# I detest winter.



## lienluu (Jan 21, 2007)

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


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## Equestris (Jan 21, 2007)

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!


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## likespaphs (Jan 21, 2007)

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?


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## lienluu (Jan 21, 2007)

Equestris said:


> 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.


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## lienluu (Jan 21, 2007)

likespaphs said:


> 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!


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## Heather (Jan 21, 2007)

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.


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## Bob in Albany N.Y. (Jan 21, 2007)

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:


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## Sangii (Jan 21, 2007)

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 !


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## Rick (Jan 21, 2007)

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).


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## Heather (Jan 21, 2007)

Rick said:


> 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.


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## Rick (Jan 21, 2007)

Heather said:


> 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:


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## Gideon (Jan 21, 2007)

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


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## MoreWater (Jan 21, 2007)

Rick said:


> 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.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Jan 21, 2007)

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


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## johnndc (Jan 21, 2007)

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.


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## BotanicaLtd (Jan 21, 2007)

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.


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## likespaphs (Jan 22, 2007)

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


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## NYEric (Jan 22, 2007)

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


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## littlefrog (Jan 22, 2007)

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


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## Barbara (Jan 22, 2007)

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).


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## Wendy (Jan 22, 2007)

That's terrible Lien. I feel for you. As others have said I hope you have a lot pull through. If i had any Laelia anceps I would share with you...unfortunately I don't have any.

I too would be scared of growing in a greenhouse....I'm so used to having my plants in the basement. Good thing we've never lost power in the winter. (yet)


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## lienluu (Jan 22, 2007)

Well... after a full day of letting things settle... it looks like most of the anceps made it. Except for the new growths, those are all gone but all the old growths are OK. The leaves are all dead but the bulbs are OK....so that is enough.

Many of the cattleyas died. 

The biggest surprise is that I have a huge Stanhopea in there. That plant survived intact. In fact, when I found the mess yesterday morning. All the plants had leaves that were frozen solid and on a few, I bent them to see what would happen and they just snapped off. Not so with the stanhopea. The leaves didn't even freeze!


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## adiaphane (Jan 22, 2007)

lienluu said:


> Many of the cattleyas died.



I'm so sorry to read that! Your catts were so beautiful, and helped change my mind about catts (I'm serious, I really like catts now).

I can't offer any solutions or preventions, only condolences.


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## SlipperFan (Jan 23, 2007)

I'm sorry to hear about that, Lien. I guess we should all go live in the tropics.


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## Heather (Jan 23, 2007)

SlipperFan said:


> I'm sorry to hear about that, Lien. I guess we should all go live in the tropics...



together! I'm really thinking we get along here so well, let's move somewhere warm and hang out. It would certainly be easier to go out for a beer - although, one of us might have to open a bar to accomodate us all. 

I had a really nice note this evening from a forum member who admired how much of a real community of nice folks we were. It meant a lot to me, and means a lot to me. 

Love, kisses, and all that silliness.


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## SlipperFan (Jan 23, 2007)

Heather said:


> together! I'm really thinking we get along here so well, let's move somewhere warm and hang out. It would certainly be easier to go out for a beer - although, one of us might have to open a bar to accomodate us all.
> 
> I had a really nice note this evening from a forum member who admired how much of a real community of nice folks we were. It meant a lot to me, and means a lot to me.
> 
> Love, kisses, and all that silliness.


Can you imagine what kind of orchid paradise we would have.....:drool:


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## Rick (Jan 23, 2007)

Heather said:


> together! I'm really thinking we get along here so well, let's move somewhere warm and hang out. It would certainly be easier to go out for a beer - although, one of us might have to open a bar to accomodate us all.
> 
> I had a really nice note this evening from a forum member who admired how much of a real community of nice folks we were. It meant a lot to me, and means a lot to me.
> 
> Love, kisses, and all that silliness.



I have a brother in law who goes back and forth to Vietnam for extended periods.

He loves it, and plans on moving there for good. No shortage of beer either.


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## NYEric (Jan 24, 2007)

Rick said:


> I have a brother in law who goes back and forth to Vietnam for extended periods.
> 
> He loves it, and plans on moving there for good. No shortage of beer either.


HOT!!! [as in too hot]


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## NYEric (Jan 24, 2007)

H. I'm on the Ecuador or Costa Rican oceanside retirement plan!


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## ohio-guy (Jan 24, 2007)

Maybe we should all just meet for lunch first before we move in together!
Or maybe hook up for an orchid congress or show and be sure we are marginally compatible!!!

On a more serious note, I am sorry about your loss Lien, but hopefully the majority will pull thru, and for those that don't you have that much room for more!
Little solace perhaps too are the great photos you have shared with all of us...did you ever post pictures of your green house? If you did I missed it. But the flowers are always inspiring, and you still have great pictures.


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## Ron-NY (Jan 24, 2007)

Lien sorry to hear this...it is good to hear that most will pull through.


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## John M (Jan 24, 2007)

Lien, this is so terrible. I am very sorry that you've had this happen. Have you figured out why the heater plug got pulled out of the outlet? Have you checked the operation of your back-up heater to find out why it didn't come on? Man! You were so unlucky. This is a real tragety. If you're a heavy sleeper, couldn't you hook up the alarm system to a louder bell / buzzer? What about rigging it so that it sets off a smoke alarm, or, one of those big, loud, red fire bells that you see in public buildings. Put the whole thing on an automatic timer so that your birds don't suffer through hours of noise if you're not home in the day. If you're not home to hear it, there's no need for anything to be ringing anyway. I have a large greenhouse and freezing is always a big worry in the winter....that and high winds during serious summer thunder storms! I am so sorry for you. Don't throw out anything until every last scrap of it has turned black and mushy. You may be surprized how many tiny dormant eyes are still viable on very old psuedobulbs. The oldest ones, in the centre of the plant will have had the best chance of not being destroyed by the cold. Good luck!


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## Leo Schordje (Jan 24, 2007)

I once left a beautiful Lemboglossum bictoniense in the car, overnight, and the outside temps dropped to zero F, (-16 C for the Euro crowd) The pot and pseudobulbs froze solid. I brought the plant in and left it in a shady spot on the side. Mush. peeled off the mushy parts. Two months later a flush of tiny new growths came up from the rhizome connecting the stubs of frozen off pseudobulbs. 5 years later I have a couple pots of this bictoniense that have reach the size of first bloom seedlings. A horrible set back but miraculous that the plant was not completely lost. Don't throw anything out of unique genetic value, sprouts may come.


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## Jason Fischer (Jan 25, 2007)

Oh man, sorry to hear about that! Another local nursery here had this problem years ago and lost an entire greenhouse full of orchids to freezing.

Santa Barbara had the lowest temps since 20 years ago, reaching down to 23 degrees along parts of the coast! There are many L. anceps growers there who have them outside. Some of my friends said that they are suffering from freeze damage, but the plants are still alive. I'm guessing many of your large divisions will suffer cold damage, but also slowly recover. The big plus is there was no wind chill as they were enclosed in a greenhouse. I wouldn't loose all hope. All you can do is slowly bring them back to normal temps and go easy on the water for a few days. I'm hoping many of them will recover!


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