Not really off topic but...6

[Mountaineer370]

I think most of us, regardless of the outdoor temperature, keep our houses at a temperature that is comfortable for us humans and any pets we have. So in winter for many of us, that means artifically heating our house. Michigan is part of the country in the midst of a cold snap now, where daytime highs are in the teens, and this is supposed to continue for another week or so. I keep my house at approximately 70 degrees all winter. My indoor humidity is always lower in the winter than it is in the summer. Lately, it's been in the 20s. I do not have the option of raising the humidity, so the orchids are going to have to live with it. They all seem to be fine. I am watering more often than normal, every other day for most of them, and I mist those with aerial roots. This is the second or third Michigan winter for several of them. Two of my three phals are spiking right now, one of which already spiked and bloomed a few months ago. So I guess they're not too unhappy.

Greenpassion, you say you've been growing orchids for seven years (which is several years longer than I have). Did they survive the winter indoors in Vermont? If so, I think you may be worrying about nothing. Cold spells happen all the time, all over the world. It's not a big deal for plants kept indoors in a climate-controlled environment.

[No-Pro-mwa]

As I said, it's pretty darn cold inside right now.

[greenpassion]

Mountaineer, this is the first year that I've really cared for them at this level. Last year and in prior years I have had some success with blooming phals, but no where near what it is now. I know that there are cold spells, (been here 36 years) and you are right that I could be worrying over nothing, but with so many all in spike and budding, where once I didn't pay too much attention to them, I became a doting fool. This is a tired subject for some - I know. At this point I'm all set, and not concerned, (or have gotten tired of being so overly concerned) and am really just enjoying the show. In the next month my downstairs is going to be unbelievably awesome!

[No-Pro-mwa]

I really think there going to be fine, we had 59 F in the house yesterday and I didn't check what it was this morning and all mine seem to be doing fine. I'm getting it warmed up but it's no heat wave at the moment. -3 F outside. I'm just hoping the wind doesn't blow.

None of mine have dropped buds and my project Miss Wonderful is opening.

[estación seca]

Do any of you remember the winters of the mid to late 1960s in the midwestern US? Bitter cold, snow on the ground November to March. People did grow orchids back then.

I used to think old houses should be preserved only due to their age. I'm coming around to realizing housing technology has improved so much it is exceptionally unwise, economically, to maintain obsolete structures.

[Orchid Whisperer]

A member of Orchidboard, Naoki, I believe lives in Alaska. You might look him up.

If you have any kind of a light set-up to keep your plants, and can partially enclose that space, it will greatly increase the temperature and humidity in the area immediately surrounding the plants. I have a very frugal set-up, my lights are T-8 fluorescent shop lights, inexpensive shelving, whatever I have available for drip trays under the plants. I don't fully enclose, but an inexpensive fabric shower curtain encloses the back of my shelves. Add a clear shower curtain to the front, you will hold in a lot of heat generated by the lights and humidity surrounding the plants.

Regarding "global warming", there is a reason it is called climate change now. I am a scientist (geologist) and have read a lot of what has been published on the subject, I do believe it is quite real. Don't worry about the short-term fluctuations in temperature that occur for a few days or weeks on 1% of the globe (=weather). The world-wide changes (rising sea level, many consecutive years of record high global temperatures, etc.) are climate change, and IMO, are quite concerning.

[Leafmite]

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

A member of Orchidboard, Naoki, I believe lives in Alaska. You might look him up.

If you have any kind of a light set-up to keep your plants, and can partially enclose that space, it will greatly increase the temperature and humidity in the area immediately surrounding the plants. I have a very frugal set-up, my lights are T-8 fluorescent shop lights, inexpensive shelving, whatever I have available for drip trays under the plants. I don't fully enclose, but an inexpensive fabric shower curtain encloses the back of my shelves. Add a clear shower curtain to the front, you will hold in a lot of heat generated by the lights and humidity surrounding the plants.

Regarding "global warming", there is a reason it is called climate change now. I am a scientist (geologist) and have read a lot of what has been published on the subject, I do believe it is quite real. Don't worry about the short-term fluctuations in temperature that occur for a few days or weeks on 1% of the globe (=weather). The world-wide changes (rising sea level, many consecutive years of record high global temperatures, etc.) are climate change, and IMO, are quite concerning.

For now, the oceans are absorbing most of the heat....

---------- Post added at 11:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:13 PM ----------

Originally Posted by katrina

LOL! I get the same letters from AEP! My usage is way above my neighbor's and they can help...yea, right.

I am getting letters, too, from AEP. Spouse does computers and I have lights for my plants....

---------- Post added at 11:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:15 PM ----------

Oh wow, Carol, that is awful! I am glad that you are alright.

[Orchid Whisperer]

[QUOTE=Leafmite;862411]For now, the oceans are absorbing most of the heat....[COLOR="Silver"]

That is precisely the worst of the problem. It is why most of the 25 million year old Great Barrier Reef is either very sick or dying, and why mass die-offs of penguins in the Antarctic and polar bears in the Arctic are occurring.

NASA has determined that we are locked into about 3 feet of sea level change by the end of this century, imperiling several human-inhabited islands including the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Tonga, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Cook Islands, Antigua and Nevis, and the Maldives. Ocean warming and sea level rise will be worse without action.

[greenpassion]

[Dollythehun]

"I used to think old houses should be preserved only due to their age. I'm coming around to realizing housing technology has improved so much it is exceptionally unwise, economically, to maintain obsolete structures."
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So, we should tear down our built in 1957 home and live in a tent?