Maple syrup

[Srgnt Billko]

No frost in the ground here yet. Wondering what that will do to our maple syruping.

[Steveo]

We've had a very mild go of it so far here in N Ohio too, Sarge, 50 degrees today.

[Steveo]

Hey btw, it's colder than a well diggers ass here now.

[Eggs Zachtly]

Yup. I'm about sick of single digits. And, they're just starting. *sigh*

[Steveo]

As strange as it sounds...I'm enjoying it over here, if for no other reason than insect control.

I heat with firewood/coal air-tights as much as I can.

[Eggs Zachtly]

I have an 8x12 greenhouse that I built this summer that I'm worried about with these temps. Although, the minimum temp I've registered has been 51 at night. If that's as cold as it'll get inside, well... that's pretty much perfect. I'm still gonna sweat it this winter, though. =)

[Steveo]

That is a bit on the cold side unless you're growing leaf lettuce, eggs. :)

I admire your greenhouse anyhow.

[Eggs Zachtly]

Actually, for night-time, it's just about right. 70/50 [1] is a pretty good general temp range. I don't think the Ficus in there has dropped a single leaf. That's really freakin me out, LOL. I've seen Ficus drop almost all their leaves, just moving them across a room, heh. Had I not seen a rootball, I'd swear it was fake. =D

I've only lost one plant, but it was a Cissus discolor that I had untwined (apparently, not carefully enough) from a wrought iron post. It was quite happy around that post, and it's a fairly delicate vine. I guess it just snapped in too many places. *shrug* It's ok, though. I took cuttings from the remaining one, so next year I'll have one for each porch post, again. =) Everything else appears to be thriving. Hell, there's Impatiens that I thought I removed from some wreaths, that are now in full bloom. A couple other semi-tropicals are also blooming profusely, as well as Hibiscus. Makes for a nice "getaway" on a cold, brown, winter day. =)

Thanks, man. I'm pretty stoked about it. It's not finished. I got as far as getting the benches built before it started getting too cool outside. I've got to wait until spring, when I can pull everything back out to get the plumbing for the drip irrigation system, and the electrical system, installed. It was easier this year to just install two new breakers, outside GFCI outlets, and run two 5000BTU heaters off extension cords to those outlets. I'm not a fan of using cords with heaters, but everything is new, from the service panel to the heaters, and nothing feels even remotely warm to the touch. Should be fine for one season.

Once the electrical is installed, I then have those two outlets available (fullfilling a huge need) for Christmas lights. No more blown breakers WooHoo! =D

Next year, the plan is to line the inside of the polycarb panels with bubble wrap, for some additional insulation in the winter. If the calculations I've done are correct, I should be able to then maintain a much more "friendly" envirionment for winter use of the GH. It'll be a bit more organized once it's finished, leaving room to give a few veggies a go, in the winter. =)

Were it not for my new toy, the cold wouldn't bother me in the least. I much prefer winter to summer. You can keep putting on layers to get/stay warm, but you can only take off so many, before it becomes illegal. ;)

[1] On a cloudy day. Each heater is on it's own thermostat (not digital), set to 70. It gets a bit (75-80) warmer on a sunny day, no matter the ambient temp outside.

[Steveo]

That sounds good, Eggs, have any pics of it?

[Eggs Zachtly]

[...]

Ya. Somewhere. There's construction pics too, but they're on a 35mm I need to finish shooting. Heh, I picked up a digital last summer, and haven't even thought about the film cameras since. I'll see if I can scrounge some up and post em somewhere. =)