Bringing Plants Indoors for Winter Checklist

23 items · Home · Easy difficulty · 1 hour

Bring potted plants in before nights drop below about 50°F (10°C). Check and clean them for pests, keep them apart for two weeks, then water less.

• Check the overnight lows in your forecast

  Bring tropical plants in before nights drop below about 50°F (10°C).

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Hose down the leaves, tops and undersides
• 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.

• Treat any plant that has pests with insecticidal soap

  Follow the label and test it on a few leaves first.

• Leave behind any plant with a heavy infestation
• Cut off dead leaves and trim back leggy growth

  Take off no more than about a third of the plant.

• Clear fallen leaves and debris off the soil
• Scrub the outside of each pot and check the drainage hole is clear
• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Check them for pests again after one week
• Keep plants away from heat vents, radiators and cold drafty glass
• 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.

• Stop feeding most plants until new growth starts in spring
• Raise the humidity around tropical plants

  Group them together or stand them on a tray of wet pebbles. Heated rooms are often dry.

• Turn each pot a quarter turn every week or two

  That stops the plant leaning toward the window.

• 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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