It's 2220hrs, on the first day of January of 2018, and somewhere in the close vicinity to 10 degrees F (-12C) here in Pikeville TN, almost 36 degrees north latitude, about 60 miles (96km) north of Chattanooga TN. And I simply felt compelled to write and extend my most profound thanks to all them members of this forum who have assisted me and put up with my questions over the last few years. I think your willingness to provide your time and your knowledge to others in need of help is indicitive of the general nature of your charcter. I think your parents, one and all, have a very great justification for being very proud of you all. Thank you ... every one of you ... I hope that all of this "training" will help me to serve others in the future as yours has served me in the past.
And I am SO glad to have a thermostatically controlled heater in my greenhouse. Otherwise, I'd be carting around 40 containers (some of which weigh around 30lbs (almost 14kg)), bringing them inside to keep them from the extreme temperatures and THEN carting them back outside when things warmed back up. My thermostat turns the heater on at 40F (about 4C) and then back off at 45F (about 7C) ... so the cacti/succulents get a cool/dry "winter" but do not suffer from extreme low temperatures. I have put this number of cacti/succulents in the greenhouse for a couple of reasons:
- 1) I had a few plants that, despite all my additional lighting, were suffering from a little bit of etiolation. And a couple from a lot of etiolation. So I figured that most everything would benefit from being outside in the much brighter sun, and yet protected from the non-desert-like-rains that we get here in Tennessee. (and most everything did benefit ... except for the Haworthias, that got a good bit of sunburn and most of them almost died. Fortunately, for me, they are hardy succulents, and recovered nicely with time.)
2) It was my understanding that some cacti would not flower if they did not experience a winter "rest period".
3) I was just plain running out of room. I still have another 40 or so containers here in the "inside" window sills, and I just don't see how I was able to keep those additional 40 containers inside also. I mean, I remember constantly having to move things around so I could do meaningless tasks (like cook and eat), but it was sort of "doable".