Miss
becomes hit as we overwinter a jade in darkness
My crown of thorns, stapelias and the largest jade plant
stayed out all summer, through all that rain, and prospered like
never before. Never saw them looking so good. It's always going to
be hard to convince me now that they can easily be overwatered
except in winter.
(You wrote) about someone who overwinters a jade in the
root cellar. I have maybe a dozen offspring, little jades with
rosettes of leaves, as well as the mom plant. Can I really keep
them in a cool, dark place for the next four or five months? Not as
cool or dark, I bet, as where I store the elephant-ear bulbs. But
I'm very curious about this, mostly because it would ease my
temptation to care for them too much in the cold months. What's the
scoop on this root-cellar thing, especially light and temp? - B.C.
-
We inadvertently mis-led you when we wrote Jade comes
indoors...
"Those wintering in a friend's dark, cool root cellar will
probably go the whole winter without water."
Sorry! And thank you for calling it to our attention.
Those jade trees are in the cellar, left to their own devices
all winter, but regarding light: Our friend does leave one
fluorescent fixture on down there, 24-7. With that one light for
the whole cellar, it's darker than outdoors or a bright room but
not pitch dark. It stays about 50-55F. The plants get no water
until about March when they seem to be waking up and beginning to
grow again.
The temperature's the key, and the reason we think most modern
basements won't work. Insulated basements that are included in the
home heating system are too darned warm. What works is the old
fashioned root cellar where Aunt Mel or granny would stash bare
root geraniums in a box or bag, right next to the onions and
carrots.
(Larger please!)
Above: A root cellar: Room or closet you enter through a
thick door in the basement wall, which is not heated nor is it
under a heated room.
Below: The root cellar may be a room under a hill,
independent of the house. Such storage rooms were common and
important before the age of modern refrigeration. Here, the door to
such a room in the hill behind an 1800's farm house, Ann
Arbor, Michigan. (More)
In a root cellar where it's cool and moist -- around 50°F and
50% humidity -- cold forces plants to rest, without dehydrating
them. Growth stops, and the plants use little energy. What they
need to get by they draw from internal reserves, like an animal in
hibernation. With spring warm up, the need for light and water
returns.
We're almost certain that someone we knew did indeed simply put
the jade in his unheated, dirt floor cellar and close the door
until spring. His geraniums and Brugmansia stayed there,
too. However, he's long gone so we can't verify whether he made any
special concession for the jade, like putting it near the one
window.
So, we've asked help from C.F., a root cellar owner who turns on
the light in that room only when stocking or retrieving canned
goods or 'taters. He'll put a jade plant into the cellar -- or maybe just a
jade branch, since we have jade pruning to do we
all know that Crassula branches can be revived even after
months of lying around on the ground -- close the door, and let us
know what's left in March. Stay tuned.