WINTERING TENDER PLANTS.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1282, 29 April 1878, Page 3

WINTERING TENDER PLANTS.

[From the “Field.”] Is it possible to keep tender plants in an uuheated pit in winter ? This is a (question which I have been asked, and in reply I may say that, although many persons have no doubt failed in doing so, the thing is nevertheless quite possible. I suppose, however, no one would from choice attempt to keep tender plants in cold frames in winter ; yet having the means of readily applying tire heat to plants that can be kept in health in a low dry temperature, always provided the frost bo kept out, is not altogether an unmixed good. True, too much lire heat may not directly kill in the same way that frost would do ; still, when a higher temperature is maintained than is necessary, it tends to exhaust, renders unhealthy, encourages the presence of insects, and generally shorten life. One of the chief reasons why amateurs fail to winter plants in a cold frame or pit is, they pot up their plants or strike their cuttings too late in summer. Every cutting of such plants as geraniums or verbenas, &c., should be put in early. Unless this be done, the plants do not become sulliciently established to stand any hardship in the shape of either damp or frost. Some years ago I was asked, when clearing a flower garden in autrrmn, to give away any plants that were not required amongst the cottagers in the town and neighbourhood. The result was that the first year I had a good many applicants, but gradually they decreased, injtil dually they died out, If I

could have given away plants well established in pots, they would gladly have had them ; but many of the people found, after buyiug pots, the plants died during the winter —in some instances, no doubt, through frost, or neglect and want of knowledge, but mainly for want cf that hardihood and maturity of growth that early potting and standing thinly early in the sunshine always imparts. To carry tender plants through the winter safely, without fire heat, they must have a careful preparation. Verbenas, calceolarias, fuchsias, and similar plants may be kept with very little trouble, as it will take a very severe frost to hurt them when covered with litter; but in the case of pelargoniums it is often the damp that kills, especially if the plants are imperfectly established, In wintering half-hardy plants, calceolarias excepted, there must be freedom from damp -i.e., there must be a pure sweet atmosphere, and the temperature must not fall much below freezing point. A degree or two of frost will not do much harm, provided the covers are not removed too hastily after the weather breaks ; but it must not be forgotten that if the frost is allowed to enter at all, the plants are exposed to considerable risk. Making, hower, every allowance for the difficulty of combating damp in cold pits, and for the thought and care required to guard against the admission of frost, yet neither of these objects is so difficult to attain as at first sight appears. To secure a dry atmosphere, the floor of the pit or bed must be well drained ; it must not hold moisture in suspension, to be drawn up by every gleam of sunshine that falls upon the glass. In the case of an ordinary brick pit wi‘h a brick bottom, like most of the oldfashioned forcing pits, all the manure that may have been used for spring forcing should be cleared out, and a temporary stage of beards erected, so that the plants may occupy a light position, and yet bo at least six or eight inches from the glass. The pit, when the spent manure is cleared out, will hold a much larger body of air; and the plants, being suspended in its midst, will run much less risk from damp settling on them. The smallest notch of air admitted from the outside will cause a rapid circulation, and much of the success will depend upon the attention and care bestowed upon the ventilation Kb dead or decaying matter must ever be allowed to remain amongst the plants, and ho plant should be watered until it is absolutely necessary to keep it from flagging, and not a drop should be heedlessly spilt. Should there at any time appear symptoms of damping amongst the plants, scatter dry dusty peat, wood ashes, or sand amongst them; or, in bad cases, dress the affected parts of the plants with quicklime. If the pit cannot be provided with a temporary stage, and the plants have to stand on a coal-ash bed, there should be at least six or eight inches of porous material beneath the ashes, to make sure of good drainage; and, if at any time the precautions I have already named against damp are not sufficient, take the plants all out the first fine ca 1 m day, and spread an inch or two of the driest ashes that can be had all over the floor of the pit, at the same time lime-wash-ing the w'alls ; and, when all is finished, return the plants to the pit again. This will be found a most effectual cure, and where plants have to be wintered without fire heat, it is always advisable to keep a stock of dry ashes at hand. Keeping plants in cold pits is much a question of forethought—of trying to anticipate all difficulties as or before they arise. Any person who puts things off or forgets them will fail, aud had better not attempt it. I will now just briefly glance at the means employed to keep out frost. If the thermometer falls below 12 degrees in the open air, it will penetrate through a nine-inch wall of brickwork ; and it is as well to bear this in mind, for sometimes I have known thick coverings placed over the glass, and a sense of security indulged in, without thinking that the frost could enter through the brickwork. Therefore, when frost is apprehended, some means must ba at hand for sheltering the walls, if composed of brick work, as well as the roof; turf or earth walls are much better frostresisters than bricks. There is nothing much better for covering pits during severe frost than long dry straw. When used in bulk it incloses a considerable quantity of air, and dry air, motionless, forms an almost impenetrable barrier to cold ; when the straw becomes wet it is not nearly fo good, as the water forces out the air and lets in the cold. I have known plants sometimes covered up for a month without taking any harm, but after a severe frost the coverings must be removed very cautiously; first let in a little light at the back, gradually increasing it as the foliage gets inured to it; air should be admitted in a similar manner. In fact, there is as much necessity for caution in these particulars as there would be in treating any case of deprivation in the human subject. Air must be given freely at all other favourable opportunities, in order to maintain the plants in a healthy, rigorous condition.