i know that some very young plants in 1 gal container can survive the winter in garage. we have mild winter. how soon can a rooted cutting survive in the garage?

reason why i ask this is i have few cuttings that're filling out the cup with roots. i'm going to move them to 1 gal container. i'm thinking i'll just let them ride out in the garage. if they have enough roots, as long as the soil doesn't freeze over, they should survive.. or am i wrong?

I don't know the answer Pete but I am glad you asked the question. I have quiet a few that are filling up the 32 oz cups.

Great question.  I'll be adding my 4th fluorescent light in the basement next week to accommodate all the new growth.  Getting crowded!

I am trialing a couple rooted cuttings in 1 gallon pots in my unheated garage.  I put them in a larger container and surrounded them with potting soil.  I also have back-ups growing in-doors in case they don't make it.  One of them still has green leaves on it even though we have gotten down to the high 20's a couple times.  They are starting to yellow a bit but nevertheless I wonder how it will do.

My concern is not so much them handling cold, but more they don't have the energy reserves to go dormant and come back, and thinking in that environment they will not stay in active growth.

at low temp, the growth will slow down to almost stop, but as long as the soil doesn't freeze over, it won't kill the cuttings. if they are alive.. shouldn't they come back in spring? top growth dying is not something that concerns me so much. they will grow back. but like strudeldog said.. what if there isn't enough energy to bring it back in the spring?

i have seen cuttings that i gave up putting out leaf after 4 months as long as the roots are there. so, if roots are not damaged, i think there is possibility. i'm really running out room.

The rule I use for myself is if they have leafed out with three or four leaves with a healthy set of roots and have been that way for 2 or more months they have developed/stored  enough reserves to be stored in a cold garage. As you state it really depends on the depth of the cold, but I have not had any issue in past years, the small pots do tend to dry out unattended quicker and also have less thermal mass and tend to freeze sooner than the larger ones. Then there are the hungry mice and voles....the challenges march on!   The ones I root in the late fall stay inside

i should have gotten bunch of BT and tested those.. lol if the cuttings were not so dear to me, i wouldn't mind chancing it.. what to do.. what to do..

In my climate a cutting that just filled a cup with roots thats young tender and not yet even acclimated to the outdoors would die in my garage.
If precious i would go the safe route and if its a white type well thats another story.

martin, they are mostly dark types. lol

Safe route for sure then  !   lol