Treating houseplants before bring them indoors

How do you treat your houseplants that have been outdoors all summer?

Reply to
Phisherman
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Phisherman wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

What sort of houseplants?

Reply to
FragileWarrior

On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:21:01 +0000 (UTC), FragileWarrior

Reply to
Phisherman

Except for a cymbidium orchid, I leave them outside all winter.

I bring the orchid inside around Thanksgiving, to protect it from frost. I give it no special outdoor versus indoor treatment. Indoors, I keep it in the dining room with the drapes open in the daytime (northern window) to give it enough light.

We had record breaking cold in January the beginning of this year. All my potted plants outside survived the Great Freeze of '07, although some had damage that required pruning later in the year. I replaced the potted Ficus benjamina because it would take too long for new growth to compensate for the damage. In the ground, I lost all my statice (sea lavender, Limonium perezii) and one (of 20) wax-leaf begonia. All the dwarf citrus survived; my dear, old dwarf lemon was already dead or dying before the freeze. Everything else recovered, only for much of it to be destroyed this summer by the construction equipment needed to repair my hill from a mud slide that happened in January 2005.

Reply to
David E. Ross

Phisherman wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Reply to
FragileWarrior

Last year someone on this NG recommended spraying everything with soapy water (I used diluted Dawn in a Windex spray bottle) and pouring some more soapy water through the soil, then hosing everything down to get the soap off the leaves and out of the soil. I did that, then brought everything inside right away. One plant that's especially prone to spider mites developed them, but not until the winter was nearly over, but otherwise there was no infestation at all -- not even those little gnatty things.

I've been meaning to thank whoever sent in that suggestion.

helco

Reply to
helco

last year while visiting my brother our visit kept being interrupted by wasp flying around inside his house. we'd kill one and almost get back to enjoying our visit when another wasp would start buzzing around in the room. after killing about five of them we decided we'd look for the source. turned out to be one of the hanging baskets he'd brought in from the front porch that morning had a wasp nest in it. and yep that basket went back outside.

Reply to
Jim

I have a problem with fungus gnats. So I buy some mosquito dunks and throw one in the watering can and let sit over night. Water completely the next day. Start this about 2 weeks before you bring yjr plants indoors. It takes awhile to kill the gnats. or you can spend big bucks for "Gnatroll" which does the same thing.

Reply to
jmagerl

Sprinkle the soil with ground cinnamon. I bought a big jar of ground cinnamon at the Dollar Store for my garden bucket and I've had it it for years, still works just fine. The gnats disappear within minutes and it kills the larva as well. No nasty chemicals, non toxic and it smells good too. I've very seldom ever had to treat a pot more than once.

Val

Reply to
Val

I've also had good results using cinnamon to prevent damping off in flats of seedlings. I sprinkle it over the flats after seeding.

Charlie

Reply to
Charlie

Do they like icecream? What about chocolate?

David

Reply to
David Hare-Scott

Absolutely! Cinnamon is a natural fungicide, I do the same, works very nicely.

My neighbor has a HUGE pot with a ficus tree in it. Her cat decided it was a very convenient litter box while she was away at work. I suggested she sprinkle a good bit of cinnamon on the surface of the soil........the cat won't go near it now. This might not work for all cats but it sure worked with hers. I sprinkled cinnamon in the pots that had the plants my cat seemed to like chewing on.....that solved that problem too. Apparently there are cats that just don't like the smell of cinnamon. YMMV

Val

Reply to
Val

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