How To Bring Your Plants Indoors For Winter

It’s Autumn. You can feel the chill in the air and the days are getting shorter. The leaves of deciduous trees are starting to turn into vibrant golds, oranges, and scarlets. With the onset of cooler weather, you will need to begin planning and preparing to move certain tender plants indoors. Any houseplants that have been “vacationing” outdoors for the summer will appreciate being moved indoors. Here are the steps to take to bring your plants indoors for winter.

When Do I Bring My Plants Indoors?

For most tender plants, especially your rare tropical plants, it’s best to start bringing them indoors when the temperatures start to dip below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit). In Growing Zones 10 or higher, you might be able to get away with leaving your plants outdoors for the entire winter. Some protection (frost cloth) may still be required. However, this is a decision that you would have to make based on your exact geographic location.

I would highly recommend checking the first frost dates for your area and planning around that. Monitoring the weather is critical to ensure that you don’t get caught off-guard by an early freeze.

Why Should I clean my plants?

As many plant enthusiasts are aware, you can’t just bring your plants indoors and introduce them to the rest of your collection without properly cleaning them. The chances of your outdoor plants harboring pests and creepy crawlies are pretty high. You don’t want to spread these pests throughout your entire collection. As the saying goes, “a pound of prevention is worth an ounce of cure.”

Hose Down Your Plants

The first step in the cleaning process is to spray all your plants down with a high pressure hose or a high pressure garden sprayer.

Spray every inch, including the stems, petioles and undersides of the leaves. You may even want to spray or wash off the top layer of soil to remove any potential critters crawling inside.

Spray With Insecticidal Soap

Once the plants have been hosed down, you can spray with insecticidal soap. There are many ways to do this. You can buy pre-made insecticidal soap from local home improvement centers or online. I find that it’s cheaper to make your own. I usually use the same recipe that I use for sanitizing my imported plants.

Again, spray every inch of the plant. To ensure that you kill as many pests as possible, you can repeat this process once a day for the next two or three days.

Repot With Fresh Soil

Some people will choose this time to repot their plants with fresh soil. Keep the pot size the same. Your plant should be slowing its growth in the winter. Slow growth combined with an increased pot size may cause root rot if you overwater.

Repotting your plant now is not usually necessary. Unless the thought of finding an insect in your soil causes you major distress, it’s best to report in the spring when plants are actively growing.

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Soil Recipes:

Aroid Potting Mix

Jewel Orchid Potting Mix

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Prune Your Plants

Pruning off dead plant material is always a good idea, regardless of the season. Remove anything that looks dead or diseased and remove any leaves that are sitting on top of the soil. This will minimize the possibility of pests and disease gaining a foothold.

If you are low on space, you may have to consider pruning your plants to fit them indoors. But overall, I would not recommend pruning your plants at this time. The last thing you really want to do is encourage your plants to start flushing out new growth. Right now, they should be slowing down for the winter, not trying to put out new leaves.

Quarantine Your Plants

If you have the space, quarantining your plants for the next week may be an option you want to consider. This is an extra step that will make sure that your plants are pest-free before introducing them back into your home and along with the rest of your plants.

Bonus Tip: Create a Physical Barrier to the Soil

If you’re concerned about fungus gnats or any insects laying eggs in the soil of your houseplants, you can use a physical barrier to block them. Horticultural sand is very inexpensive and can be found at local big box retailers or online.

Use the sand as a mulch on the soil’s surface. A quarter inch should be enough. This should create a protective barrier that prevents fungus gnats from laying eggs and burrowing into the soil.

Create Ideal Growing Conditions Indoors

Just because you’ve gotten your plants indoors and out of the cold does not mean your duties are complete. Now you have to make certain that your indoor environmental conditions are suitable for your plants.

Here are a few things that you should check or provide for your plants:

• Keep them away from radiators or central heating ducts
• Check drafty windows and doors
• Use a humidifier to increase humidity
• Use heat mats to keep your plants’ roots warm
• If you do not have enough natural sunlight coming in through your windows, supplement with grow lights.

Your plants will likely drop a few leaves as they acclimate to an indoor environment. This should be expected.

Enjoy Your Plants!

When the rain and snow is blowing around your house during the cold, dreary days of winter, enjoy your lush indoor jungle! Being surrounded by beautiful plants and grow lights will help mitigate Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and make your winter season more bearable.

I hope this article was helpful! If you have your own tips on how to bring your plants indoors for the winter, drop them in the comments below.