Record cold in Texas

[RJSquirrel]

as nature would have it we had the coldest day/night on record, on that date in 103 years. Record Cold. My luck and my propane went down while I was at work. I cleaned up the plants in the greenhouse today to survey the damage. Any buds that were there all blasted all of them..

2nd year in a row I lost all my Bc little stars buds. I think Im done with this plant its ticking me off.
2nd year in a row the neostylis all blasted
1st time budded deckerii with 22 buds all yellow.
Den lawesii 3 clumps of buds all yellow.
Well I do have 2 buds left on a cymbidium

probably take a few days for the vandas to start turning yellow, the catts already are turning yellow. Paphs dont look like too much is hurt and the phals we dont know yet how hard they got hit. just simply sucks.

BUT I know theres a lot of people up north who also suffered record cold and have many more hardships than just holding down a tear or 2 for a stupid plant...I hope all of our Friends here at OB up north are doing as well as possible thru these storms..

Today was 66 with temps rising to 80 by the weekend..

Im seriously considering moving back indoors where Im in control. I cant control the greenhouse obviously.

Well Im like the bad kid in school who gets finished 1st and then irritates everybody else.....

Looks like Im done for flowers this winter............

[katrina]

Bummer! Sorry to hear about your power loss...that's a shame.


We broke our cold record on Tues...coldest Nov 18th...evaaaaaah. I consider myself lucky though...I'm not in a zone of lake effect snow. EGADS so many people have gotten absolutely slammed.

I'm hoping Ma Nature is just giving us the worst of Winter early and not that this is a taste of what we're in for this year. Bundle up, everyone.

[Bulbofett]

Sorry about your plants! I know I'd be bawling my eyes out if something like that happened. So you're not alone when it comes to caring deeply for your plants.

It's been unseasonably cold for this time of year. We have had frost every morning for about a week, which is unusual for Charleston. I obviously need to move further south lol.

[Ray]

Sorry to hear that, "Rocky". Been there, done that....

Talk to your propane supplier and ask them to increase their delivery frequency. Mine got creative and switched from simple gauges to a cell-phone dialer on my tanks - when the tanks get down to 25%, it actually calls for a refill.

I also keep a backup heater that clamps onto a gas grill tank. It's good for at least 8 hours per tank, depending upon the space and how cold it is, of course. (I have a few spares):



And I am VERY happy to have found the LaCrosse Alerts system! Temp and humidity sensor in the GH that RF broadcasts to a receiver in the house connected to my router. I can monitor conditions via any web-connected computer, tablet or smart phone, and it will send text alerts of either gets out of a specified range.

[Leafmite]

I am sorry to hear of the disaster.

I think those of us in the north were already very prepared for the cold weather...maybe just not mentally. We had a nice amount of snow to shovel but we got off easy compared to New York. :|

[RJSquirrel]

I cleaned everything up today and cut the spikes so the plants wont waste their time...lost all my buds. It was my fault I should have just taken them in for the night but was confident I was going to be okay. Tossed a few small catts in the trash. The hardest plant to toss was the encyclia radiata..oooo yeah it was fallen over already started to fade.. ahh man that was doing good too. just too close to the cold and it got wacked.
Its all good. This made me 'unhappy' so changes are due no doubt. you guys and girls know my history and that I get beat down at least once a year. If that was my beating I can take it..

Job like remember?

I still got cym buds on my england rose and they are fine and green . Un covered the greenhouse and took the shade cloth off. Didnt do that last year. So this is new for me too growing full sun in winter. Hope that works out!!!

Jonah is my next project and learn how to listen...

when we are consumed with our own agenda, sometimes something dramatic has to happen to capture our attention. When we choose intentionally to not follow our inner voice, not only are we left empty, but the others that we were sent to help along the way are affected by our actions too.

and I love you all

[stonedragonfarms]

How low did temps get for you all? Low 20s up here in the PNW, which is COLD for us, especially this early in the "winter"

[GardenTheater]

Sorry to hear. Good luck going forward!

[gngrhill]

So sorry to hear of your loss. I would be devastated. Hope you have better luck moving forward. Ray has some excellent ideas.

[RJSquirrel]

ah well I been out kicking them around so I feel better...Ive had just about enough of the self inflicted orchid misery.
I will Close it up when the last one hits the bucket and build a real greenhouse. Done with TOY greenhouses. Ive been taught my lesson and dont mess with mother nature if you dont have the money to fight back. I have no money to fight back at 60 bucks a week for propane. Its just silly stupid is all I have left to say about that. Silly Flippin Stupid.