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How do you over-winter your Cephalotus (in the UK)?


Bluedog0628

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Hi,

sorry if this is a bit of a silly question. Winter is coming and it's time to start planning for the cold months ahead...

About 2 months ago I got my first Cephalotus (and so far I haven't manage to kill it).

What's the best way to over-winter it? I like in South Yorkshire so the winters are fairly mild but wet (with the occasional frost and sometimes snow). How much cold can it take? I know some people leave them outside all year (I'm guessing that's ok if you live in the south of England) but what about growers further north? Will it survive outside (I don't have a greenhouse) or should I bring it in for the winter? The plant in question is still quite small, I got it as a bare rooted division and it's still adjusting to it's new home...

Thanks for all replies!

 

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I think I would be inclined to bring it indoors over the winter and keep it on a sunny windowsill especially with it being quite small. Just keep it damp and watch out for powdery mildew which can occur when the plant doesn't get sufficient ventilation. I keep mine in my greenhouse all year round now but put them under the main benches during the winter to give them a bit of added protection. I used to bring them indoors and keep them on a bedroom window but I now have too many to be able to do that and a couple of them did get powdery mildew.

Dave

Edited by 3Star
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hi Bluedog. I overwinter mine in a old greenhouse (plants have fleece thrown over them if temp forecast  around  2c or less)but since you don't have greenhouse indoors would be best

but need adequate ventilation.

good luck

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I'm in the High Peak so not too far from you.  I keep mine in an unheated polytunnel all year round, but before I got the polytunnel I used to use a mini plastic tiered greenhouse and keep them in that all year round.

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I have one in a greenhouse heated through Winter to around 7 or 8C, the other in a South facing bathroom window all year round, the second one generally shows more growth year round.

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  • 1 month later...

Update: So i was planning to overwinter my ceph outside all winter. It had tons of new growth. It started to freeze here + it is very humid. All the new growth turned brown and my ceph doesnt look all that happy either. So im puting it in the shed anyways. My experiment failed....

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On 01/12/2017 at 10:34 AM, Tropicat said:

Update: So i was planning to overwinter my ceph outside all winter. It had tons of new growth. It started to freeze here + it is very humid. All the new growth turned brown and my ceph doesnt look all that happy either. So im puting it in the shed anyways. My experiment failed....

I’ve had them lose all the top growth and look dead, but months later grow back as good as before from the roots.

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Im a bit apprehensive to continue with the experiment... I have decided to bring it in and see what happens.. It has had a cold period now. I can still compare it to my other cephs that I kept indoors and see what the difference will be in growth.
Do cephs need a dormancy period?

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My understanding is a slowing down of growth rather than dormancy.  I have one I keep in a south facing bathroom window which is still growing new pitchers.  My other one in the greenhouse hasn't grown anything new all year except a couple of flower stalks.

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I was going to leave half of mine in the greenhouse this year but chickened out. I normally over winter on the south facing bathroom windowsill with the window cracked open. They seem to like it and grow well as long as kept fairly dry. I’m struggling for space now though. 

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