of their leaves have yellowed, now they’re going crispy and dropping off. Hopefully, this is just their reaction to having water withdrawn along with the lower temps. I’ve given them minimal watering in the hope that it will be enough to keep the roots going. I’m really hoping that I will be able to get them through another winter, so it’s fingers tightly crossed....again!

How are yours doing in the cooler countries? Or anyone else’s for that matter? :-)

Gill

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Hyn Patty, Western NC Mountains (USA)

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Mine are doing fine. I moved them indoors and under lights in the mid autumn. I'm temporarily in my MiL's house while we sell ours so it's been difficult to get to my plants but we finally moved the coffee trees, larger orchids, cinnamon, etc upstairs to window light to open up my access. I am very behind on repotting gesneriads.

That said, I had domed my adenium seedlings to conserve moisture and raise humidity between waterings and it seems to be helping. They were shedding leaves and starting to go dormant but with temperatures in the lower 60's down there I am not keen to up watering very much. My larger plants are mostly arrested in growth and slowly going dormant and that's fine. I'd rather revive them to robust growth in the warmer spring than have them die and rot on me. Even so, a few new leaves and buds continue to form.

I had hoped to keep them all warm and actively growing this winter. But I also hadn't counted on having to stick them all into a chilly basement with no window light. The lights I have them under aren't fantastic and aren't enough lumens but I may be able to bump that up now I have time to spend organizing. All of my time up to this point as been devoured by trying to get our home remodeled to list for sale. Snow outside.

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Comments (10)

cgrim10
8 years ago
Keeping them warm 85 deg & wet under dome in led! and a heat pad just in case. Been 30 deg (2 nights low 20s) at night here. just germinated 10 of 11 seeds in 5 days and 13 hrs. (yes I have been counting). One of these will replace my prettiest flower on the lot. I let it freeze @ 5 years old. (3 years ago). Been really sad carving off dead tissue. Is still a strong plant. But I hurt it bad. Keep them warm!
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Tin N
8 years ago
Mine are also doing great. They are giving me seed pods, buds and blooms.
eeyore94sooregon
8 years ago
Mine are doing as well as can be expected. They have been in since late September. One even looks like it's budding. Didn't think that was possible with the house being between 63° and 68° and monthly watering. And sitting in an east or west facing window. Surpringly most of them still have such bright green leaves. Hmmm.
jedobaTX9b
8 years ago
Mine are under lights in their own room and blooming.
greenclaws UK, Zone 8a
Original Author
8 years ago
Good to hear that things seem to be going well then for those who have posted. Let’s hope that come spring we will all have our plants flourishing once again. Looking forward to spring when things get that well needed kick start once again.

cgrim10, hi there, your pic caught me out as when I scrolled slowly down I saw white stuff and thought it was snow! Ha-ha! It was then obvious I was seeing perlite or similar, what a relief that was for the seedling!

Some great looking plants and flowers you still have there, Jerry’s second bloom is lovely! Thanks for the replies.

Keep warm, Gill.
Martin (retired viking from Denmark)
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Hi Gill, :-)

Here in the capital area of Denmark, we have the usual sleepy rainy winter weather. 0-5C/30-40F. Yesterday we had a sprinkle of snow which melted away overnight.

I keep my dormant adeniums at about 20C/70F in a heated cellar. Some bare root, some in containers, some on windowsills and some in almost complete darkness. The ones in containers are watered slightly every other week. But I expect them all to survive the winter.

My heated grow tent is up and running and stuffed with large actively growing plants and tiny seedlings barely two weeks old. Hopefully I will see a flower or two before spring sets in.

Gill, please do post a photo of that beautiful countryside of yours. :-)
greenclaws UK, Zone 8a
Original Author
8 years ago
Hello Martin, I’m surprised you’ve not had more snow than that, I thought our snow was heading your way. It’s been bad here this past weekend with up to 11 inches of snow at one of my daughters near the Welsh border. I had 6 inches or so, the snowploughs and gritters have worked hard to clear the roads. Several cities and towns at a standstill, airports closed.

Good luck with your plants and knowing how good you are with them I’m sure they will be fine.

Gill
rcharles_gw (Canada)
8 years ago
Mine are all resting for the winter months, but many keeping their leaves. Time to get other things done while they take their break.

Sure hope you get feeling better, Gill and feeling more comfortable moving around soon.

Have a wonderful Holiday Season.

Rick
charles kraft (SoCal 9B)
8 years ago
Hmm, oh yeah, winter. High of 76, low of 50 predicted for today. Smoke is mostly gone, at least for today; yesterday was kind of bad here, not nearly as bad as some other places.