I purchased this Limber Pine from a nursery in southern Alberta, Canada. The seed came from the side of a mountain in The Crows Nest Pass about 2 hours from where i live. As you see it is in a # 2 nursery pot. I would like to transplant it to a training pot before winter. It is 12" tall from root ball and about 8" wide. It is in its 3rd year and is candling right now. My questions. 1. What size of pot?, ceramic, clay plastic? 2. The last two winters it was stored in a green house with no heat. I wish to leave it outside for the winter. Temperature here is from around - 5 to -35 in winter. Several times a winter we have what is called a "Chinook". Warm winds from the Pacific can raise temperatures from -25 to a warm + 12 C sometimes for as much as a week. How do i protect from the freeze, thaw cycle. It could go in the garage, stays about 0 degrees, but little light. Muckle

Muckle wrote:

1. What size of pot?, ceramic, clay plastic?

Clay in your weather is not a good option; plastic or wood (growing box) would be ok.

Muckle wrote:

2. The last two winters it was stored in a green house with no heat.

Your plant is hardy to zone 4 (very cold). A very cold-tolerant plant when fully dormant.
So it could winter outside, but for the Chinook.
I would keep storing them in the unheated greenhouse, or in the garage. The variation in temperature freezes-unfreezes outside creates a thaw cycle that is not good for potted plants.

Hey Clicio, please help me understand a bit how can you successfully keep a zone 4 tree inside a garage. So we all know that the tree will need to have it's dormant period over the winter so let's assume that the garage is not heated. However, how would the tree get the light it needs to make photosynthesis? I believe that by simply placing it next to a window won't do the job will it? I am very much thinking to extend my collection from indoors to outdoors and I am trying to get some pieces of information regarding winter care and shelter requirements

Deciduous trees when dormant don't need much light, that's why many people keep they inside unheated garages.
I don't know how Limber Pines would react to this lack of light, we don't have freezing winters in Brazil, but...
Found this info on the Internet about wintering Limber Pines:
"What I did this winter with this tree, was to keep it in an unheated attached garage. It responded fine to that treatment. My garage never gets below about 31-33 degrees, even in the coldest part of winter. As an added layer, this year I will be purchasing some simple plastic/neoprene covers and constructing a little hut around them on the shelf so that when the garage opens they aren't subjected to freezing winds."

Hope it helps!

Thank you so much Clicio, really good pieces of advice! I am thinking on purchasing a Deshojo Mapple tree and train it into a bonsai so I believe I will try letting the tree dormant in a garage over winter.