Houseplants This Month
October
Introduction
It's hard to generalize about houseplants. Most of them are used to tropical climates - that's why they are living indoors with you, but, of course, some of them can stay outdoors all winter.
We've got a few books on houseplants. Not one of them deals with summering plants outdoors and wintering them indoors. They all assume that we are housing our plants indoors and leave it at that.
However, we have always summered our plants outdoors. They need the fresh air, they love the rain, the soil, and yes, even the insects. Why else would they spend all summer trying to escape from your pots?
So every fall, we have the ritual of bringing them indoors.
Until we got smart, we would always wait until the last minute: "OMG if we don't bring the plants in today, they'll freeze to death tonight!" Of course, on that day we would be away on business or it would be pouring rain or we would have dinner guests.
In our older age, we have gotten more laid back about the entire ordeal. Being laid back mean planning ahead and taking your time.
Here is what we do in October.
Bring Them Inside
Lest we over-generalize, know what zone you are in, know what temperatures your plants like, and be aware of the weather report for the next few weeks in your area.
Having lived in most of the states from New Hampshire to Florida, we realize that we don't need to generalize. We do have rules.
- bring your plants in before you turn your heat on for the season. There is no reason to traumatize the plants any more than they have to be.
- bring your plants in before the temperature at night falls below 45 degrees F. (of course, know your plants, too - that's too cold for some, but it is a good rule of thumb)
Preparations
- don't water the plants for a week or so prior to bringing them in - they'll be lighter
- plan your placement ahead of time - your plants may not like heating ducts, windows with too much light, library corners without any light.
- do you have enough plant trays (I'm assuming that you did NOT use them outdoors - and that you WILL want to use plant trays indoors (your spouse is not going to like the watermarks on the antique oak floors next spring).
Treat Them
If you have an area to stage the plants, it's a good idea to set them in a transition area (out of the house proper, something like a porch or a sunroom) for a day or so.
- clean the dirt off the pots, scrub the salt off the pots
- let the insects have a chance to escape (before they can escape into your bedroom)
- let other critters have a chance to escape. We've actually brought snakes, anole, and frogs into the house and had to catch them in the days after the event (I think the snakes were the largest critters we let in). We've even had anoles and frogs show up in the spring having wintered in our bedroom.
- measure the plants relative to the intended destination (they tend to grow over the summer so they don't fit any more where they were last year.)
- know your plant, but now is probably the time to stop fertilizing and cut back on the watering a little. Winterized plants need less water and don't need to be trying to grow any more.