Winterizing trees?

Sky

This is my first year in bonsai, What sort of environment should I be keeping my trees in over the winter (dec - apr). I know bonsai trees should be kept outdoors but I am in canada and it drops to -40 celcius (which is also -40f, coincidently) through those months.

My thought is my trees in containers will turn into a block of ice. Do I keep them indoors? I know they need a dormancy cold snap but i think that's just TOO cold for such young trees, most are in training from a 1 gallon pot this year. so far I have several conifers and some JRM seedlings

Sky.

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farrlinzee

Sky, You must protect your trees from those conditions. I'll leave it to locals to offer advice. As a student in Boston in the seventies I wintered my bonsai in a rooftop glasshouse without heat with disasterous results. Here in australia we don't have those problems. Listen to local advice is best.
cheers
Lindsay Farr

TreeBay

Brrr. Yeah I'd say you need to get some serious advice from a local, both on winterizing technique and species recommendations. I will leave the particulars for those of you who have some actual winters.

Wouldn't be surprised if the answer involves space heaters and Prestone

Regards,

Matt

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cbobgo

It's June - do we have to start talking about winter already? ;-)

You will need to construct a cold frame - some sort of insulated house to protect your trees from the cold and wind. Ideally the inside temp should be between 15 and 40 degrees (F), and consistent. Temp fluctuations, even within that range are a problem. You don't want the trees to repeatedly freeze and thaw. So you should try to keep them between 15-30 or 32-40. Probably the lower range would be easier given your local.

The specifics on how to build it are not that important. You can build it out of anything, as long as you can regulate the temp. You also will need to be able to get in there to water the trees periodically, if they are above freezing temp.

Here's an article for you to read.

Brent's winter article

- bob

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