Many in the Northwest treat tropical plants like annuals: Enjoy them in the summer months and toss at the first frost.
Of course you can take measures to over-winter tender plants. Pam Baggett, author of “Tropicalismo!” (Timber Press) shares steps on how to keep your favorite coleus. Her tips in her words:
Step 1: Six weeks before your first autumn frost, take four-inch long tip cuttings from your favorite coleus. Strip the leaves from the bottom two inches of each cutting. Stick the bare portion of each stem into a small pot of sterilized potting soil (1 cup of soil should do). Make sure you have at least one leaf node buried in the soil. Keep the potting mix damp but not soggy, place the cuttings in bright light but out of direct sun, and you should have well-rooted plants within four weeks. If not, try again.
Step 2: Once your cuttings are well-rooted, pot them up into pots that hold 2-3 cups of soil. Move them to the sunniest window of your house (or set them up under artificial lights for the winter). Make sure the plants remain at temperatures above sixty degrees for the entire winter. Coleus hate to be cold.
Step 3: Once your plants are settled on their windowsills, add a half-strength dose of time-release fertilizer to the soil surface of each pot. Pinch the growing point out of each tip to produce stronger, bushier plants.
Step 4: Don’t love your plants to death. Coleus should be kept rather dry over the winter to avoid rotting their roots. These are tropical plants that prefer sun and heat. They don’t take kindly to cold, wet soil, so water only when the pot seems fairly light and the soil surface is completely dry.
Step 5: The low light levels of mid-to-late winter are tough on coleus. They long for the tropics, where the sun shines twelve hours a day. If your plants are yearning, pleading, begging for more light (you’ll know by the way they lean toward the sun on weak, spindly stems and give off small, pitiful whimpers whenever you enter the room), consider investing in inexpensive grow lights to supplement your natural light.
Step 6: You’ve made it through winter. Now what? Acclimating indoor plants to the outdoors is best done in stages. Start by placing your coleus in bright shade on days when temperatures are above sixty degrees. Bring them back in at night if temperatures drop below fifty-five degrees. Gradually ease the plants into more sun, making sure to keep up with their increasing water needs. Don’t drown them, though. Indoor plants often wilt to protect themselves from sun that’s stronger than they’re used to. If the root-ball is well-watered, then the plants need less sun, not more water.
Step 7: Tropical plants like coleus should be placed in the garden once night temperatures are sure to remain above fifty degrees. Don’t rush to plant sooner. You’ll only risk damage to their tender little leaves.
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