Hi all,

I'm in the UK - North Yorkshire. I picked up a Chinese Elm from a local garden centre a few days ago which is in full leaf so obviously grown indoors. It was in terrible soil that held far too much moisture so I've re-potted into some nice, open soil and pruned off some dead roots.

I had intended leaving it indoors until the Spring when temperatures pick up a little more however, it has been suggested to me that I put it outside now and let it do its thing. Is it likely to struggle? Is it going to be safer to keep it indoors another few weeks?

Many thanks

I am not an expert on this, but I had a similar situation as yours. Only I bought my elm a few months ago and repotted it a week ago. I also bought it from a local store and it was kept indoors. I placed the tree for the first 2 days in an unheated room in house. Then it stayed in that same room for 4-more days with the window open (to let the temperature drop in the room and let the elm gently getting used to lower temperatures) Note: do not put the plant directly in front of the window, but on a table for example. . After that it stayed outdoors and is doing great, some new leaves are starting to grow now. I live in Holland. Hope this helps!

As Aaron says, outdoor your climate would just be fine for your elm.
The only thing you need to take care of is not throwing it immediately in freezing weather.

Keep it in an unheated place where temps don't go below 5C for a t least a few days, and let it transition reasonably smoothly over a week or two.
Then it will thrive outdoor more than it would ever do in your house..

With the way the temperatures have been this winter there is no reason that it cannot go outside even though it may have been in a greenhouse. after a week from repotting it would be fine anyway.

just put it outside. As long as there is no freezin there is absolutely no need to do a slow transition.

Note.. Being green does not mean it has been kept indoors. Mine has not dropped a leave and is still growing, even though our nights are frosty (-2 last night again)

Thanks for the replies everyone. It's currently sat in my bay window which gets fairly cool, although there is a radiator nearby but I don't think the heat really touches the tree. The room at its coolest is probably about 14c at the moment. I'll leave it until Saturday when I'm back home and then move it outside into my cold frame where it should be protected from any frosts.