Overwintering¶

For every outdoor, greenhouse, or balcony plant of yours that isn't winter-hardy, Kamerplanter automatically creates a matching overwintering plan — derived from the plant species profile and the winter hardiness of your site. The plan is created as soon as the plant is assigned to such a site — you don't need to create a profile yourself; you can always review the result and adjust it if needed.

Prerequisites¶

The plant is at a location that counts as frost-exposed. By default, that is the case for a location on a site of type Outdoor, Greenhouse, or Balcony; Indoor, Windowsill, and Grow Tent do not count as frost-exposed by default. You can override this classification for each individual location, see Setting Frost Exposure for a Location.
The plant has a species assigned (master data) — Kamerplanter derives the frost sensitivity from it.

When the Plan Is Created¶

Kamerplanter creates the plan immediately as soon as your plant is assigned to a frost-exposed site — whether you create the plant there directly or later move it there from another site. No separate step is needed.

Safety net at the season transition

If a plant doesn't have a plan yet for some reason — for example, because its species was assigned only afterwards —, Kamerplanter catches up at the latest when your site transitions into "winter approaching" (see Season Automation).

If you move a plant from an outdoor, greenhouse, or balcony site indoors, Kamerplanter removes an automatically created plan again — after all, it no longer needs winter protection at its new, sheltered site. If you've adjusted the plan yourself beforehand, it's kept even after a move indoors; you can then delete it manually at any time (see All Overwintering Plans at a Glance).

No overwintering for plants whose lifecycle has ended

If your plant's lifecycle has already ended — for example, because an annual or biennial species has naturally senesced after flowering, or because you've manually marked it as harvested, dead, or cancelled — Kamerplanter no longer creates a new overwintering plan for it, even if it's at an outdoor, greenhouse, or balcony site. An already-existing plan is left untouched and can still be viewed or deleted as usual.

Viewing the Automatic Plan¶

Open Plants > your plant.
Switch to the Care tab.
Scroll to the Overwintering section.

What you see there depends on your plant's site and its winter hardiness:

Situation	What the "Overwintering" section shows
Profile already exists	The full plan (see below) with the "Auto-derived from species profile" or "Adjusted" badge.
Winter-hardy at your site (green traffic light)	A note that no winter protection is needed.
Needs protection at an outdoor, greenhouse, or balcony site, but no profile yet	A note that the plant needs winter protection and the plan is created automatically.
At an indoor, windowsill, or grow-tent site	A note that no outdoor overwintering is needed at this site.

If a profile exists, the "Overwintering" section shows you the automatically created plan: hardiness rating, protection measure and its month, the watering setting for winter dormancy, and — depending on the species — the spring action, the conditions in the winter quarter, or the check intervals for stored tubers. A badge "Auto-derived from species profile" marks that the plan was generated by Kamerplanter itself.

Does this plant count as at risk at all?

If your plant is winter-hardy at your site (green traffic light), the "Overwintering" section instead shows a note that no winter protection is needed — Kamerplanter deliberately creates no plan and no winter-protection reminder. See Climate Zones & Winter Hardiness for more on the hardiness rating.

The winter path also shows you how the plant overwinters:

Winter Path	Meaning
In-situ (protect in place)	The plant stays at its location and is protected there (e.g. with mulch or fleece).
Relocate (winter quarter)	The plant must move to a winter quarter, or its tubers must be dug up and stored.

Container plants are rated more strictly

If your plant is in a pot or container (i.e. it has a container volume set), Kamerplanter automatically rates its winter hardiness more strictly than the same species growing in an outdoor bed: a rating that would otherwise only be "needs protection" (in-situ, protect in place) is automatically escalated to "must move to a winter quarter" (relocate) for container plants — the root ball in a pot freezes through much faster than in the ground.

If winter dormancy is currently active for this plant, an additional "Dormancy care active" badge indicates that the reduced watering and fertilizing plan is in effect (see Season Automation).

Adjusting the Plan¶

If the automatically created plan doesn't match your conditions — for example, because your site is particularly sheltered, or you prefer a different protection measure — you can override individual values:

Step 1: Open Adjust¶

Click Adjust in the "Overwintering" section.

Step 2: Change Values¶

In the dialog you can change, among other things:

Hardiness rating and protection measure (with its month)
Watering setting for winter dormancy
Spring action and its month
Temperature and light conditions in the winter quarter
Check interval and status of a stored tuber or bulb

The stored temperature range is actively monitored

If your plant's winter quarter has a sensor or a Home Assistant connection with live temperature readings, Kamerplanter checks hourly whether the measured temperature stays within the range stored here — and immediately creates a "High"-priority reminder on a real breach above or below it. See Season Automation for details.

