I have a question about repotting. I see that Mirai is kicking off the repoting season these days. I live in Norway, but I keep all me trees in a heated greenhouse during the winter season with a stable temperatur around 37-39 farenheit( 3-4 degrees celsius). The daylight are increaing every week and at this time of year our daylight length is from 9:00am-16:30 pm.
Is it safe to start repoting most species at this time of year here in Norway as long as they are keept in the heated greenhouse?
Yes, as long as you can protect the trees and make sure the temperature stays above freezing there’s no reason you couldn’t start repotting. On the other hand, it won’t benefit the tree to do an early repot, the tree will stay dormant until daylight length and temps start increasing when spring comes. I think the main reason for Ryan to start repotting this early is that he needs to extend the repotting window as much as possible in order to get all the work done. As you can’t extend the repotting window at the end, because it’s damn hard to stop growth from starting once the conditions are right, the only option is to extend in the beginning, i.e. starting earlier.
I’m in the same situation here in the UK with winter greenhouse care C2-8’, the buds are swelling on most things inside and out here in the garden as we have had weeks of +10c daytime temp but just had 3 frosty nights.
If the plant is showing you it’s ready then that’s the best option but as long as it’s protected and monitored you should be good to go👍
I’ve been popping anything freshly reppoted on a heat bed or mat to cosy them in and start repairing cut/damaged roots.
Problem here is that I do not have a heated greenhouse. So if we get a late cold spell the unseated sheds would not provide sufficient protection against the cold. At the same time buds are starting to push on some trees already … . Debating myself if I should start re-potting them.
Can you provide supplemental heat to one of the unheated sheds? I use a 1500 W portable heater on a thermostat to keep my 4.5 x 9 m (13 x 28 ft) greenhouse above freezing. So far it has been more than adequate to about 15F (-9C) with some snow on the roof. I also have a larger propane heater that I can turn on if it gets cold. Still collecting detailed data to guide my decisions about the extra heat, but I have not done any repotting yet so if it dips a bit below freezing I am not concerned.
That is exactly the problem. I did not have the time last year to properly prepare those, so there is no chance of getting any heat in there. One is attached to the house though, so i believe that should stay above freezing.
I am just concerned with the mild temperatures currently and the ume already pushing buds / close to flowering. So also w/o re-potting a cold spell would be very problematic.
I’ve been using the heated seed mats pretty successfully with them covered in a 10mm of bark to judge moisture levels, they definitely take the chill of anything freshly reppoted withing 4-8 hours and then you’ve got the watch the watering.
Handy as it’s not a fixed system and I have some sharing a mats which stoll work well. Cheap flexible alternative but would need a good day to get the heat built up.
Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately my issue is rather the space, so I only am able to place the trees on tops of things etc… And with the heater I would run the risk of burning the thing down. Need to prepare the shed better for next years winter season.
Need to see if I build a semi movable heated.