How to grow Aspidistra in winter

Want to move indoors?

Yes.

Aspidistra prefers a warm and slightly humid environment, and the relative humidity for its growth is between 50 and 70% . It’s okay at normal times, but in winter the environment outside is so bad that you don’t want to stay outdoors for too long, let alone plants. Moreover, it has very high temperature requirements in winter. It will stop growing when the temperature drops below 8 ℃, especially if it encounters frost, it will basically not survive. Therefore, it must be moved indoors to overwinter, even on an open balcony.

Do you still need to fertilize?

Required.

Aspidistra is still growing in winter, but the temperature is lower and the growth is slower. During this period, the requirements for water and fertilizer are not high, and it is necessary to control the water and fertilizer. The cycle of fertilizer and water follows the order of "fertilizing - watering - watering - fertilizing - watering - watering", and the interval period is 4 to 7 days. Try to water at noon when the temperature is higher.

Can I cut off all the leaves?

Absolutely not.

Although the sunlight is weak in winter, Aspidistra can still accumulate nutrients through photosynthesis. If all the leaves are cut off, it will affect the accumulation of nutrients, causing the new buds in spring to be unable to grow and reproduce normally, and weak buds will easily appear. Some undesirable phenomena may also occur, such as abnormal deformities such as yellow leaves, small leaves, weak stems, and short plants.

When winter comes, you can cut off some of the diseased leaves, yellow leaves and older leaves, and keep the normal old leaves to facilitate its growth. Secondly, when the old leaves lack nutrients in the pot, they will transfer their own nutrients to the new leaves to supplement the growth of the new leaves. Therefore, unless the leaves are diseased, it is better to prune other leaves less before winter.

The ultimate way to cope with the cold winter

When the ambient temperature is below 3 ℃, the correct way to deal with it is: wrap it with film to overwinter, but remove the film every two days at noon when the temperature is higher to allow it to breathe; if you find it troublesome and ugly, you should move it to a heated room to overwinter.