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Bringing Plants Indoors for Winter Checklist

Easy 23 items · 1 hour
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testuser Published 1 week ago
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Most houseplants that spent the summer on a patio are tropical, and they do not wait for frost to suffer. Many start to struggle once nights fall below about 50°F (10°C), which in a lot of places is weeks before the first frost.

Whether you carry in a few pots from a balcony or clear a whole porch, the steps are the same, from the last week or two outdoors to the first weeks inside.

Spend most of the time on pests. Aphids, mealybugs and spider mites that were kept in check outdoors can spread to every plant in the house once they are inside, so the new arrivals spend two weeks apart from the rest before they join them.

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  1. Check the overnight lows in your forecast — Bring tropical plants in before nights drop below about 50°F (10°C).
  2. Decide which plants come in and which you will let go — Potted annuals are rarely worth the window space. Keep the perennials and anything hard to replace.
  3. Pick an indoor spot for each plant before you move anything — Most need the brightest window you have. A south or west window, or a grow light, suits plants that flowered outside.
  4. Check which of your plants are toxic to cats or dogs — The ASPCA keeps a searchable list. Put those plants where pets cannot reach them.
  5. Move the plants into shade outdoors for a week or two first — The leaves get used to lower light before they come in, so fewer of them drop.
  6. Inspect every plant for pests — Look under the leaves, where leaves join the stem, and on the soil surface. Scale shows up as small brown bumps on stems.
  7. Hose down the leaves, tops and undersides
  8. Soak each pot in a tub of lukewarm water for about 15 minutes — Ants, slugs and insects living in the soil come up or leave.
  9. Treat any plant that has pests with insecticidal soap — Follow the label and test it on a few leaves first.
  10. Leave behind any plant with a heavy infestation
  11. Cut off dead leaves and trim back leggy growth — Take off no more than about a third of the plant.
  12. Clear fallen leaves and debris off the soil
  13. Scrub the outside of each pot and check the drainage hole is clear
  14. Put a saucer under every pot — Add a cork mat under terracotta, which lets water seep through its walls and can mark a wooden floor.
  15. Take cuttings of plants grown as annuals that you want to keep, such as coleus or geraniums — Root them in a small pot of moist potting mix, or coleus in a glass of water on a windowsill. They take far less room than the whole plant.
  16. Keep the plants you brought in apart from your other houseplants for two weeks — Pests missed on the first check show up in that time, before they can spread.
  17. Check them for pests again after one week
  18. Keep plants away from heat vents, radiators and cold drafty glass
  19. Water less than you did outdoors — Water only when the top inch of soil is dry. Plants grow slowly in winter light, and overwatering is a common cause of winter losses.
  20. Stop feeding most plants until new growth starts in spring
  21. Raise the humidity around tropical plants — Group them together or stand them on a tray of wet pebbles. Heated rooms are often dry.
  22. Turn each pot a quarter turn every week or two — That stops the plant leaning toward the window.
  23. Expect some leaves to drop in the first few weeks — A plant moved from outdoor light to indoor light often sheds a few leaves, and a ficus is known for it. Keep the care steady rather than moving it again.
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