Winter watering: How you YOU do it?

[We're all Mad Here...🎩]

Hi,

This is geared more toward the cooler winter climate people, but all are invited. This is my first Maryland winter and I was wondering how you know when to water when temps drop below 40F, and how much or little they receive. I only have pines and junipers in bonsai form, but a couple maples in pots that are just nursery trees that never made it into the ground.

Per @leoi will likely keep them under my deck next to walkout basement door for protection, but also how dobyou water if the hose is frozen? Just watering can might be sufficient to maintain?

Cheers!

 

[bonsaichile]

I water them with a watering can. I only water them when the ground is getting dry and it is not frozen. If the ground in the pots is frozen, wait until it thaws before watering. Keep in mind that trees require much less water while in dormancy. I hope this helps

 

[We're all Mad Here...🎩]

I water them with a watering can. I only water them when the ground is getting dry and it is not frozen. If the ground in the pots is frozen, wait until it thaws before watering. Keep in mind that trees require much less water while in dormancy. I hope this helps

How do you mean, if the ground in the pots? Like the substrate?

 

[Dav4]

Trees outside and exposed to winter precipitation don't need to be watered much if at all and if your hose is frozen, then the soil in your pots is probably frozen, too... and you shouldn't water trees sitting in frozen soil as they don't really need it and really can't use it, either.

 

[bonsaichile]

How do you mean, if the ground in the pots? Like the substrate?

Yes, that is what I mean

 

[Lorax7]

I set them on the ground outside, on the north side of the garage or the house, in the open. I shovel a bit of extra snow onto them when we get the first significant snow of the season. That’s it. Nature waters them until we get into the part of spring where it’s not really cold and wet anymore. My method won’t work for trees being kept underneath a deck though. You’re going to have to supplement if you’re going to store them that way.

 

[We're all Mad Here...🎩]

It's sort of like an open exposed underside of a deck on a large hill...I could probably keep them on the slab under the deck and let the water that melts through provide any precip? Good feedback so far, thanks all.

 

[Paradox]

I keep the cover of the coldframe off of it unless temperatures are forecast to drop below 30 over 24 hours. I let it rain in the cold frame as well as snow. If it's dry and not frozen and I need to water, I use the hose

 

[Jester217300]

I only use snow. If no snow, I buy a bag of ice from 7/11. I don't use any water during winter.

 

[Colorado]

I use a watering can. We do get quite a bit of snow. But during dry spells I do water if the surface of the soil is dry and the pot is not frozen. I tend to err on the side of too wet rather than too dry. Seems to work for me anyway.

 

[We're all Mad Here...🎩]

I only use snow. If no snow, I buy a bag of ice from 7/11. I don't use any water during is

I only use snow. If no snow, I buy a bag of ice from 7/11. I don't use any water during winter.

I use a watering can. We do get quite a bit of snow. But during dry spells I do water if the surface of the soil is dry and the pot is not frozen. I tend to err on the side of too wet rather than too dry. Seems to work for me anyway.

I was going to buy a new tree from Nature's Way for my birthday, but I think I'll see how I do this winter before putting anything else at risk. This is all great valuable input, thank you.

 

[sorce]

Mad yes, I tried to blow the top hat off the last screen.

No water winter!

Sorce

 

[Paradox]

I only use snow. If no snow, I buy a bag of ice from 7/11. I don't use any water during winter.

I would need a pickup truck full of ice to take care of my coldframe.

 

[Scorpius]

Greenhouse here. Garden hose when they get dry. Had to be that guy, I know.

 

[mike3m]

I only use snow. If no snow, I buy a bag of ice from 7/11. I don't use any water during winter.

cool concept with the ice cubes.......obviously location is everything

 

[We're all Mad Here...🎩]

Greenhouse here. Garden hose when they get dry. Had to be that guy, I know.

I will have a greenhouse this winter...do you heat it?

 

[penumbra]

As to all of my outdoors plants, including those in coldframes, those under hoops, those heeled in mulch, those in the ground, and those on the benches, I water just like I do the rest of the year but much less frequently. Still need to keep a watchful eye because a freeze dried plant is a dead plant.
As to all of my indoor plants, they are monitored every day. Some days are light watering days and some long days. These are in 2 and 3 inch pots up to 2 gallon pots and a few larger. I am afraid to count them all lest I prove my madness.

 

[cmeg1]

My favorite is a box in the ground without the floor so it is earth…..then a few inches of gravel.
Only shut door if weather forcast is below freezing at night………or very cold during day(like if never going above freezing).
Keep box in TOTAL SHADE and let rain and snow fall into it for the most part during the day.
Maybe not so much deep snow though.

I quite literally pile hundreds of seedlings in this and also larger pines planted in 4” stonewool blocks…….everything freezes solid and grows fine in Spring……I am zone 7 just above Maryland line.

 

[Gabler]

I’m now in Delaware, not Maryland, but the climate is identical. In most of Maryland, the temperature will fluctuate between just above freezing and just below freezing throughout most of the winter. Sometimes in January and more often in February, there’ll be a week or two of colder weather, but the low temperatures at night are almost never under ten degrees Fahrenheit and generally around twenty degrees. Maryland is colder than the Deep South, but it’s still technically a Southern state. It has a mild enough climate and a long enough growing season that Maryland residents historically were part of the Southern slave-based agricultural economy. Winters are cold but not brutal. Snow is normal but infrequent.

Trees that come from northern climates (e.g. northern red maples) I keep on benches throughout winter. The pots sometimes freeze solid, and they thrive in spring. More sensitive species (like beeches) I set on the ground, and I insulate the pots with straw. The trees on the ground almost never need water in addition to rainfall. It’s perpetually moist under the straw. The trees on the benches get more dry, so I water them once per week or so when ambient temperatures are above freezing and when it has been a while since the last rainfall. In a prolonged cold snap, I would probably move my bench trees to the ground to prevent them from drying out, but generally the winter is mild and wet.

 

[rockm]

Hi,

This is geared more toward the cooler winter climate people, but all are invited. This is my first Maryland winter and I was wondering how you know when to water when temps drop below 40F, and how much or little they receive. I only have pines and junipers in bonsai form, but a couple maples in pots that are just nursery trees that never made it into the ground.

Per @leoi will likely keep them under my deck next to walkout basement door for protection, but also how dobyou water if the hose is frozen? Just watering can might be sufficient to maintain?

Cheers!

Don't put them under your deck. Put them on the ground (on top of a layer of gravel) in a garden bed that doesn't get afternoon winter sun (or any sun for that matter) and is protected from the worst winds. Pile shredded pine or hardwood mulch up and over the tops of the pots to about three or four inches. Before you mulch, make sure the bottoms of the pots have an air space underneath (I use paver bricks to set trees on to allow for this). Air space underneath is important to allow for drainage. Again before you cover them up, water each plant well, then water the mulch that goes over top.

The garden bed should be exposed to the elements. Pray that temps drop below 40, and into 20-30 F, or even lower on occasion.

The trees in that mulch pile probably won't need watering for some time, if at all. I have never watered my trees in winter storage. Snow rain, sleet whatever, allow it. Don't try to keep your trees out of it. The species you have are well capable of weathering a lot worse. I've been overwintering trees like this for a long time here in N. Va. haven't had many issues over the years. For your maples, Your enemy is Feb. warm temperatures. If we get days that top 65 in early Feb., keep an eye on trees for bud elongation. Be ready to bring trees inside if they start leafing out.

BTW, the wet mulch tends to deter rodent activity since it's wet and freezes. Mice don't like that. They DO like overprotected trees that have been sheltered to keep them out of the elements.