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Wintering a Tree Fern, in the north. Our first really cold weather this week and so its time to wrap up. Clockwise form top left: 1. Water and stake. 2. Tie up fronds. 3. Bubble wrap. 4. Strap on plastic sheeting.

Fernapple 9 Dec 9
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1

North? This is December where is the snow those fields are green, I won't see that colour again for at least 5 months. Hope you save it.

North is relative, but it is frost not snow which kills tree ferns, infact if we got snow i would not have to wrap them.

@Fernapple Here frost and snow kind of arrive together.

1

I never thought of using bubble wrap. Thanks for sharing

Donto101 Level 7 Dec 9, 2018

Thats OK. but you do need to attach it well or cover it with something else.

0

It's just getting cold here as well.. It went pretty close to 0 F last night.. time to get the windows covered.

AmmaRE007 Level 7 Dec 9, 2018
2

It's interesting because in southern Brazil, there is a native tree fern. It grows on the mountains (like our mountains are far from any decent height). But snows and get cold there. No one covers them. It puzzles me what is different on that weather that some plants survive and I can't get them to survive here.
Maybe our tree ferns are protected under other tree canopies.

Zoohome Level 8 Dec 9, 2018

Dicksonia sellowiana

Rainfall, and when it comes, has a lot to do with it, most tree ferns need to be wet year round, yet if a ball of ice forms iin the crown, then they are dead. Some plants can not take ice at all and can only take low temps if it is dry, others need water from the ground so they can take air frost but not frozen soil. Some alpines can take overnight frost because they have natural insulation, but only enough for one night, if the cold goes on therefore they die. Other plants rely on snow cover and will die if the snow thaws. Some need low fall temps to get them dormant. It all gets very complicated, but then, that is the fun of the gardening challenge.

@Zoohome Mine are D. antarctica.

@Fernapple yep, the challenges we love to add to our busy life. ?

@Fernapple there is more luck growing yours in South Florida.
Enjoy it

3

We have to do the same in central Spain - not quite warm enough to overwinter tender plants outside. Here is my grown-from-seed orange tree, being wrapped.

CeliaVL Level 7 Dec 9, 2018
4

Lots of work but if it saves the ferns I'd do it too. I only have one plant I religiously protect each year by covering with leaves. A voodoo lily I'm hoping will bloom next year after being moved a few years ago.

I cover some things with leaves as well, and because winters can be wet in England and that will often kill many things even more that the cold, it is a common custom to place a sheet of glass at an angle over plants such as alpines and succulents to keep them dry.

@Fernapple
That's what I was thinking of doing with the voodoo lily but never did. You're right about wet feet on plants can do more harm than a constant freezing temperature. I've lost a lot of plants this way. Freeze and thaw over and over is what we're used to. The voodoo lily is the only plant I worry about now. I'm very diligent in the spring when it's time to remove its covering.

1

Looks like a lot of work.. How many you have to do?

I have three, but they can cost one or two hundred pounds each, so it is worth the effort.

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