A dilemma.. what would you do (Alocasia)

[stephenprudence]

I have a hardy Aroid there that still looks in mint condition, it has been in the greenhouse over the course of the winter so far. However today I had an issue with mildew on leaves, due to cold and wet conditions, so I had to deep clean the greenhouse today and leave the door open to allow circulation. However the aroid in question (potentially Alocasia brisbanesis), has been put in the sheltered side driveway border. There it is much warmer than the greenhouse, with a currently top soil temperature of 7-8C, and generally a maximum temperature of 9C by day and 6C by night.

Given I cannot take it inside due to parents, and the garage is out of bounds this year, is it worth planting it in the relatively warm border. It has no chance of getting frost there, and no chance of ice.. it might even push new growth too.

I know people say that there is no sense in planting stuff mid-winter, but given my other option is put it back in a cold, wet greenhouse where mildew is rife, it can't be much worse can it?

What would you do out of those two options?

It won't hurt to plant it.. it's not going to do anything either way, but it will be safer planted in the relatively dry, mild side border?

[greendragon]

I thought Alocasias went dormant under 10*c and therefore rot and die if moist.

[stephenprudence]

Not always it would seem (this is the Alocasia in question)

[Mr List]

if you are confident in you claims of the border, just plant it.

[jezza]

Plant it and bung a bin or something over it when the weather gets too cold or loads of shallots.

[Dave Brown]

It won't be mildew, as that is a cold dry type fungi. More than likely Botrytis, which due to the exceptionally wet weather, is rife anywhere where dead dying vegetation occurs, even on the plants.

If the border is as mild as you say, it would be better off in there, with free airflow. You could also pot plant it to help keep it drier than the surrounding earth.

[stephenprudence]

Pot planting, never thought of that..

Cheers everyone, I'll do this today.. the next week should be fairly mild too, so it wont experience any very cold winds etc.

[Kristen]

Can you put a [cold air] fan in the greenhouse?

Seeing the benefit Dave said his had last Winter I've put one in my conservatory - on a 15 minute [resolution] timer set to 15 minutes per hour in the day and 15 minutes per half hour at night [economy-7 here] and everything in the conservatory looks a lot happier than last year, and its all much more jam-packed this year.

Its drawing 40 watts when running, so about 0.3 kWh per day or about 40 kWh for a 4-month Winter season which I think is about £6.50 in Electricity