Over-Wintering Dunstans in Pots

[Jayber]

Pulled a couple of first yr Dunstans out of the ground this fall and put them in pots. Had them on my front porch for awhile to let them go dormant. The leaves never did drop, but it's been cold for some time so I'm almost certain they're dormant by now. Wondering if anyone has a suggested method and place that I can store them this winter? I was thinking of wrapping them with some moving blankets and storing them in my (unheated) shed OR I could put them in my basement. Not sure if the later would be too warm to cause them to revive even if they were left covered?? Appreciate thoughts on this.

 

[Tap]

I'm interested to hear input, too.
I helped my buddy remove several hundred Dunstan from starter pots last week. He put them in a rotted tree-chip pile. It is basically composted tree chips from the shredder. He plans to surround the cluster of trees with burlap to reduce wind burn. We will plant them next spring. I hope we are wintering them properly.

SW Pa

 

[Jayber]

Central MN here, which I believe is Zone 4a

 

[yoderjac]

I won't make a specific recommendation for your zone. Containerized trees do the best if the tops are kept cool enough so they don't break dormancy early and the roots don't freeze hard. The methods to achieve this that work in my zone may not work in yours so I'll let others in your zone speak to that.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[H20fwler]

They hang on to their dead leaves a long time like white oaks, early last winter I moved a few potted ones up close to garage and covered pots in thick straw and they woke up fine.

 

[Jayber]

They hang on to their dead leaves a long time like white oaks, early last winter I moved a few potted ones up close to garage and covered pots in thick straw and they woke up fine.

I'm outside the suppliers zone recommendation.

 

[H20fwler]

You're lucky the critters didn't get them. The straw against the house is a perfect invite for them to setup shop.

I live in town.

 

[Jayber]

We've been in the teens for the past week and single digits for highs forecasted for next week. I think my days of digging in the ground are over for some time now. Maybe I'll wrap them up and find a space in my garage since it's typically less cold in there. I was told they should be able to survive cold down around -20.

 

[H20fwler]

So no mice in your neighborhood ?

I guess I don't understand growing seedlings all year pampering them and then taking a chance of them getting damaged by mice/voles or cold damaged in the winter?

Last winter I had a stick of cut maple firewood left on my lawn by accident. The voles found it and stripped all of the bark off from it. The stick was less than 10' from my fenced seedlings. Over the last 10 years I've read of hundreds of cases on habitat forums where members lost unprotected seedlings or trees to mice/voles or critters. I've never read of any getting damaged that were protected.

Never had an issue with anything bothering any of my stuff over winter at the house, haven't seen any mice in the neighborhood either? Lots of squirrels/chipmunks and a few bunnies. Did have a rabbit nip off some hazelnuts and a pear tree this past summer and I to put wire around it.

 

[Tap]

I guess I don't understand growing seedlings all year pampering them and then taking a chance of them getting damaged by mice/voles or cold damaged in the winter?

Last winter I had a stick of cut maple firewood left on my lawn by accident. The voles found it and stripped all of the bark off from it. The stick was less than 10' from my fenced seedlings. Over the last 10 years I've read of hundreds of cases on habitat forums where members lost unprotected seedlings or trees to mice/voles or critters. I've never read of any getting damaged that were protected.

Count me as one of those cases. I lost a few hundred dollars in pear and crabs to rodents last winter. And some of those trees were in tubes. I've come to distrust tubes. I don't know how many trees I've lost in tubes over the years because mice got inside and made a cozy nest...with a handy meal of tree bark without ever having to leave home.

So, which rodents will actually tunnel and destroy roots, and which rodents (I presume mice) stay above the ground surface? I've seen countless tunnels underneath weed barrier cloth with girdling right at, and right below the graft.

I'm really getting weary of fighting varmints. Tubes haven't worked very well for me, even deer destroy tubes. So I cage trees...but cages don't keep the little varmints out. But now I'm caging to deter deer and then wrapping the bottom of young trunks with hardware cloth or metal window screen. Then there is the maintenance of keeping weeds (and wasps) inside the cage (and in the tubes, too) under control, so I put weed barrier cloth down, but voles (?) tunnel under the cloth. Frustrating.

 

[Jayber]

How many and how large are they?

You could get a plastic tub and some potting soil and bury the roots in the soil , put the cover on and place the tub in your garage. If you get down to the -15 to -30 range you could move the tub to your basement (is it heated? What is the temperature?) or bundle the tub up. Just storing them in your shed/garage could let the roots to dry out and they'd be unprotected from mice. I did this with white oak acorns two years ago and didn't lose any. I had 100 3" seedlings ready for spring planting.

Me likes this idea!! :-)

I only have (2), one ~3' and the other 5.5'. Both are doable in a tub or two. Thanks for idea!!

 

[Jayber]

Get a large garbage can. 2 bags of potting soil.

How deep in the soil should the roots be then, covered but not buried or half way down? And I'm assuming there's no watering at all during their stay there?

 

[Jayber]

Hopefully this does the trick! Transplanted them on Sat, added a little moisture.
Last night it was 12F outside, 32 in the garage.