Preparing for Winter

[Ken Duncan]

I finally got all of my tropical trees pruned and put on my Sun Porch for winter.
"Moe" the Brazilian Rain Tree was the last one after a much needed pruning and repotting.

 

[nuttiest]

What a great porch. Do you root prune tropicals in fall?

 

[Peter/Chang’s/Nebari/]

Very tidy. Nice work.

 

[raffaelbaer]

few more closeups would be nice

 

[Tieball]

Nice winter setup. You're well prepared and ready for SC winter weather. The Brazilian Rain Tree is fabulous….and the trunk is captivating with outstanding character.

 

[Colorado]

Wow, Moe is a beast! Awesome!

 

[Ken Duncan]

What a great porch. Do you root prune tropicals in fall?

Thank You.
Not all of them. The Rain Tree needed the roots pruned to make room for new soil. The last time it was repotted was 8/21 and it dries out very fast also it grows like crazy and will have new leaves in about 2 weeks.
Because the porch faces South and is all glass in the front plus it has 3 large sky lights this time of the year it gets to 90 F. or over 100 F. and the lights are on 14 hrs. a day.
I tend to get new growth till December.

 

[Ken Duncan]

few more closeups would be nice

All of the trees were pruned hard and look a little ratty. I will try to take some close ups in a few weeks when some of the leaves have fallen off.

 

[ForrestW]

Great looking set up-- and that is a killer rain tree!

 

[raffaelbaer]

All of the trees were pruned hard and look a little ratty. I will try to take some close ups in a few weeks when some of the leaves have fallen off.

Awesome, I'm really interested in what you're growing...

 

[Ken Duncan]

Thank You.
Not all of them. The Rain Tree needed the roots pruned to make room for new soil. The last time it was repotted was 8/21 and it dries out very fast also it grows like crazy and will have new leaves in about 2 weeks.
Because the porch faces South and is all glass in the front plus it has 3 large sky lights this time of the year it gets to 90 F. or over 100 F. and the lights are on 14 hrs. a day.
I tend to get new growth till December.

 

[Ken Duncan]

The Rain Tree is leafing out all ready.

 

[bwaynef]

I know you said it can get pretty hot in there w/ all the windows/skylights. On days when the sun's no sunning, how do you keep it warm in there?

 

[Ken Duncan]

I know you said it can get pretty hot in there w/ all the windows/skylights. On days when the sun's no sunning, how do you keep it warm in there?

On the few days that it gets cold I have a small ceramic heater that does a good job keeping it warm.
Most of the time I can open the door to the house to warm the porch up on rainy days.

 

[Ken Duncan]

Eleven days after removing all of the leaves and pruning the roots back by a third.

 

[Ken Duncan]

Everything is growing well and I have needed to do some pruning on a few things.
The Rain Tree has leafed out completely and will need pruning soon.

 

[Ken Duncan]

It has been a good Winter on the porch this year.
I bought a new fan and heater this year and it seems to have made the plants happier.
I think the main reason that they are doing so well is that we had a large oak tree removed last spring and there is so much more Sun this winter.
With the extra sunlight it can get very hot so I open the front door and let the house warm up which dries out the trees and they need to be watered more.
Today it is 27 F outside and 75 F inside.