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  Your best bet is to transplant it correctly in the ground this spring and let the plant get established this summer. Plants in pots are exposed much to more extreme temperature changes than if they are in the ground. You can also cover them with some straw if the weather looks like it's going for a sudden deep freeze and the trees are not covered in snow.

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  That's what really indicates it was winter kill. Winter kill is often caused by damage to the water transporting section of the plant (xylem). Think of it as a straw that connects the roots to the leaves. If you make hole in the straw, crush it, etc the water stops flowing. This is what likely happened here. The majority of the water transporting parts of the stem were damaged. When the weather warmed up, and the plant came out of dormancy, the plant needed lots more water. It's...

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  I use the agricultural suppliers for most of the basics: compost, potting mix, fertilizer etc. If you can store the larger quanties it is much cheaper. The last 1,000lbs of compost was $80. For little things like pots etc, shop around. They sometimes are at places you wouldn’t expect. The best pots are not at the nursery but at a local home decor place. I got some nice ones a few years ago at my local grocery store. The best seedling flats are at the hydroponic store where the cler...

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  Sorry you about made me spit out my coffee. Beans, zinnas and sunflowers are some of the less picky species for substrate. Both sunflowers and beens have large seeds and enough stored energy to supply the plant to the second true leaf. Zinnia's have extremely durable and high germinating seeds. For testing seedling mixes they are a poor choice. Mainly because they will do well in most things. There is no "correct" seedling mix for everything. Every species has its own o...

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  How old and large is the plant? The first few years as the plant mass grows you don't want to prune anything. Once the plant is established, cutting the early vines helps with increasing and concentrating yield. Commercially the spray a dissicant on the early growth to knock them back.