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Time to acclimate outdoor plants to the indoors again

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Know It and Grow It
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By
George Bonnema, Luverne gardening enthusiast

Now that we are into the month of October and frost is predicted next week, it is time to acclimate indoor plants that have been vacationing outdoors to their winter home indoors.
Considering that they have had daylight flooding them from all sides and indoors they will have to adjust to what light comes through a window in addition to a much shorter day length, they have to make a big adjustment Bring them in for a couple of days and set them back out for a couple of days. Do this process 3 or 4 times to give them a heads up on what is ahead for them and you will prevent a major leaf loss. Plants will only support what foliage they can maintain with the amount of light they are getting. If the lower light adjustment happens too quickly, the plant will probably abort what leaves it cannot support. Then people get worried and tend to overwater the plant to compensate, and that causes root problems.
Also, be sure to treat the plants with an insecticide spray to prevent bringing “hitchhiker” bugs in with the plants. Spraying both upper and under surfaces of the leaves with an insecticidal soap will eliminate most insects that are hoping for a winter vacation indoors.
I also recommend using a systemic insecticide for longer control. Outdoors, temperature and weather conditions help control the insect population, but these factors are eliminated when you bring the plant indoors, allowing the insect population to explode. We often will not notice the critters until the population is severe enough that new growth is deformed or the plant exhibits other stress symptoms. At that point, control is much more difficult.
October is also the month to plant spring-blooming bulbs. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocus, and grape hyacinths are all flowers that announce the arrival of spring. You won’t get that announcement if you don’t plant the bulbs now.

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