Over the Garden Gate: From patio to house: Three steps to moving plants inside

If you are like me, you brought your plants out to the patio or deck for spring and summer. They benefit from the natural rain and can make quite a lovely outdoor display.

If you read my article from April titled “From House to Patio,” you hopefully gently acclimated your plants to being outside for the season, and you should do the same to bring them in. It is very tempting to say to yourself, “Certainly bringing them inside cannot be as much of a shock as taking them out from my climate-controlled house in the spring,” but it can be! There are three things we need to think about when bringing plants back inside.

The first thing is that if the plants are still outside at this point, the days have been getting shorter so they are starting to acclimate to less light. Plants are deeply affected by the amount and quality of light they get, so once you start to transition them, you should think about how much light they will get once they are safely back in your home. It is just as easy to burn the leaves or shock the plant when transitioning to winter as it is when taking them out in the spring. Ask yourself, do any of these plants need a dormancy period to rest over winter? If they do, strategize their location in your home to receive less light.

The second thing to think about is how many insects are you comfortable with in your home. You can trust that your pots make happy homes for all sorts of insects. Millipedes, worms, spiders, aphids – the list goes on! There are several strategies to help ensure you do not find or step on an unwanted insect in your home. The first is to look in each pot and see if there is anything obvious in the soil or on the plant. Caterpillars and other large critters should be removed and left outside where they belong.

The second strategy I use is to reverse my process for bringing plants outside for winter: I bring the plants into my garage and if they have gathered pests, I treat them with the appropriate spray or other treatment. If the plant has outgrown its pot, I repot it for winter using fresh potting soil. While I am doing so, I look at the roots and underside of the foliage to see if the plant may need to be treated.

If a plant has picked up an unwanted insect or fungal infection that appears to be untreatable, I destroy it. An example of this is a large Sago palm I have had for two years that appears to have picked up mealy bugs. Despite my best efforts, the bugs appear to be immortal. It hurts, but this plant will have to be destroyed because leaving them could cause more issues inside.

The third item is one I noticed this past year: Spotted Lanternflies can lay egg masses on the side of large pots. They seem to like the terracotta pots the best with smooth surfaces. Inspect every pot, and if you find an egg mass, scrape it and destroy it by smooshing it thoroughly or putting it in a rubbing alcohol solution. Intact egg masses can still hatch in the spring if scraped off and left on the ground.

Transitioning plants indoors for winter is a process that requires attention and sanitation as there are just some creatures that you do not want to share your home with!

Here are some basic steps for getting the plants inside:

1. Know your plants! What temperature ranges can they handle? How much light do they require? What, then, is the best location for them in your home?

2. Check them for pests, and if they need treatment do it BEFORE you bring them inside your home.

3. If they need to be pruned, do so before you bring them inside.

4. Just as you transitioned them in spring, do the same for fall. Bring them into a sheltered place near your home or into a garage and allow them to get used to the conditions of inside versus outside.

5. When dealing with large plants and heavy pots, consider getting yourself a moving platform with wheels or a modified dolly. It is easier to move them in and out of a garage for a few days if you have one of these.

6. Finally, your plants have benefited from rainwater all spring and summer, so it is important you know your water situation inside. If you have a whole-house water softener, you may want to avoid watering your plants with that water. Softeners typically remove magnesium and calcium from the water and exchange it for sodium, which can be harmful to indoor plants in high amounts. You may be better off using water from an outdoor faucet that isn’t connected to the softener or a rainwater collection system.

No matter how many plants you have or what their size is, following the basic steps should help you be successful. Don’t let transitioning plants from patio to house drive you crazy!

Abby Dowling is a Penn State Master Gardener in Beaver County.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Over the Garden Gate: From patio to house: Three steps to moving plants inside