I detest winter.

[lienluu]

To say I am upset would be to put it mildly.... Last night was one of the coldest nights we've had all winter. Before going to bed I checked all the outlets to make sure things were "ok"....which I do everynight.

But somehow, during the middle of the night, the heater on my Cattleya/Laelia anceps house got unplugged and to make it worse, for some reason the back-up heater did not power up.

When I checked the greenhouse this morning the temperature was 26F (19F outside) and all the leaves were frozen solid. I am soo upset. Some of the anceps in there were worth thousands of dollars...as well as some of the cattleyas. I have been collecting these divisions for the past 10 years and all of a sudden overnight, they all froze. Some of those plants I have had for 10+ years and many of the anceps had hundreds of bulbs and had 30+ spikes all about to open!

I checked on them recently (3 hours after heater plugged back in). Some of the plants I am hoping will be able to recover. It looks like all the new growths have died, but there's a chance that the old bulbs will somehow pull through. The new ones are all mushy already but the old bulbs are still hard.

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

[Equestris]

Lien! This is terrible news! I feel that anything I could say would be trite in the face of such a loss. I have so admired the laelia and catt photos you have posted at the other forum. What a loss! Please tell me the birds are OK!

 

[likespaphs]

i'm very sorry to hear about this...

i'm not sure how to put this delicately, but are you thinking about getting a temperature alarm that will notify you in case the temp falls below a preset limit?

 

[lienluu]

Please tell me the birds are OK!

Yup, the birds are in a diff. area and the heater there was unaffected, as well as the heater in the main greenhouse.

Stupid winter.

 

[lienluu]

i'm very sorry to hear about this...

i'm not sure how to put this delicately, but are you thinking about getting a temperature alarm that will notify you in case the temp falls below a preset limit?

There was one! But I tend to be a heavy sleeper and well...really nothing wakes me up! You get used to sleeping with a lot of noise when you have screaming parrots!

 

[Heather]

This is why I don't ever want a greenhouse. There are just too many variables that can go wrong.


as Laura said, nothing one can really say to make one feel better in this sort of situation, but I'm very sad about your loss, Lien.

 

[Bob in Albany N.Y.]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I had been thinking about putting an alarm system in the house. The also offered a high, low alarm like the sensaphone. That does it. When I get home from work today I'm telling my wife that I just don't want that system but rather NEED it.

Don't go throwing everything out Lien. I'll bet many of the large plants will pull threw.ity:

 

[Sangii]

sorry to hear such bad news !!!! for some reason one night last year the heating system did not work and the temp went down to 7°C. Luckily enough I did not loose any plant, but I now have an alarm in the house !

 

[Rick]

That is bad news Lien. Winter where me out too.

Unlike you I am a pretty light sleeper, and on major cold nights I don't get much sleep monitoring the main and backup systems.

Heather down here just growing indoors is not foolproof either. We frequently loose power for a few hours at a time and the whole house can get cold in a hurry too without backup heating systems.

I have a free standing propane system that doesn't require any electricity. Unfortunately without power for fans the heat goes to the top of the greenhouse and the bottom can still get pretty cold. (That's why I also have a battery opperated fan system now too).

 

[Heather]

Heather down here just growing indoors is not foolproof either. We frequently loose power for a few hours at a time and the whole house can get cold in a hurry too without backup heating systems.

Actually, I was just thinking about that, Rick! If I was still living in Boston, I would have had no heat Friday night and Saturday because someone let the oil run out.

 

[Rick]

Actually, I was just thinking about that, Rick! If I was still living in Boston, I would have had no heat Friday night and Saturday because someone let the oil run out.

My family thinks its ironic that if we loose power for an extended period the orchids would survive and the kids will freeze:evil:

 

[Gideon]

Terrible news Lien, I am still trying to recover some of my Phrags from our last winter, so I know how you feel

 

[MoreWater]

My family thinks its ironic that if we loose power for an extended period the orchids would survive and the kids will freeze:evil:

that's when you grab the tent and camp out in the gh

Really sorry to hear the news. If I had a gh, I'd probably never sleep on freezing cold nights. I guess you can put me in the same camp as Heather.

Having said that, I'm just so totally envious of anyone who has a house or a gh. Sooooooo space constrained over here

Hope some of them pull through.

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

Lien- I'm so sorry to hear about your loss....I'd be optimistic about the overall survival of the plants...it doesn't sound like the freezing tempoeratures lasted that long to fully kill the plants...I have a low tech partial solution for avoiding future problems...as your Laelia greenhouse is very small, it may help to have a 5 gal pail, 2 if there is enough room (I know space is tight), completely filled with water and covered. When temps drop below freezing, it will not only retain some heat, but release heat as the water freezes...not enough to really warm things up, but possibly enough to prevent the kind of damage that you had..(Note- this is good only for a very small space, and Lien's greenhouse is very small...). Take care, and hope all works well in the long run. Eric

 

[johnndc]

Just a thought, and it's obviously only a partial solution, but if you gave away or sold any divisions of your plants, you might want to inquire if the person you gave them to can spare a division back? In view of the circumstances, I can't imagine anyone saying no - at least letting you get a division back when the time for dividing comes.

 

[BotanicaLtd]

Being in Montana (and we're in the warm part of Montana) we know more about the freezing temperatures and heaters and alarms than we want to. I'm a SUPER light sleeper that now takes sleeping pills, and my husband is deaf (without his hearing aids). We have a Thermalarm with a loud buzzer, and a Sensaphone (which calls any four phone numbers you program into it) when the temps. reach an extreme. I can sleep through the Thermalarm now, but NOT through the multiple phone calls. It gives a sense of security and was worth EVERY penny. You can also call the machine if you're out of town to check on greenhouse conditions (sound, temperature, etc.). It's a great piece of equipment!

Hopefully your orchids survive! We had many hours in the 30s during a power outage once and the only real damage was to some of the phals. I know your temps. were colder, but we're constantly amazed at what these incredible plants can survive. BEST WISHES.

 

[likespaphs]

you could also hook the sensaphone up to a cattle prod...

 

[NYEric]

Sorry to hear about the problem, maybe the losses wont be that bad and the plants will recover.

 

[littlefrog]

I bet some of the anceps will pull through, they get occassional freezing temperatures in situ, I believe.

Lien, I don't have anything really good, but I do have several anceps clones that I'd be happy to give you when the weather is warmer.

Rob

 

[Barbara]

I just about cried when I read your post, I am so sorry. Perhaps you can save some yet, they can be pretty tough. Living in a cold area can be nerve racking when you have orchids and parrots(I have birds too).