I have some nominally hardy Hedychiums, and need to decide how to
store them over winter. It would be easiest just to dig them into
the earth in the polytunnel and ignore them, but does it matter if
they dry out more-or-less completely?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 13/12/18 10:52, Nick Maclaren wrote:
I have some nominally hardy Hedychiums, and need to decide how to
store them over winter. It would be easiest just to dig them into
the earth in the polytunnel and ignore them, but does it matter if
they dry out more-or-less completely?

I don't know. Could you perhaps give them a little water once every few
weeks or so?

I grow Hedychium densiflorum "Assam Orange" and it has always been happy
in the ground outside over winter. And that ground, at times, has been
very wet - even waterlogged. On the other hand, with the drought last
summer they must have got very dry for weeks on end. Maybe they are just
very tolerant of soil water content.

--

Jeff

In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

I have some nominally hardy Hedychiums, and need to decide how to
store them over winter. It would be easiest just to dig them into
the earth in the polytunnel and ignore them, but does it matter if
they dry out more-or-less completely?

I don't know. Could you perhaps give them a little water once every few
weeks or so?

I grow Hedychium densiflorum "Assam Orange" and it has always been happy
in the ground outside over winter. And that ground, at times, has been
very wet - even waterlogged. On the other hand, with the drought last
summer they must have got very dry for weeks on end. Maybe they are just
very tolerant of soil water content.

Thanks very much. Can you remind me how cold your garden gets (or
where it is)?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 13/12/18 13:16, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

I have some nominally hardy Hedychiums, and need to decide how to
store them over winter. It would be easiest just to dig them into
the earth in the polytunnel and ignore them, but does it matter if
they dry out more-or-less completely?

I don't know. Could you perhaps give them a little water once every few
weeks or so?

I grow Hedychium densiflorum "Assam Orange" and it has always been happy
in the ground outside over winter. And that ground, at times, has been
very wet - even waterlogged. On the other hand, with the drought last
summer they must have got very dry for weeks on end. Maybe they are just
very tolerant of soil water content.

Thanks very much. Can you remind me how cold your garden gets (or
where it is)?

South Central Hampshire, so a /bit/ warmer than yours! But I also grew
them outside in the Sussex Weald several years ago, where there were
some nights down to -8 or even -10. Last year a couple of times we got
down to -6 deg C, but that was exceptional. Usually we get a few days
below zero, but I can't believe there is any deep frost penetration.
Mind you, it looks to me that their rhizomes are pretty much on the
surface, so the frost wouldn't need to penetrate deeply to affect them.

--

Jeff

On 13/12/2018 13:16, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

I have some nominally hardy Hedychiums, and need to decide how to
store them over winter. It would be easiest just to dig them into
the earth in the polytunnel and ignore them, but does it matter if
they dry out more-or-less completely?

I don't know. Could you perhaps give them a little water once every few
weeks or so?

I grow Hedychium densiflorum "Assam Orange" and it has always been happy
in the ground outside over winter. And that ground, at times, has been
very wet - even waterlogged. On the other hand, with the drought last
summer they must have got very dry for weeks on end. Maybe they are just
very tolerant of soil water content.

Thanks very much. Can you remind me how cold your garden gets (or
where it is)?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


Nick, I dont let my pot fulls dry out completely and of course most are
outside in the wet ground, what we find is they are normally OK but
after a hard frost event (-9c or worse) the tubers near the surface go
to mush and the plant takes a season to recover, remembering to give a
generous mulch in the winter avoids that problem.

--
Charlie Pridham
Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk

In article ,
Charlie Pridham wrote:

Nick, I dont let my pot fulls dry out completely and of course most are
outside in the wet ground, what we find is they are normally OK but
after a hard frost event (-9c or worse) the tubers near the surface go
to mush and the plant takes a season to recover, remembering to give a
generous mulch in the winter avoids that problem.

Thanks to both of you. If it's a serious winter, mulching isn't a
solution here, as the ground freezes at least an inch or two down.
In the 1980s, it was 6", fairly regularly. I shall try to keep them
dryish but not dry and buried in the soil in the polytunnel.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 13 Dec 2018 10:52, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:

I have some nominally hardy Hedychiums, and need to decide how to
store them over winter. It would be easiest just to dig them into
the earth in the polytunnel and ignore them, but does it matter if
they dry out more-or-less completely?


Don't see why not. I have H greenii and whilst the clump in the garden
stay where they are covered only by the dead stems and leaves after the
first frost those I keep as insurance in the greenhouse hardly get
watered.
--
Regards
Bob Hobden