Plants doing well overwintering indoors

[Dave Brown]

I give plants varying degrees of protection during the winter but some, manily non drippers I manage to sneak indoors. Bananas are banned as are Colocasia as they drip gallons when happy.

Here are some of the happy ones. I think they are happier than normal as the temperatures have not been high indoors, so no sign of Red spider mite yet

Here is Heliconia schiedeana

Begonia luxurians

[Adam D]

What are "drippers" Dave? Never heard of that term before.

[Dave Brown]

They are plants that drip water from the edges of the leaves when watered and humidity is higher at night. They ruined a solid oak nest of tables and TV cabinet. The Wife has never forgiven me

[Nigel Fear]

My crime is forgetting to put the pot on a saucer.
Wish I kept my Begonia going indoors though, looking at yours...

[Simba]

Wish I kept my Begonia going indoors though, looking at yours...

Seconded...I thought they hated being indoors....

[Dave Brown]

Beginia lux goes through a mega strop, crisps the edges of leaves and drops a few.... then says "oh well, lets get on with this, and it grows

The plants are under an daylight flourescent desklamp for about 10 hours. Then on the window sill for daylight so is getting about 20 hours light although the lamp is only about 600 lux.

[GREVILLE]

My wife bans the drippers, too, but I am allowed the Collie Black Beauty on the bathroom window next to her magnificent Spathyfillum. (Easy, because I bought it for her!)

A number of potted palms come inside to cool rooms after being left outside as long as possible in the Autumn. A bit of a dare, as most of these are tropical. They seem to do very well with the increased humidity and don't mind the cooler temperatures. Keeping them in cooler rooms maintains their good looks while they go dormant. No pests or browning tips. In the new year they are shifted to a warmer room with as much sunshine as possible.

These have done well for me for a number of years:
Dypsis Decaryi, Ptychosperma Elegans, Ravanea Rivularis, Hyophorbe Lagenicaulis, Lytocaryum Wedellianum, Phoenix Robellinii and chamaedorea varieties including cataractum, metallica, Glauca, Seifrizii and Elegans.

[Simba]

These have done well for me for a number of years:
Dypsis Decaryi, Ptychosperma Elegans, Ravanea Rivularis, Hyophorbe Lagenicaulis, Lytocaryum Wedellianum, Phoenix Robellinii and chamaedorea varieties including cataractum, metallica, Glauca, Seifrizii and Elegans.

You must have both accommodation rooms and accommodating wife....

[Las Palmas Norte]

After numerous indignities from previous years, I moved Ravenea rivularis indoors this winter to a corner spot in the livingroom. I use a fan to circulate air and every once in a while a misting. Also, Cocos nucifera doing quite well dispite most reports of being a poor indoor candidate.

Cheers, Barrie.

[Mr List]

i'm just wondering with the rising prices if it would be cheaper to replace the plants than pay the electric bill

[musa_monkey]

i'm just wondering with the rising prices if it would be cheaper to replace the plants than pay the electric bill

in some cases your probably right but it does depend on the plants and the power cost.
For instance i have circa 20 small plants indoors (frangipani,bananas, brugs, palms, nepenthes) under a 24w full spectrum power saving lamp.
At 9.15p per kwh (my current rate) that costs £1.58 per month to run if its on 24/7

I find the light from these bulbs more than good enough to keep plants ticking over until spring so for me they are cost effective and avoid plod knocking at the door asking what your growing

[Dave Brown]

i'm just wondering with the rising prices if it would be cheaper to replace the plants than pay the electric bill

Ken , the Begonia luxurians was £9.50 and was only available from Hill House Nusery, in Devon Last year Delivery is about £10.50 for half a dozen plants, as come by courier. The Caryota mitis varigata is rarer than hens teeth, so could not put a price on it.

The other thing is electricity is energy, so some of what is given off is heat, unless you vent this heat away is goes into heating your house. If like me you are electrically heated, then you would have to turn the heaters up to compensate. If you have gas heating on a thermostat, not using the electricity will mean your boiler will switch on more often, so not as much of a saving as you might think in winter.

[JungleNuts]

We have a collie (Black Magic) indoors this year ..... and seems to still be alive, chucking out the occasional very small leaf ...... though not sure if this is a good or bad sign, we are just keeping the watering down to absolute minimum (as in pretty much no water at all !) and keeping fingers crossed ....

On a lighter note, the caryota seem to be doing ok .... although you could argue that these are more inclined to be house plants anyways

[Panama Pete]

I have three bananas (huge) or were....being housed in my mum and dads porch. They seemed to get infested in green fly like you wouldnt believe. I popped up for dinner this week and my dad chopped all the leaves off apart from the centre ones....At least i have the stump i guess! lol

[sanatic1234]

TOUCH WOOD!! not one of my banana plants have been effected by green fly, but my alocasia had a small problem but thats all done with now