How are you and your plants doing up north and east?

[sundanz]

In this extreme cold this year, how are you protecting your cacti that are growing outside or on porches? Here in Texas it's cold but not to that extreme! My GH is heated and my outdoor cacti are under a heavy tarp. This morning it's in the teens here, like 17!! High today 30!
Hope you are all staying warm and safe!!

Karin

[oldcat61]

I was wondering the same thing, especially our friend in Vermont who was having trouble keeping his GH warm. I'm pleased with my set-up, thanks to my wonderful, resourceful husband. It was minus 5 here several days ago & another dip is coming but the GH is easily maintaining around 60. I expect I will lose a lot of a semi- tender perennials/shrubs in the garden. Sue

[iann]

How are you and your plants doing up north and east?

Pretty good The crazy US cold has pushed storm after storm across the Atlantic which has kept it warm if a little damp.

[DaveW]

From reports we get in the UK it sounds as if you are getting some really severe weather and still have some more to come:-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... tates.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -MARS.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Britain has had high winds with heavy rain, and high tides plus gales have whipped up some big waves along the coast and caused rivers to burst their banks inland:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25618080" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Evidently the wandering of the Jet Stream has caused both countries severe weather events:-

http://robertscribbler.wordpress.com/20 ... ost-of-us/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Take care and keep out of the cold.

[BobbyZ]

Sunny North East Florida is getting ready for the coldest night in 40 years ~5-8 C. I moved all the orchid cactus, and cold sensitive plants inside the house from the lanai. I put my Staghorn ferns in the garage and took my Neoreligia bromeliads out of the palm trees, and brought my tropical air plants in from off the lanai wall. We have put frost cloths on my agave and cactus gardens and moved the most sensitive aloes inside. By wednesday we will be back to 15 to18 C. We are glad we stocked up om frost cloth. The next ten days will be back to normal Florida weather

[majcka]

From where I stand it doesn't even look we live on the same planet. No sign of winter here AT ALL. We didn't see not even one snow flake (except in mountains above 1200 or 1500 meters). We had some freezin early december, but that is all about winter for now. Right now we have nights in 6degC (42F) and in the daytime if sun comes out we get about 14degC (57F).

I hope we won't start winter at Easter.

My hopes and hart is with you who strugle winter and with all your plants. Hope for minimum loses.

[sundanz]

Thank you , Maja! Normally our winters are what you just described. Mild! However. this winter is horrible!!!
Last night was 13 degrees, a record low for our area. I just checked my outside Aloes that are covered by a heavy tarp, well, they are frozen solid! A friends sing pool is covered by a sheet of ice!!!!! Crazy!! Hope all of our cacti friends up north are staying warm, and a lot of people have no power!!

Karin

[sundanz]

I meant to say Swimming pool instead of Sing pool!:-)
Karin

[iann]

Maybe all the people getting it bad have lost their internet or electricity?

[oldcat61]

Fanaticactus from Vermont posted on another thread - he has power but his GH is pretty much mush at this point. We had high wind & 4 degrees again last night but the GH was 61 with the baseboard on, in addition to the oscillating heater. Made cookies for Wonderful Husband, who has been turning the baseboard on as needed. Lots of firewood, 20 gallons of gas for the generator & plenty of booze & cat food. Sue

[sundanz]

I like the idea of enough booze to keep your spirits up!!!l LOL
My Aloes are hone, frozen solid! Such a shame, they looked so good and we're growing so nicely in my outdoor bed. Perhaps I'll scrap the idea of an outdoor bed and just keep all of my plant in a GH. Can't handle all these corpses.....

Karin

[DaveW]

The ones that last in the cactus hobby are usually the ones who have lost plants in the bad winters but pick themselves up again and re-collect. It's amazing how quickly your greenhouse fills up again afterwards, particularly if you are a seed raiser and swap plants and cuttings between friends.

I reckon over my 50+ years in the hobby I must have lost the equivalent of a couple of collections due to bad winters, but still keep setting seeds at 72 years old, no doubt the "triumph of hope over experience".

Anyway commiserations to all that lost plants, at least you can expect not to get a winter as bad for a decade or so in future.

[sundanz]

Dave, no, I'm not giving up!! I'm not a quitter but it is discouraging to see Monsieur Winter causing such havoc! I'm your age and have seen a lot of ups and downs in my lifetime so a few dead plants won't stop me from collecting!:-)

Karin

[majcka]

Dave, no, I'm not giving up!! I'm not a quitter but it is discouraging to see Monsieur Winter causing such havoc! I'm your age and have seen a lot of ups and downs in my lifetime so a few dead plants won't stop me from collecting!:-)

Karin

You must be one very gentle person. From where you stand I would call it "A pain in the butt" Winter.

[Thord Hakansson]

As it has been for Maja,the same has been in Sweden. Some degrees below 0C and a Little flurry of snow at the beginning of December but since then it has been around +4C, but the weather forecast says it will go down to -10C in the next couple of days and that would be the norm for this time of the Winter. I did lost a collection of around 3000 plants some years ago caused by a blown fuse and a very cold weather(-25C for more than three weeks )but now I´m back with a little more than 2000 plants. You´ll have to reason like most of us do-a dead plant gives place for a new one.....