On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 13:48:54 -0800, K Barrett wrote
(in article ):
I have been dealing (or not dealing) with the uncommon cold. As a strategy
I didn't water for many weeks, (Last time was mid October IIRC). I'm not
sure if that was the right thing to do or not, but that's what I did. The
GH is mostly unheated. I do have a heater, and it kicks on to keep the GH
at a min of 52 (or at least that's what the min/max themoneter says the min
has been the last few days.)
I didn't water becasue in the back of my mind I recalled a botany prof
talking about how in a freeze if a cell is full of water and freezes, the
ice crystals will cut the cell membrane, lysing the cell when it defrosts.
so I've been keeping the cells empty... *G*.
Sure I could turn on the heat, but the boyfriend yells too much so I'd
rather not face that argument yet again, so its adapt or die. Touch wood,
so far the catts are OK, Only a few leaves have been lost, and I'll bet the
cold dry rest will make the dendrobiums bloom great next year.
Of course I broke down and watered yesterday, and it rained last night and
this morning every puddle outside was frozen... I haven't even thought about
going into the GH....
Its odd. During the day the swamp cooler kicks on becasue its bright and
sunny, at night it freezes. Since I didn't know which way to jump I opted
for not watering.
We'll see what happens next year (No soup for you!)
As to Mitsui et al, I'll bet they have heaters. Salinas isn't the banana
belt that SB is. SBOE has both outdoor shaded areas and true GHs with
heaters so they are probably OK too.
K Barrett
Hey, Kath, it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. My min/max
has been recording upper 20s outdoors for the last few nights, but my cheapy
heater has kept the GH in the low 50s at night, and it runs into the 70s
during the day. I've been watering same as always - every 10-14 days in
Winter - and everything looks happy, including the dendrobes.
Here's a URL at Cornell that offers some thoughts about frost and watering:
http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/weather/frost.pdf
Tom
Walnut Creek, CA
Nikon D200