Garage not heated but well insulated.
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Pharmer, everything here is well machinized, just sliding from one to another that’s all I have to do. Heavy containers are all on homemade dollies, they go in and out the garage on my little pinky.
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Guys, well done with all those pots. Today I’m ending my little container adventure and planting everything I can in the ground. Got to be too much work for my age and health. Good luck to all.
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@aap Very impressive operation you have! I am envious of all your potted plants. That’s the first area I’d expand when I buy a bigger house. Right now I have to keep all my tropicals pruned smaller, so I can fit them all inside. Is your zone too cold for your figs to do well inground? Mine is marginal so I still keep the late ripening ones potted.
@tonyOmahaz5 I got rid of all the scale years ago by constantly spraying all the citrus and tropicals with Sevin/carbaryl one summer. It was a real pain on some stuff like kaffir lime and pandan which they loved to infest. Spider mites are sometimes a challenge during the winter. I spray all the plants before bringing them inside to try to prevent this, but some years they are still a problem.
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I have a lot of figs in the ground, just the ones that are sort of winterhardy like the Chicago hardy,Desert King, Sal C, etc.
Tony, this past spring i sprayed a couple of my citrus that a lot of scale with Shout by accident, i use small sprayers my wife discard and fill with stuff, guess what, scale gone, sprays left on for just a 1/2 hour and wash of. I don’t recommend it to nobody but that is what i did. You can use either one.
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Here’s what I’m trying with my first year trees in compost socks. Will probably put the 2nd and 3rd year trees in a similar configuration.
Laid down, socks on top of trunks to keep the wood at the bottom, 2 layers thick, only broke one 
Boards across the top to keep cover from touching the roots.
Covered with 6ft. ground cover, held down with compost socks that had annuals or failed cuttings in them. Will probably add a 2nd layer with more boards in between for some insulation after Thanksgiving.
It was pretty easy, about 1.5 hours to do ~60 socks. Not pretty but should get the job done.
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Labor of love!
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Every window have plants that need sunlight. The garage gets the dormant plants. I spray neem and sprinkle a very generous amount of diatomaceous earth on all of my plants that I brought into the house to keep bugs away.
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This includes the bathroom if I can find a spot for them. My hubby gets annoyed in the fall and winter when I do this. Somehow, he gets over it though. Oh the things we put up with in a marriage! I’d share this story…so knowing that he moans and groans when I have plants in the house to overwinter (and of course, I know I’m a plant freak!) I had to take my youngest son to hockey tournament for a long weekend. So, while I’m gone for a long week and I knew that my plants won’t get sunlight cuz I knew he wanted them dead. I gathered up a bunch of dead plants (all dried up and leaves less) and put them in a big corner of the house so they looked like twigs in a pot. When I came back from a long week away, he had pulled them out and put them near the windows and water those dead plants. He proudly said, “ I helped you out with those plants by putting them near sunlight and water them while ur were out”. To this day, I never told him they were all DEAD, as part of my strategy to help me understand if he was just bitching for bitching or he really cares about what I care. To him, he was freaking out when they looked dead. He said to himself,”if Courtney comes home and find them dead since they are dead on my watch so I better do something. Let’s try to revive before “crazy” shows up at home!” I had to smile as I walked away and to this day, I did not disclosed that I did that as a way to understand how he really felt about this “overwinter” thing. Or perhaps, he knew that he won’t get dinner when I come home if they are dead. Who knows…but whatever makes me happy, at least I know that he is trying…
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You use your space for the plants very well. Nice job! O2 bar in the bathroom!!! Btw, here is my Thai peppers for Winter months usage. The two Jabuticaba aka Brazilian grapes in the small pots are from @aap. Hopefully, these guys will fruits someday
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Courtney, great story, you must be a easygoing person!
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Tony, no strong fertilizer,just organics and Espoma, holly tone.acidic stuff,
Wateeeeeer!
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"Acidic"you meant give it 1/2 of a Corona every two weeks!!! Thanks Bob.
Tony, since you bought way too many longans I trade you for a bag of Jabo,s, well I guess I know the answer. Longans don’t go well with Corona.
Sent you a pm.
This year, I’m insulating my greenhouse and storing most of my trees there. I figure after the insulation, it shouldn’t be too hard keeping everything above the high 20s/low 30s. A few smaller or more cold sensitive trees will stay in the garage. I filled all my available window space overwintering a pineapple guava, some pineapples, my succulents, and my not quite dormant ginger and turmeric.
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Johnny,
What is your typical Winter low temperature there?
Tony
I’m in zone 6b (on the cusp of 7a) so it’s supposed to be able to get down to 0F. It doesn’t seem to go below the teens that often, at least not that I can remember.
Do you have any figs inground? If so how did they do last winter? All of mine lost smaller branches or branch tips died back several inches.