Exotic plants: how to protect this type of plants during the winter?
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Winter, frost and cold are the main enemies of your exotic plants: little accustomed to these abnormally low temperatures for them, it is important to provide them with essential defenses during the long winter period. We will see here what methods are used and how to proceed to be able to keep them until the following spring. Your terrace is beautifully decorated with plants in exotic pots? Your garden has little nuggets from elsewhere? Beware! Winter is coming* and your plants may not appreciate these difficult, unusual living conditions.
How to protect them?
The survival of these plants will depend on the protection you have provided them against the early frosts that sometimes arrive in October or November in our regions. To do this, you must first make sure to bring in the most fragile such as the orchid, as soon as the temperature reaches 10 degrees Celsius. If you have a veranda, it will feel perfectly comfortable.
Other plants, such as oleander or mimosa, will be stored in a cool, airy place between 10 and 12 degrees with maximum light to prevent them from drying out and wilting.
As for small exotic shrubs, such as orange or lemon trees for example, they must be brought inside your house or apartment and kept at a temperature between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius, no more, not to dry them out and damage them.
Also be careful not to expose them too close to a heat source, otherwise it could be fatal!
Some exotic trees, such as the banana tree or the palm tree for example, may spend the entire winter outside, but they will also need to be protected effectively.
The solution of wintering sail and other techniques
A «wintering veil» can be placed on some plants, especially on your fragile plants that can not be placed in the shelter, in your home, under a veranda or greenhouse. This protection is especially recommended if you live in an area with rather cold winters. What exactly is the winter veil? It is a kind of very light fabric, a small tarpaulin permeable to air and water that lets light pass through and prevents dehydration of the plantations. This allows plants to breathe and receive enough moisture. It can be found in garden centers or online on specialized sites, usually in roll form and is easy to install. It can be easily cut according to the desired length. We can also find covers of this same fabric ready to install, some with openings that promote ventilation and sunshine shrubs during the day.
Once installed, this cover will remain all winter and can even be used the following winter.
Another technique widely used and recommended is that of the «buttage». This consists of accumulating soil in the form of a “mound” around the feet of plants or shrubs to protect them from frost and promote warming of the roots and runoff of water throughout them.
Finally, «mulching» which consists of covering the soil with dead leaves or grass clippings, can also serve as an effective protection against this freezing cold.