At the risk of getting into all kinds of trouble ...

It sounds to me like lots of you are wasting a lot of $$ on excess heat. I
know many of you have longer, colder winters than we do. But
even here in South Florida, we _do_ get some cold nights. As a business, we
heat to 55F (lots of reasons, most of which wouldn't apply to a hobby
grower)..

But most of our hobby-grower customers don't worry about heating above 40F,
nor did we in our backyard days. Now, it does pay to keep in mind that
weather prediction is at best an inexact science -- I will never forget the
night I went to bed after an 11 pm prediction of a 49F low, only to wake up
and find
it 37F on my partially-enclosed porch the next morning. No thermometer in
the detached shadehouse, but undoubtedly some degrees colder. Everything
was set back for a full year, a few things took 2 years to get back on
track, and I
totally lost 5-6 plants (out of about 500). So if you need to turn
something on, or if your heating method is to bring your plants inside your
home, you need to act if the low is predicted to be 55F -- that prediction
could be off by 12 or more degrees.

Certainly, there are a few plants which are inherently "extra-sensitive" to
cold, along with those in spike/bud/bloom. But you don't have to heat your
whole growing area to accommodate those few, if you have them. If bringing
them inside with you is not a good option, then create one small
"extra-warm" zone for those few, and then lower your general thermostat to
something like 45F.

And then next spring, come spend your utility savings with us G.

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids