Ugh Oh Cold!!!

[Ordphien]

Originally Posted by Moirae

It seems we had a rather hot summer this last year too. Heat wave after heat wave and triple digits. Our air conditioning unit is on the other side of the apartment and doesn't really reach my bedroom windowsill so the area my orchids are in was sometimes getting up to 100 degrees .

The phals didn't mind too much at first (in fact they grew multiple leaves from the warmth and fertilizer), but the consecutive heat waves and days of triple digits was finally too much for them (leaves were hot and starting to droop more) and me. When I saw my thermometer read over 98 for the 4th day in a row and it was still climbing (wound up getting to 106 that day), i moved all my plants in the bathtub, put my showerhead on the mist setting and took a cool shower with my orchids . I dumped the water out of their crowns, put them on the sink and put a fan on them and closed the door to keep the humidity up for the next day and a half. That respite was enough for them to survive the rest of the summer.

Last year's summer was brutal on my plants....
I lost two phals to our despite my best efforts.
I.. unfortunately don't have air conditioning... so my plants are subject to the weather.
The one saving grace was my tiled downstairs. It kept it just cool enough. Barely.
My outside yard... Lol... not the right year to redo your garden... half my plants died...
I'm hoping this summer isn't as rough... Please let me have a year to let my new orchids and garden adjust!
Lol... but seriously that summer sucked...

[james mickelso]

Stray59, that is a cymbidium with three spikes. I have a couple more with spikes coming out and they are out in the cold. It was down to 31 last night and about that the last few nights. But I have the fan in the ceiling of the greenhouse going just like always and the breeze believe it or not helps tremendously. That is how the orange and avocado growers stave off damage during the cold winters up in the colder foothills of SoCal. Visqueen is plastic sheeting used for lots of different purposes. From covering things when painting, making walls for greenhouses, covering merchandise, ect. It's the duct tape of plastic sheeting. It comes in different thicknesses. I have the 10 mil on mine. Lasts about 2 years. Used to last longer but the EPA wants it to disintegrate rapidly now. Oh well. It's cheap and since it lasts only a short time, there is more of it in the environment than there used to be. Go figure. Sonya, I sympathise with you. My hibiscus has really taken a beating. All droopy now. But it will come back as will yours and give a wonderful display later than usual. Nice to see so many SoCal folks speaking up here. Next few dAYS WILL BE SCRUMPTIOUS. Highs in the 70's.

[samnkyle]

Oh wow! James Mickelso, no heater in your greenhouse, in Oceanside? That's amazing! I've been wracking my brains out on which heater to get for my greenhouse. I have an 8' x 8' poly greenhouse and I've been using a utility heater that uses 1300wh and my electric bill has skyrocketed with the temps dipping in the low 30s (even here in Mission Viejo). I decided to get a low wattage Lasko myHeat that uses only 200watts but it doesn't seem to be enough. I could tell my orchids aren't happy! . Lowest temp inside the greenhouse still is only about 5-10 degrees warmer at 45 degrees... But you saying it's ok for the orchids? I have cats, phals, laelias that get watered every 5 days. But my vandas get daily morning waterings...in the same greenhouse, just on a different side...Is that ok? Should I just reduce my watering even on my vandas? Thing is it's been getting in the 70s/80s during the day... Weird weather we're having...

[Andre]

I know up here in Canada (not here in Vancouver we are too temperate) when I have traveled to areas that are cold, they wrap or cover sensitive plants with burlap. It keeps the pants protected from the cold and the windchill.

[james mickelso]

Last year I used a little electric heater in my greenhouse and the bill was around $50/mo. B ut I had around 450 orchids. This year I only have about 50. My orchids have done fine with few casualties. My phals took a beating and I lost most of them to capistan chlorosis. but 4 survived and are pushing spikes. The temps got down into the low 30's for a couple weeks but like you it warmed into the 50's and 60's. The secret I think is to protect them from the cold air settling on the plants. I have corrogated clear poly roof and 3 sides are covered in visqueen. Open to the south. They don't like the cold but it hasn't affected them too much although the catts and 2 laelias have pushed flowers but it has taken way longer for them to open. My cyms have done nicely too so don't sweat it if you can only get the temps into the high 40's to low 50's. It's only there for a few hours. To suppliment the heating with a small fan driven heater (HD or Lowes $20) you can get a large coffee can and put a 100 watt light under it. That usually raises the temps about another 10 degrees. The first heater I had didn't have a fan. So I got one with a fan and that helped a lot. Just remember if you use an extension cord it has to be a heavy duty one and the outlet it is plugged into should be a 20 amp circuit. I also have a ceiling fan that keeps the air in constant movement.