Citrus > Citrus General Discussion

Lights in winter temps and humidity??

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Susanne42:
I just brought all my trees in for the winter.
Today is the third day inside and with the lights the temperature is raising and humidity almost 80%. I opened the door a couple of time to let humidity out. I have T8 LED bulbs, 48" and 32W, 82CRI, 5000K or 2200 Lumen. It is supposed to be close to natural day light. I have 8 of those. Will that be enough? I have them on for 12 to 14 hours. The room has one window to the west and one window to the south. All trees started to grow before I brought them in and some started to send flower buds out.
I know temps will fluctuate but think during winter never below 55F at night. and during the day in high 60"s with no sun out and 80's when sun is shining. Too much fluctuation for winter? Enough light? Room is 14' X 8' and heating vents are closed. There are about 30 trees in there and some other small plants.
My first goal is to keep them healthy. Actively growing second but since in container, don't need to be pushed too much. Eight of the trees are already very heavy that I could not bring them in by myself.

Millet:
Most people worry about the tree's foliage when they bring in their container trees inside hoping that their will not be leaf fall or other common die back problems. More important, or at least just as important, is the root zone of the tree.  As the roots go so goes the entire tree.  Keep the root temperatures around 60-F+, and if any of your trees start to have trouble raise the root temperature up to 70 F.

Tom:
From what I can see your citrus looks fantastic. You might need exhaust fans to help ease your humidity. If you get blooms it will smell great inside ! I see citrus that you will need to pick this winter ! On a nice day with decent temps you might need to take everything back outside to spray horticultural oil for pest control. You seem to have a greenhouse in your home. From the pictures it looks like you know what you have been doing. What have you done in other years ? Again from what I can see it all looks awesome ! Tom

Susanne42:
Millet that you. Now wondering how I bring the root temps up if need to?? Underneath the floor is a basement or should say crawlspace but no heating. Do you think I have enough light? Add more? Time the light is on enough?

Tom thank you for your compliment. Last 5 winters I had them in the same room with just one shop light in more warm color range. I kept the trees on the dry side and as cool as possible. Had a terrible spider mite problem and scales last year but miraculously they recovered, some really well, some still not as good as they should be. Some of the trees are new. This year I really want to do better. Not only surviving but be able to take off right away when spring comes and not spend valuable time to regain strength. I have to think about a method to get air circulation going. Planning to get them out maybe every 4 to 6 weeks to clean the room and spray the trees. I promised my trees not to let the pest problem go out of hand again.

Millet:
Susan root health and root heat is more important then light.  Trees setting in a north window location do fine, if the root are warm.  If you see a tree in trouble place it on a heat pad or move it so that the container is in direct sunlight. During winter water with warm water.

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