overwintering hardies in northern climes

[andi_mn]

hi from minnesota. am bringing in my houseplants today. i dont know, it just feels like it will be an early fall here. yesterday it was in the low 40s so i am not taking a chance with my plants. i Know it has been asked probably many times but i am looking for kind of the definitive answer, one that i can use Forever, . my pond freezes to the bottom so i have always brought my hardy waterlilies in but it has been a hit or miss process for me. How Do you store hardies over the winter? i  have a basement that is cold but doesnt freeze, its where we put the fish also. i tries plastic bags with damp newspaper last yr and it was a disaster (Rot!)
thanks, andi

[KatFish]

Hmm.  Your pond is shallow?  Here in z5 I drop mine to the bottom and wait for spring.  Someone may have good ideas for you.  Maybe treat them like tropicals?

[Vickie]

I used to put hardies in buckets of water in my basement. It only got down to maybe 50*F and I had windows  and shop lights down there. That is when I used to only have small cow tanks above the ground. I did sometimes have a problem with aphids. But it worked for me back then.

[Teresa]

If you put the fish in the basement, is there some reason that you cannot put the hardies down there as well?  If it's cold, they'll go dormant, but they shouldn't rot. 

[Desertponder]

I did an experiment with overwintering hardies last year. I tried doing hardies like many overwinter their tropicals, the damp sand and baggie method. I lost all but one of my tropicals overwintered this way but all the hardies that I did that way survived just fine. My basement stays at 50 degrees all rear round. It was too late in the fall to try to sell my left over hardies from repotting so I thought I would try to overwinter them this way. I trimmed and cleaned them, buried them in damp sand in ziploc bags and placed them in a cooler in the basement. They did fine and they were all starting to sprout and put out pads inside the bags by March.

[GarryT]

Up here in Manitoba (Zone 2b) there is no choice but to bring plants & fish in during the winter. We have frost down to 5 feet so without elaborate, costly heating apparatus there is no way anything would survive.

I successfully did the baggie method last year with no sand and kept them in the fridge. I think it's important that they be only damp - not wet otherwise they will rot. I trimmed & rinsed, then blotted each one off with paper towels. One year I popped them in the winter tank in the basement under florescent lights - and they actually bloomed. However the following summer was very disappointing as they had few blooms in the pond. I wonder if they require the "rest" period?

....Garry

[karen J]

Hardies are pretty darn resilient. All my hardies in my raised pond, only 15" deep, survived last winter even though it was very cold. -18F was the coldest temp recorded in my back yard. I thought for sure they'd die.

You should do an experiment to find out once and for all. Leave one outside and bring one in.

Which varieties do you have? I wouldn't do that experiment if you have expensive ones, but if they're more common ones it would be a good experiment. If you can't do it this year, then next year when it's time to divide and repot, you can make experimental pots.

[marla]

I'm in WI zone 4 and I leave my hardies in the pond, some are as shallow as 12", the ones in the little ponds that I know will freeze solid I will put in one of the 2 larger ponds.  If you do leave them out and they don't survive I always have plenty to share, just give me a holler in spring.