chinese elm in winter?

Tiny-Plant

where should i hold my chinese elm in the winter? sometimes it is -25 celscius here in finland where i live... can i have it indoors or in the garage?

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groan

Hi Tiny,

I am by no means a bonsai guru, but I'll tell you what my brother does with his as it sounds as though we have similar winter weather.

when the leaves drop in the fall, and after the first frost hits, he brings it indoors and places it in a dark area of the house. the basement gets no outside light and he leaves it there, watering it only when it dries out.
When the buds begin to pop, he brings it upstairs, in the house to a still dim, but lit area.
Gradually move it closer to the window over the course of a month and keep it indoors.

when the weather outside gets warm enough, middle or end of may for us, put it back out.

i may be missing some steps in here, so if anyone else can help out, please do.
Chinese elms hate weather under -5.

hope that helps.

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Tiny-Plant

Thanks!

so I should keep it indoors so it does not freeze to death.
But does it need any light from growing lamps or windows? And it ok to keep i close to a window when kept indoors in the winter?

groan

as far as i know, my brother keeps it in the dark until it starts to show signs of budding. then he brings it up to the light.

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Tiny-Plant

i have a fridge, it is +10c all the year and it is dark. Could it then be a good place for my bonsai

groan

hmm, not sure there, we'll have to wait to see if anyone else can help out with that one.

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ripsgreentree

Tiny-Plant: Over wintering is going to be something that you will have to learn from someone who is keeping trees in your climate. You should have a plan in place befor tempratures drop below freezing. Living in central California over wintering is not a real problem. Here is one Idea of something that you can think about. Dig a hole now down to the perma frost. Insulate the bottom of the hole (straw or a sheet of styrophome) when you are ready to protece your trees, place heat tape on top of your insulation and then a little more straw. Use the kind of tape that you would wrap an exposed pipe with to keep it from freezing. Remember you are only trying to keep your trees at 32 degrees, just keep the pots from freezing. decidous trees can be covered with straw and snow until spring. Conifers should have there tops exposed to get some light. The importiant thing is to keep your roots from freezing in the pots. When you think about this advice remember you are talking to someone who will experiance sub zero tempratures only once every 10 years or so, my experiance is very limited.

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Jay

Hi guys.... I am in a cold weather climate, zone 5b/6a. It goes down to the teens F often. We get days below zero from time to time and we do get some in the single digits. My elms winter in my unheated garage. I have them up on a shelf by a north window, although light is not that important during dormancy, I use heat tape as I stated in several posts with discriptions.

The temp probe in the garage last winter showed many days in a row that were in the mid to upper 20's. All my elms did wonderful. This was the second year for acouple of them.... they like to rest over the winter!

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Tiny-Plant

Thanks ripsgreentree ! I will think about it.

But, does zelkovas need same winter placements as chinese elms?


And serissas, they should be inside in winter, right?