i gave my son an apple tree,potted, for planting next spring,in Marquette,Michigan. He has an unheated shed,where it will be stored.
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since those are all deciduous i would put them in a garage or shed that doesnt get too much below freezing if at all. Thats how i store my pomegranate and figs.
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If one has to go to all that trouble to dig a trench, etc., wouldn’t it be easier to just grow them in the ground to start with?
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Yes that’s a good point. But not always possible.
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Depending on your situation and equipment it can be easier, take less time than other options. Especially if your plans don’t include keeping them after the second year of growth.
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Thanks for directing me hear Bob. Looks like the perfect thread for answering my question. I have an outdoor shed so I may end up just sticking the trees in there. Now that the temperature is in the 20s I threw some dead leaves on my pots just to provide a little protection. The figs are in my garage for the winter.
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I have a Wonderful pomegranate in a pot. It’s in my basement which is somewhat dark and 72 degrees. It has lost all the leaves. I wonder if 72 is too warm for a dormant tree. Not sure how long it will stay dormant. I plan on not giving it too much water.
I can move it to a brighter area that stays around 69 degrees. Will it do better in the cooler area? Will it make any difference? I’d rather not move it to the cooler brighter area (it’s the living room and this would be an eyesore) unless it increases the plant’s chances of getting through the winter a lot.
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I have many potted plants of varying species and sizes in containrs. Some have been in the same container for over a decade…this includes pawpaw and blueberry. Sitting outside in a wooded area under trees…and not in any greenhouse and not mulched or covered except for a few leaves from the trees they reside under.
Always lose a few things…but not as much as some would probably expect.
Last year, about everything made it through the winter, until March. A very warm February and a March colder than February led to plants budding and many actually leafing out.
And that breaking of dormancy and appearance of green leaves led to the demise of several apple trees in March when temps dipped repeatedly into the 20 degree range. But…all the dead ones were on M-111 rootstock. Didn’t have losses on any other rootstock. I think the M111 broke dormancy before some of the others is the likely explanation, for all are hardy to at least 20 below zero during mid winter and still grow the next year.
That’s my experience in Kentucky.
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I have a potted pomegranate indoors by my staircase with very minimal sun, more like a bright living room.
The temps fluctuate between 65-70 and the tree did not go dormant. It would be a better option to keep it in an open bright space since it will likely not go dormant.
I would make sure to prune it well and the pomegranate tree will likely regrow new leaves to acclimate to light conditions. Below is the 17 year old tree I’ve kept in very poor light conditions in the winter.
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That’s a beautiful tree! I will move mine to the cooler brighter area then. Thanks.
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My potted stonefruit are still outside. I’ll move them into garage in the next week. I need to move them out earlier in the spring…last year i think they spent too long in garage and really dried out (killing a few).
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I just checked on my plants in the garage and some type of vermin has been digging everywhere. They dug up and seem to have eaten 4 pots of different types of strawberries I had received from the USDA and had just put in the garage for a few days over Thanksgiving when it was getting very cold … ugh! I didn’t have time to get a good look at most of the plants since everything is jammed in tight, but I’m a bit worried they’ve started eating bark on figs, etc. Last year something ate ever single bud off 2 peach trees I had in there.
I’m thinking of putting some “just one bite” in there on the floor, but a bit worried if they drag any into the pots what it might do to anyone eating fruit from the trees. Any suggestions?
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In zone 7, I can get away with mulching around the pots with shredded fall leaves. Even marginally hardy stuff was fine this way for me.
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I use bucket traps for mice in storage areas. There are lots of different ways to make them, lots of youtube videos.
https://youtu.be/6SIlYiiCGLI
I tried not killing them with the water, using a 6 gallon bucket that is tall enough they can’t jump out of but they still died from panic. I read that relocating mice is a death sentence anyway, they rely on their stored food and nests, but I figure if I can release them at least a fox, owl, hawk etc. might get a meal.
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Yeah these work! I have a cottage and it is closed from November till April. I use these else mice destroy everything! To preserve the mice I use anti-freeze in the bucket. Just remember to keep your dog away. It works, no stink or bucket of gooey organic slush in the spring. Just nicely preserved embalmed mice! Plus using just water, it will freeze and they will just walk off the ice!
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You can release them dead and the carnivores will still get their meal 
…
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By the way, how often do you water it in the winter?
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Depending on the size of your pot, mine is roughly the size of a 5 gallon placed inside a large ceramic pot. If you have a good, well draining soil, I would highly recommend doing one deep watering once every 7-10 days. Also I would recommend you place a saucer drip tray underneath the pot, add an inch of pebbles and fill with water halfway up for added humidity. Pomegranate can handle drought like conditions quite well, so I would preferably underwater than overwatered, and extra humidity will keep the tree from drying out.
I would also place some sticky yellow paper to get rid of any fungus gnats if you have them. I have not experience any pest issues besides them for pomegranate.
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This is the only comment here that is genuinely informative in a way that provides information on the temps potted plants can survive, but it received only one like- makes me wonder how people evaluate the free information they get here.
I have a customer in Z6 who wants to keep an apple tree alive in a pot on her porch without moving it. It is amazing to me the dearth of genuine information available on what a mature apple tree can survive in a large pot when a pot isn’t buried in the soil. I had assumed there were heating systems used on estates where folks keep unprotected plants over winter very often and I haven’t searched for that yet, but it would be nice to have a better idea what apple trees can survive in the first place.
Of course, it depends how hardened off the plant is, but that’s always the case even with trees in the soil, but you can at least find a ball park for that.
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