Due to the added beauty that Mandevilla vines can give to a garden, many UK homeowners want to learn how to winterize Mandevilla vine. Mandevilla is a plant that’s native to Brazil, and it features glossy leaves and trumpet-shaped flowers. The colours of its gorgeous flowers range from crimson pink to white from early spring to autumn.
Furthermore, some of its varieties can lie dormant during the winter season. In case you’re wondering, Mandevilla vines intolerant to freezing temperatures. Although this plant can be grown indoors and outdoors, they grow best in enclosed spaces such as a hobby polytunnel where the environment controlled.
If you live in a UK area where the climate is mostly cold, it’s best to grow your Mandevilla in a pot or a hobby polytunnel so that they can stay safe and warm when the weather outside gets freezing. Low temperatures will make winterising easier for you by the time the cold season comes.
Steps Involved in Winterizing Mandevilla Vine
Mandevilla thrives during the spring and summer season. Their growth slowed down as the plants focus their energy on staying warm as the colder days and nights approach. By this time, experts suggest that you start winterising them.
If your Mandevilla vine planted outside your home in a trellis, you have two choices: bring it indoors if you have enough space, or leave it in a cool location. However, the latter may not get assurance that your Mandevilla will live through the winter.
Here are the steps involved in winterising your Mandevilla Vine indoors.
Step #1: Prepare Your Mandevilla
Before bringing your Mandevilla into a hobby polytunnel or transferring it to another location, don’t forget to give it some food (preferably a water-soluble fertiliser) to make sure that it’d get to toughen up before the winter season comes. The nutrient boost from the fertiliser will prepare them for the colder days ahead. It’s best to do this before the winter season officially comes (approximately three weeks before winter).
It’s also essential to give the plant a lot of sunlight before bringing it inside. Mandevilla vines can tolerate temperatures as low as 50˚F.
Step #2: Check the Plant for Disease or Pests
Mandevilla plants have a low tolerance to disease and pests. For this reason, be sure to check the vines, leaves, and flowers before placing them indoors. You can wash the plant with water and apply horticultural oils or insecticides to ensure that you don’t bring any unwanted pests inside your home and cause damage to the other plants inside. Be sure to wash the drainage hole of your container, as well, as pests might also lurk in there.
Step #3: Prune Your Mandevilla Vines
Prune your Mandevilla vines a little bit so that they will fit the size of your home. Ideally, it would help if you cut the stems to at least 12 inches above the soil line. While you’re at it, you can also check the plant for dead flowers and leaves and remove them.
Step #4: Take Your Plant Indoors
If the night temperatures reach below 50˚F, take your Mandevilla vine inside your home. Be sure to place it in an area where it can receive lots of light, and the temperatures can reach 60˚F to 70˚F. Keep it inside until the temperatures outside are better.
You may also need to cut back on watering your plant to further your plant and slow it down. You don’t have to worry about your plant’s well-being during the winter. As long as you’ve given it enough food before taking it inside, it will be strong enough to survive the entire winter season.
If you notice your Mandevilla plant dropping leaves while winterising, you shouldn’t be alarmed. It’s shedding some of its leaves because the winter season often brings lesser humidity. Shedding is completely normal.
Use Your Hobbypolytunnelto Winterize Your Mandevilla
The best way to make sure your Mandevilla survives through the winter season and come out productive during the spring is to use a hobby polytunnel to winterise it. A hobby polytunnel offers plenty of benefits to UK home gardeners. Unlike traditional outdoor gardening in the United Kingdom, you can control the temperature and humidity levels inside the enclosed space so that you can make it as warm or as cold as your plant needs its internal environment to be.
Furthermore, you won’t have to worry about transplanting and relocating your non-cold tolerant plants with a hobby greenhouse before winter sets in. Setting up your polytunnel will not only protect your plants from the cold but will also help you keep destructive bugs and animals at bay. Creating an ideal growing environment will maximise your plants’ growth potential.
Learn How to Winterize Mandevilla Vine Successfully
By providing it with proper care and learning how to winterize Mandevilla vine, you’ll give them a good chance of surviving the winter season. Although winterising in the UK may take a lot of work, it’s the only way to ensure that your plant survives the coldest time of the year and still produce fantastic quality blooms in spring. For best results, winterise your Mandevillas and other plants in a hobby polytunnel to provide them with an optimal environment for growth.