Orchid Emergency! Cold incoming and GH is not operational yet. Who do I inside?
 

Hello All,

I have an urgent problem.

My GH is not yet ready but tomorrow night it will get down to 43F after having rained torrentially today.

I need to prioritze which plants to hurry inside to either the unheated but insulated car, the unheated but still insulated GH, and the really sensitive ones into my house.

Here is a pretty definitive list of my collection.

https://orchids.org/users/3590/myplants

I think many of the plants will be okay outside but which ones do I need to bring in?

Can you get temporary heat somehow? Extension chords and space heater?
Depending on how big ti is you might be able to warm it up with some lights. For one night you probably don’t need much heat.

Is it dry in the GH? Go get a propane tank and a burner heater and it’ll get you a night or two at least.

I actually have my heater and it works and could heat the GH easily. The problem is the floor isn’t done yet and I can’t move the collection back yet as the heavy shelves will undo my floor work. The plants are all outside mostly. I am trying to figure out which ones MUST come inside and which could tolerate low 40s as I can’t move all 220 of them in my human or greenhouse while it’s being renovated.

Take a look at the Plant List on my website... that may give some help, the things that I grow outside can take 40's. Most of your plants are going to be a bit unhappy, especially since they're wet. (A dry orchid will put up with a lot more cold than a wet one) Suggestion - toss some bedsheets over them (and plastic drop cloth on top of that if it is still raining) If you have some incandescent Christmas lights, you can put those around under that "tent" - they are designed to be used outside so should be pretty safe, will give a bit of warmth. If you have a pop-up canopy, you could use that, enclose with plastic.

The car or garage (just get them out of the rain) will have enough residual warmth that even if it is chilly, they'll likely be OK. Don't worry about the lack of light for a couple of days. Just get them as much protection as you can manage - and the opportunity to dry out.

I was thinking the same thing as Roberta, maybe a tarp over a patio table with the plants underneath with a shop light would keep them a bit warmer and sheltered from rain and wind.
I’m in NJ just south if you and was bringing stuff in all night.

We had our first cold night around a month ago and I had to bring all the plants inside in one night...the orchids and my other plants. I feel full sympathy for both of you.

From a very genuine sensible perspective ....... must totally avoid getting into predicaments like this.

Sounds like it will be necessary to use the heaters in the greenhouse.... regardless of floors unfinished.

If the number of orchids is relatively high ..... and time is not on our side ..... then just get the heaters working and that should sort it.

Keep us posted about what approach you take ----- eg. transferring all the orchids temporarily indoors, or getting the heaters to work etc.

All the best!

In the house: bulbos, phals, vandas, rhynchostylis, renanthera.

Personally, I wouldn’t let anything see the low 40’s. A week in a warm, dark basement is a better option.

It went down to 41 according to me thermometer. I brought the bulbos, phals, vandas (but not all the Angraecums), and a few most sensitive Cattleya hybrids in the house.

I left the majority of the Angraecums, the bulk of the cattleyas, all the paphs, Dendrobiums (pretty much all nobiles), Lycaste, zygos, miltoniopsis, and Cymbidiums out.

Nothing thankfully was injured. That was the only day this week that is supposed plunge below 50f at night so everything should be fine now.