Winterizing potted plants

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boss13

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So I have two hop plants in large containers that I am afraid will not make the winter if I just leave them. I am in MN and we get temperatures to the -30s in winter. My garage is detached and not insulated. Should I attempt to move the pots into the basement of the house? Or cover them under a lot of leaves under the deck, or just put them into the garage?

I did some searching but couldn't really pinpoint if any of these actually work with the low MN temperatures in mind.

Thanks
 
Your rhizomes should have no problem with the temps

From the HBT Wiki:

"Beginning at the first frost, the hop bine will begin to naturally die back to the ground. Only the rhizome survives over the winter. Until the first frost, you should leave your hops standing, as they are still storing energy in the rhizome for the winter. However, with a healthy plant, you may want to cut some bines early to use as wreath cores or for other decorative purposes, since once the bines die they will quickly become brown and brittle.

After the first frost, preparing the bines for winter is straightforward:

* Cut the bines down to the ground and compost or discard them. Be careful where you place them, however; almost any large, live section of stem will sprout in the spring.
* Add fertilizer or manure to each hill. The hop bine's explosive growth can exhaust the nutrients of the surrounding soil.
* Cover each hill with a generous portion of mulch to protect the roots over the winter, especially in colder climates. "
 
naiek said:
Your rhizomes should have no problem with the temps

From the HBT Wiki:

"Beginning at the first frost, the hop bine will begin to naturally die back to the ground. Only the rhizome survives over the winter. Until the first frost, you should leave your hops standing, as they are still storing energy in the rhizome for the winter. However, with a healthy plant, you may want to cut some bines early to use as wreath cores or for other decorative purposes, since once the bines die they will quickly become brown and brittle.

After the first frost, preparing the bines for winter is straightforward:

* Cut the bines down to the ground and compost or discard them. Be careful where you place them, however; almost any large, live section of stem will sprout in the spring.
* Add fertilizer or manure to each hill. The hop bine's explosive growth can exhaust the nutrients of the surrounding soil.
* Cover each hill with a generous portion of mulch to protect the roots over the winter, especially in colder climates. "
Click to expand...



But does that apply to plants in pots?
 
You could do the same, cover the pot surface with straw or mulch. That will provide some nice insulation over the winter.

Or you could just bring the pot in the garage once you start seeing freezing temperatures.
 
If the pots are not that large where you can handle them you can dig a hole in the ground and put the whole pot in it and then cover it up with straw/mulch to insulate. I would recommend this if your garage is typically as cold as outside:)
 
We have about 200 potted plants going into this winter. We trenched a row with a potato plow and put the pots into the row. Before winter actually hits, I will put topsoil over each pot. In the spring I'll dig up the pots and plant or sell them. I would plant some of them now, but we can't find a decent price on poles.

If you bury your pots you'll be fine. Or just mound up dirt around them without burying them. I guess it depends on how big the pots are.
 
Hops are considered a zone 3-4 plant which is -30 to -35. Your area is right at that zone. I would bury the pots and mulch heavily with shredded leaves. By heavily, I mean a wheelbarrow sized pile because by spring they will have packed way down from the weight of the snow. You would be surprised how much warmer you can keep the soil by adding a pile of leaves.

A garage would also work as the plants would be a zone or 2 warmer.
 
I have some potted plant questions. This is my first attempt at growing hops. I bought 2 crowns and a cascade plant. I have a yard that's heavily wooded but over the winter I will be filling alot of trees to play a grass yard come spring. Anyways I live in Georgia so our winters never get below freezing unless it's at night and only barely below. Anyway I just got the plant today it's a little thing so implanted it in a pot. What do I do next??

View attachment 80466

I think I'm going transplant once spring comes and go with this approach


image-2012210364.jpg
 
My bines have experienced several Ohio winters uncovered and above ground (not as harsh as MN winter, I know) and I have not had any problems with them. In a garage, I would worry about them drying out. Would it be easier to make a wooden box around them, and fill it with leaves? No digging, you can reuse the boxes and you have a place to store leaves all winter! Not to mention the nutrients you would be adding to your potted bines. Just a thought.
 
I've got mine in 5-gallon buckets, and I leave them outside all winter. I top up the buckets with leaves in the fall, and set them by the garage. No worries! Those suckers are hardy.
 
So these look okay. They are planted in merciless grow potting mix. I'm afraid they may not get enough sun. Also afraid to water to much. I have two crowns coming tomorrow do I plant them the same way?
 

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