West Coast Cold

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

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 13:48:54 -0800, K Barrett wrote (in article <xaWdnTWQBKZYBDPYnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com):

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:

Kathy,

I was always taught to pull back on water when things were cold to prevent rot from setting in quickly, rather than as a frost protectant. Cold + wet equals prime growth conditions for rot fungi and bacteria.

-Eric in SF

How far South does this threaten. Our weather man usually shows us the patterns as far down the coast as the Gulf of CA. Yesterday they showed photos of snow in Malibu. Then he was on and so worried about another Friday snow (5th week in a row)<G> that he never got to southern CA.

Wendy grows a lot outdoors - is it that far south?

And how are the MO people doing? I know you have a large section still without power. Do we need some re-populating efforts scheduled for May? SuE

Thanks for this Tom, interesting reading. The ground is 5 degrees warmer if watered???

Wendy, maybe we should enter?