Where it freezes during the winter, do you keep the roots in your pots until spring?

[Skafidr]

I'm slowly but surely getting to the end of the growing season and, well, this is my first time gardening.

• I live in a region where the soil is frozen during the winter.
• I grow in pots.

So the question is (and I believe it's more of a gardening basic rather than a tobacco specific): should I keep the roots in the pots during the winter and remove what's left in the spring, or should I remove them before the frost comes?

 

[deluxestogie]

Frozen, dead plant roots sometimes (?often?) harbor plant pests, such as nematodes and microbial pathogens. Their natural life cycle is to overwinter within the roots. I would generally recommend removing the roots in the fall. This would apply to plants in the ground, as well as to plants in containers. For large grows, at least tilling-up the roots in late autumn minimizes pest carryover, even if the roots are left on the surface to decompose.

Bob

 

[Skafidr]

Okay, thanks!

Some folks on the internet mention that leaving the roots would allow them to decompose a bit and feed the soil, and that the fact of removing the roots expose the soil and destroy microorganisms that remain the the soil (among other things), so I thought I'd ask for a second opinion.

 

[Skafidr]

nematodes and microbial pathogens

Out of curiosity, in a hypothetical situation, say I were to dump those roots in a compost pile, would those nematodes and microbial pathogens be composted out of existence, or would they contaminate the compost pile?

 

[deluxestogie]

If the compost temp rises high enough, it can kill most organisms. Here is a discussion of composting by temp.

Turning Compost by Temperature - Rodale Institute

Composting research at Rodale Institute is geared towards developing methods that will produce quality compost and clarify some of the best practices

rodaleinstitute.org

Bob

 

[pottsS]

I'm thinking it won't make much difference. I know my compost don't make heat from now until next June, I'd hedge my bet on the -40 in January killing the critters. But we see new bugs here every year, so obviously you can't count on cold either. I would think that the deep freeze would affect pots more than pile, and heat really doesn't even come into the equation.