Winter is the time for various greenhouse tasks. Use this list to aid you in caring for your greenhouse plants in the winter.
- Water plants sparingly in cold weather and avoid wetting foliage.
- Open ventilators for a short period on frost-free and fog-free days to prevent the air from stagnating.
- Make sure heaters are working properly and monitor temperature levels with a maximum-minimum thermometer.
- Keep insulation materials securely in place and have newspapers, blankets or fleece handy for covering plants in extreme weather, especially in unheated greenhouses.
- Remove dead flowers and leaves, diseased plants and mildewed cuttings to keep healthy plants free from infection.
- Check for vine weevils if any of your plants suddenly collapse.
- Inspect stored bulbs and tubers to make sure that they are still sound.
- Continue to bring potted bulbs in from outdoors as they show signs of growth and flower buds.
- Pot up Amaryllis and restart older bulbs.
- Continue potting up lilies (Lilium) for early flowers.
- Prune indoor grape vines (Vitis) and lower their stems.
- Prune greenhouse climbers and tie in any new stems.
- Start under glass fruit trees such as apricots (Prunus armeniaca) for early fruit; hand-pollinate once flowers appear.
- Bring in potted strawberries (Fragaria × ananassa) and rhubarb (Rheum) crowns for forcing.
- From midwinter, sow greenhouse flowers such as Begonia and Gloxinia, and the first half-hardy annuals.
- Start Begonia and Gloxinia tubers in trays for a supply of cuttings.
- Sow half-hardy annuals and early vegetables in pots or trays.
- Sow lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and radish (Raphanus sativus) in the greenhouse border if you have one. Sow tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) seeds in pots in mid-February for planting under glass in early April.
- Cut down greenhouse Chrysanthemum and encourage new growth for cuttings.
The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc./GID
Continue planting lilies to be grown in the greenhouse for early-blooming flowers.
