Digging up an outdoor plant because of impending frost?

J

jokerlola

Well-Known Member
Can a inground plant be successfully dug up and transferred to a pot to continue to grow? I have one plant that I planted in the ground thinking it would be finished by mid Sept. It is from a possible hermie seed from a plant/strain that I harvested in mid Sept. last year. I had some trouble and didn't get seed germinated and in the ground until late July and it's flowering late because it just wasn't mature enough to start flowering earlier. I don't think it will be ready for harvest before frost comes and I'm trying to think of strategies to bring it to full harvest. Normally I bring my potted plants inside on below 40 degree nights. I'm thinking of buying a cheap plastic greenhouse or possibly digging it up and repotting it so its movable. The plant is not huge. It's about 4 ft tall and 3 ft wide.

Is just covering it with a sheet on cold nights sufficient to get it to harvest?
 
If you're only looking at a possible mild frost... Well, weather can end up being worse than forecasted, so don't take this as any kind of firm advice, lol - but in that case, if it was my plant, I'd probably do some web-searching to see what mainstream gardener's and hobby farmers (people who have few enough plants to be able to personally deal with each) do in that situation, and then try everything. Including adding a thick layer of mulch with a good insulating value not merely out to the drip line, but a few feet more, all the way around the plant. And covering the plant, if I could find something that (again) had some insulating value and wouldn't damage the plant. But I'm kind of paranoid. Some might not do anything, IDK . Will daytime temperatures be significantly warmer than nighttime?

A hard freeze, OtOH, would have me worried.

In a perfect world, you could afford to throw up some kind of shelter around your plant(s) and stick some kind of heater in it. This world, sadly, is not perfect (and, oft times, is not even close).
 
bobrown14 said:
Weather the storm.... calm seas ahead. Gonna be ok.

Harvest season outdoors is end of October if mother nature approves.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately I'm in Colorado (Golden) where the weather can turn on a dime. Last year at this time we had a big snow storm and with my potted plants I was able to bring them inside. In my 4 years of growing, I've had to bring the plants inside every year a few times before harvest when temps dipped down to freezing or near freezing. Last year I harvested my last plants on October 26th. Right now weather looks like it will be good for a while more but we had a non forecasted rain last night and temps did get down to the high 30's right before sunrise.
 
so heres my official disclaimer…. the reader assumes all risks

this is a pro move, and a potentially very dangerous one so pay attention kiddies

water & electricity don’t mix

not gonna help for this year but for next season try and bury a SHORT heat cable in the soil, don’t plug it in until nights with heavy frost warnings

just be sure to unplug the cable before every water session


maybe take a chance with one plant tho not the whole outdoors garden and see how it works
 
013 said:
so heres my official disclaimer…. the reader assumes all risks

this is a pro move, and a potentially very dangerous one so pay attention kiddies

water & electricity don’t mix

not gonna help for this year but for next season try and bury a SHORT heat cable in the soil, don’t plug it in until nights with heavy frost warnings

just be sure to unplug the cable before every water session


maybe take a chance with one plant tho not the whole outdoors garden and see how it works
Click to expand...

Do you have to bury it below the root zone?
 
I was just thinking, it doesn't get all that cold down there, at least before winter seriously sets in, and most of that stuff doesn't kick on until, what, 38°F to 36°F. So it might not do a great deal of good, IDK.
 
I briefly wondered if you meant that a person should wrap heat tape/cable around the trunk of the plant, lol.

Hmm... :D
 
The plants that have adapted to being outside all night at 45 degrees will be hardened off and should handle temps down to 28 F. Below that can get tricky and below 25 might do them in.

jokerlola said:
Is just covering it with a sheet on cold nights sufficient to get it to harvest?
Click to expand...
Might be. Set some stakes in the ground so the sheets do not rest directly on the plant. Throw 2 sheets over the plant so there is a layer of air in between to act as an insulation layer. Heat will radiate up from the soil and be trapped by the sheets.

A layer of snow on top of the sheets will act as insulation until it melts but the snow can be heavy so the stakes have to handle that without snapping.
013 said:
not gonna help for this year but for next season try and bury a SHORT heat cable in the soil, don’t plug it in until nights with heavy frost warnings

just be sure to unplug the cable before every water session
Click to expand...
Down side to this is that some of the 'heat cables' themselves can get up to 150F in order to heat the roofing material to something above 32F. The soil right within an inch or two the cable might get really hot which will cook the roots while the soil several inches away would be the right temp. Also, the prices look like about $50 for a 50 foot roll and I do not think that the cable can be cut to shorter lengths. Might need an electrician to rewire the cut end.

Someone here, about 2 years ago, was thinking of using this cable to heat the pots of soil he was growing plants in since they were in an unheated shed or garage. I don't remember reading that it went anywhere after he started pricing the stuff.

jokerlola said:
Unfortunately I'm in Colorado (Golden) where the weather can turn on a dime.
Click to expand...
If you were in Michigan or most of the other states you probably would not have to worry. But Colorado Rocky Mountain areas do get some heavy snow and cold nights early in the season. Then it warms up and everything is OK for awhile. You are going to have to decide if it is worth trying to dig that plant up, probably a loosing bet, or whether the overnight temps will stay above 28F.

There is a sub-forum just for Colorado on this message board. Might be able to pose the question there and see if other growers in the state have experience with the Rocky Mountain nights. Seems to me the weather in Golden was way different than Denver which was not as extreme from one day or night to the next.
 