Protection measure must match the hardiness rating

Kamerplanter does not allow a contradictory combination — for example "winter-hardy" together with "must be dug up". The protection-measure selector automatically shows only options that match the selected hardiness rating.

Step 3: Save¶

Click Save. The plan then carries the "Adjusted" badge instead of "Auto-derived from species profile" — and Kamerplanter no longer overwrites your changes from now on. If the species profile or your site's winter-hardiness rating changes later, the automation only fills in missing values, without touching the values you've already set.

Resetting Back to Automatic¶

To return to the automatically derived values, click Reset to automatic in the "Overwintering" section and confirm the dialog. Kamerplanter discards your manual adjustments and derives the plan again in full from the species profile and your site's winter-hardiness rating.

All Overwintering Plans at a Glance¶

Under Plants > Overwintering you'll find a table with the overwintering plans of all your plants — handy if you want an overview before the first frost. Automatically created plans are marked with the "Auto" badge. The Create profile button also lets you manually create a plan here for a plant that doesn't (yet) have an automatic one — for example, to set your own values before the transition to "winter approaching" happens.

Each row shows a jump icon next to the delete icon, labeled "Go to plant" or "Go to planting run", which takes you directly to the associated plant instance or planting run — handy when you want to look up further details from here.

Filtering Plans¶

Above the table, in addition to full-text search and sorting, several combinable filters are available:

Hardiness: Winter hardy / Needs protection / Frost-free quarters / Dig up & store
Protection measure: e.g. Mulch, Fleece, Earth up, Move indoors, Dig up & store, Wrap
Action month: shows only the months that actually occur in your plans
Origin: Auto (auto-derived from the species profile) or Manual (adjusted or created by you)
Assignment: Plant, Planting run, or Unassigned

All active filters apply together (a plan must match every selected filter) and stack on top of search and sorting. You can remove a filter individually via its selector, or all at once via "Reset filters". Your filter selection lives in the URL, so you can bookmark or share the filtered view. On narrow screens, the filters are collapsed behind an icon with a count badge to save space. Kamerplanter uses this same filter-bar pattern elsewhere too, for example in the pest list.

Frequently Asked Questions¶

I've never created an overwintering profile — yet I see a plan. Where does it come from?

Kamerplanter creates this plan automatically as soon as your plant is assigned to an outdoor, greenhouse, or balcony site — provided it isn't considered winter-hardy at that site. This applies both when the plant is created and on a later site change; if the plant didn't have a species assigned yet, the plan creation is caught up at the latest when your site transitions into "winter approaching" (see Season Automation). You don't need to set anything up for this.

Why don't I see an overwintering plan for my winter-hardy plant?

That's intentional. For plants that are winter-hardy at your site, Kamerplanter deliberately creates no plan and no winter-protection reminder, since they manage without extra protection.

I see the note that my plant needs winter protection, but there's no plan yet. What does that mean?

Your plant is considered at risk at its site (yellow or red traffic light), but the plan hasn't been created yet — for example, because a species was only just assigned to it. Kamerplanter creates the plan automatically; there's nothing further you need to do.

I moved my plant indoors — where did the overwintering plan go?

If you move a plant from an outdoor, greenhouse, or balcony site indoors, Kamerplanter removes an automatically created plan again, since outdoor overwintering is no longer needed at an indoor site. If you'd adjusted the plan yourself beforehand, it's kept and needs to be deleted manually if you no longer want it.

What happens if I adjust a value and the species profile changes later?

Your adjustment is preserved. Once you manually change at least one value, the automation never overwrites it again — it only fills in fields you've never set.

Can I also delete an overwintering profile?

Yes, via the table under Plants > Overwintering using the trash-can icon. If the plant remains at an outdoor, greenhouse, or balcony site and isn't winter-hardy, Kamerplanter automatically creates a new plan again at the next site change or, at the latest, the next transition into "winter approaching".

Why is my container plant rated more strictly than the same species in a bed?

Because the root ball in a pot or container freezes through much faster than in the ground. Kamerplanter detects a stored container volume and, in that case, automatically rates a plant that would otherwise only "need protection" as "must move to a winter quarter".

Why doesn't my spent annual plant get an overwintering plan?

That's intentional. If a plant's lifecycle has already ended — for example, because an annual or biennial species has naturally senesced after flowering, or you've manually marked it as harvested or dead — Kamerplanter no longer creates a new plan for it, since it won't see another winter. An already-existing plan is left untouched.