Great info SmokingWings, you always bring it! There are a variety of heating cable types (under floor, under roof, under concrete snow melt, livestock mats etc) but was thinking more about the ones for water pipes.

around here they come precut like 6 foot or 12 foot lengths. However some new ones have wire braiding on exterior and can be cut to desired length at Lowes and you just pop end cap on 1 end the other gets a 120 volt 2 wire screw terminal with pigtail to plug into standard wall outlets

Granted I don’t live in a colder northern climate so the idea itself might be hair brained. I wouldn’t advise doing whole outdoor garden but testing the waters on a plant or two.
 
jokerlola said:
Unfortunately I'm in Colorado (Golden) where the weather can turn on a dime. Last year at this time we had a big snow storm and with my potted plants I was able to bring them inside. In my 4 years of growing, I've had to bring the plants inside every year a few times before harvest when temps dipped down to freezing or near freezing. Last year I harvested my last plants on October 26th. Right now weather looks like it will be good for a while more but we had a non forecasted rain last night and temps did get down to the high 30's right before sunrise.
Click to expand...
We live high on a mountain here in Upstate NY - know about weather and changes.

I let it roll. Same with pests outdoors. I do nothing.... wait it out harvest when the plants are ready.

Best thing to do it plant in a container if moving indoors is your thing. Personally I wont bring plants indoors that have been outside all summer. That likely will lead to my indoor flower room getting contaminated with some unforeseen pest or 3. Forgetaboutit. I've done it and regretted it after the pests took over.

You cant dig up a plant in flower.

Best thing would be to construct a temporary shelter that will keep the snow off the plant should it snow early. The cold temps say below 30F wil burn the fan leaves. The flower will be fine with a few cold nights.
 
When I was growing outdoors in SW CO (San Juans), I used black 5 gallon buckets full of water, which would heat up during the day and keep the plants warm enough through the night - if the plants are covered with freeze cloth (not touching - suspended above and over sides). Don’t use plastic sheeting - the condensate from the buckets will drip on the plants.
 
bobrown14 said:
We live high on a mountain here in Upstate NY - know about weather and changes.

I let it roll. Same with pests outdoors. I do nothing.... wait it out harvest when the plants are ready.

Best thing to do it plant in a container if moving indoors is your thing. Personally I wont bring plants indoors that have been outside all summer. That likely will lead to my indoor flower room getting contaminated with some unforeseen pest or 3. Forgetaboutit. I've done it and regretted it after the pests took over.

You cant dig up a plant in flower.

Best thing would be to construct a temporary shelter that will keep the snow off the plant should it snow early. The cold temps say below 30F wil burn the fan leaves. The flower will be fine with a few cold nights.
Click to expand...

bobrown14 said:
We live high on a mountain here in Upstate NY - know about weather and changes.

I let it roll. Same with pests outdoors. I do nothing.... wait it out harvest when the plants are ready.

Best thing to do it plant in a container if moving indoors is your thing. Personally I wont bring plants indoors that have been outside all summer. That likely will lead to my indoor flower room getting contaminated with some unforeseen pest or 3. Forgetaboutit. I've done it and regretted it after the pests took over.

You cant dig up a plant in flower.

Best thing would be to construct a temporary shelter that will keep the snow off the plant should it snow early. The cold temps say below 30F wil burn the fan leaves. The flower will be fine with a few cold nights.
Click to expand...
So you think digging up plant in flower would be too stressful on plant? We hopefully will continue to have mild weather through Oct. but I will just try covering the plant like you do with tomatoes if we do get below 32 temps.
 
jokerlola said:
So you think digging up plant in flower would be too stressful on plant? We hopefully will continue to have mild weather through Oct. but I will just try covering the plant like you do with tomatoes if we do get below 32 temps.
Click to expand...
Lifting a morning cup of coffee to you and your outdoor grow while I've been sitting here planning out how to do a similar transplant and move for a plant in flower if I wanted to do the same sort of thing. In the end, covering the plant is probably best and easiest. Plus the least amount of stress on you as the gardener.

So, I am sitting here figuring out how to pull it off and I realize that part of the stress would be on our heart when we try to lift that pot of soil. Then our blood pressure goes up some more since it will seem like the plant is swaying every which direction each time we take a step or two as we move it from one spot to another.

I have done a similar transplant moving a plant just starting to go into flowering but about 1/2 the size of yours. Went from in the ground and into a large container. It can be done but it takes planning. Yes, it was fun planning it out, doing the prep and then the actual transplant. Took about a month to pull it all off what with pruning the branches to bring it down to a size I wanted it and then the occasional root pruning. The actual transplanting from the garden to the new container took about an hour.

Is there a container large to put it in? The plant is about 3 foot wide so the drip line is a circle 3 foot across. Since it is in the soil there are roots growing out past the drip line and those will have to be cut (root pruned) but the question is just where to cut. Is the drip line circle going to be 3 feet which means a pot about 3 foot wide?

Right now the plant is about 4 foot high. Gotta figure that after the plant is put into a new container it will be the original 4 foot above the soil line plus now the 18 inches up to 24 inches of the pot itself which means a new height of 5 1/2 to 6 foot.
 
FelipeBlu said:
Sounds like too much work!
:thedoubletake:

4 posts and freeze cloth seems a lot easier..
:surf:
Click to expand...
This ^^^ 420% digging a few post holes.. will be enough work for me.

We getting 40ish degree nights now... ladies are looking a little sadder at sun up. Hope for an Indian Summer here.
 

Similar threads

D
Outdoor Growing @ 9000' Rocky Mtns
Replies
1
Views
1K
Captain Kronic
Captain Kronic
sorcerer13
Outdoor Grow And Frost
Replies
6
Views
674
bobrown14
bobrown14
J
Could my plants be ready for harvest already?
Replies
13
Views
1K
jokerlola
J
D
Pygmy pot plants
Replies
6
Views
341
BeanTownFan420
BeanTownFan420
Gixer86
Outdoor weed
Replies
2
Views
459
Gixer86
Gixer86
Back
Top Bottom