It's 30 degrees F below zero

[Laura L.]

It's 30 degrees below zero, but I have blooms! Hello! It's a bit chilly here today, but the greenhouse is keeping warm. Have never watched orchids grow before, we'll see how they do! Just got a new computer and am just learning to move photos around from the camera, so the Avatar (what is that anyway) is my first thumbnail. It is a picture of one of my "tests" for this winter in the greenhouse. Found out from orchid geeks it is a noid. The other 5 I bought have names, but none of the others look like this one. I've taken sneak peaks at this wonderful website from work for a few months now. Looking forward to more research and fun!

[PhalPal]

Welcome to the forum LauraL!! You will gain vast information here. I don't know how I would handle 30 below. I can't even imagine it. Guess I would just never leave the house???

From the small thumbnail I think your avatar is a Sarcocillus?? Harmanii (sp)? I have looked at a few of these but have been told they don't do well out of Australia except in a greenhouse. Does it have a tag?

[exasperatus2002]

Im from PA and Norweign by blood (Im an American F2) and I dont think I'd handle -30 very well.

[mayres]

Welcome Laura - I guess I better stop complaining about 20 F! Yowser. Look forward to hearing about your orchids in the future.

[kocich1]

Welcome fellow Chicagoian!!

It read 15 below without the windchill down here in the Loop.

I have to get the camera out too. My Phal. has 2 new spikes and budding.
Where do you keep your green house?

My Phal. loves the sun porch even though it is a little cool. I am reading like crazy to make sure I can keep her alive.

I have really caught the bug picked up a beautiful Cymbidium last Saturday and ordered a Phal. Mini Mark 'Holm' - mericlone , does anyone have one?

Look forward to seeing a close-up of your orchid.

—K

[Laura L.]

This guy had no tag. The others were all dens from Hawaii. (via WalMart). K, last time I was in Chicago area, I remember a wonderful garden shop in the Old Orchard area, I believe, that had a room full of orchids. Hope to get there again.

The greenhouse is attached to my husband's workshop. The shop & greenhouse have in-floor heat. Temp in the workshop stays pretty constant. Greenhouse goes up and down - I am monitoring daily high's & lows - usually seem to be a good range with a 20 - 30 degree difference between night & day (I've heard orchids like that.) I have pics, just need to reduce them.

Thanks for the welcomes.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Laura, I hope you have a backup heater system on a different and totally independent power source. Also, I would recommend a hardwired alarm system, like the Therm Alarm III from these people: Alarm Monitoring Systems . You don't need their expensive kit, just the main unit, with the rest of the parts from Radio Shack (2 9V batteries in series) and wire from the cheapest source.

You could use the wireless unit from Oregon Scientific, but it is less dependable and less shockingly noisy: EMR812 Oregon Scientific Dual Display Wireless Indoor and Outdoor Thermometer . All three channels, if you buy additional sensors, are alarmed. I also have the older, more expensive, unit that registers both temp and humidity, but only the #1 sensor is alarmed. Well that leaves me with three alarmed sensors, and I can assure you that I sleep very well at night (temps down to +10F), until I get woken up at 3 am because of operator error (one heater left up plugged).

[PhalPal]

kocich1 lots of us on this forum have Mini Marks; in fact I have one spiking right now. Delightful little plant and so resilient. Who did you order from??

Mike I think I will stop complaining about 55. It's been weird down here; we go from rain/sun/rain/sun several times a day. People are snowed in on the roads on two mountain passes around us. Yes, we do get 'snowed in' in So. California. We're too surrounded by mountains to avoid it.

LauraL just a question?? I am beginning a house remodel and I'm thinking about in-floor heating for my master bathroom. It is the hottest and coldest room in the house (depending on season) and will get a lot colder with the stone I have planned. It's not common here to heat floors so I don't have anyone, other then contractors, to talk to about it. Any big concerns or something I should avoid?? ANY information is most appreciated.

[kocich1]

I'd love to have a green house like that, I would go nuts growing orchids.

Have a portable one for the sun porch. Need to get a humidifier for back there.

I read about the temperature fluctuation also, I think especially during the winter to help flower.

Still a newbie.

There is a nursery in Villa Park, IL.Orchids by Hausermann.

—K

[Laura L.]

Pictures coming eventually...am trying out that Photobucket recommendation from PhalPal from awhile ago.

The infloor heat in the shop/greenhouse is from the wood boiler. That has never gone out, but I always did want a back up - like propane, something not so labor intensive! The shop/greenhouse is one mile from the house, do you think an alarm system travels that far?

PhalPal, we just remodeled a bathroom (no basement) - took out carpet and laid the in-floor heat with porcelain tile on top. Our heat in the house is electric. It is NICE!! I believe it was called "warmly yours." My husband did the install, but he is very experienced & knowledgeable about building. I'll ask him and get back to you! I do not, though, remember too many unrepeatable words during this project...not like some others.

I have a mini den...picture coming...

[joan gero]

PhalPal, we also put in-floor heating in our bathroom when we remodeled from scratch... it's electric coils or linked elements beneath the ceramic floor tiles... and the problem with our system (apart from Global Warming) is that the floor reflects exactly the pattern of the electric elements below, with some areas decidedly warmer than others. The heat doesn't generalize very evenly with this system. How about fern boughs every night on the floors???!

[Laura L.]

Newbie trying photos. Hope they're not too big. Let me know what I did wrong or right!

[Laura L.]

Re, the floor heat. New thread perhaps? The warmly yours came with the coils already nicely spaced & there is no uneven-ness in heating. In the shop which has about a 48'x 84' or something like that floor, and the greenhouse which is something like 10 x 40, there is no unevenness. He has some kind of temperature sensing "gun" you can "shoot" at things and shows temps. Everywhere is within +/- a degree or so.
Again, we love the floor heat, especially in the shop because it is such a nice, even, heat. The bathroom is great because of the ceramic floor and definitely warm. I wonder if Joan's coils were spaced too far apart?

[janice]

Laura L. welcome .....................I am not going to complain about 3 degrees tonight..................................When my daughter moved from Southern Illinois to Chicago she complained about the COLD weather!! I guess she does not KNOW ABOUT COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am new to this site and it is absolutely Great!!..

[evagentry]

Hi Laura L. and welcome, my daughter and her family live in oshkosh, wi. when she said it was -30 the other day, I was glad I live where I do.

[Steve B]

This may sound sick to some of you - but I actually prefer the cold. I find it easier to stay warm in the cold, than get cool in the heat. Plus I find it makes outdoor activities a little more exciting (ice fishing, camping, snowmobiling). We haven't had any -30 days this year, but we've had -20C (with windchill) for the last week or so. It was a brisk -23C walk to work this morning.

Steve

[PhalPal]

Steve at 115 pounds I can't put enough on to stay warm once it gets below 35!!!! (ABOVE zero) I freeze solid 10 feet out of the door! I like it 70 and sunny with 40% humidity. Not too picky, am I???? I agree with the harder to stay cool part up in Canada; 70 degrees in Buffalo with their humidity in the summer and I'm miserable.

[Laura L.]

Steve B - if I remember right, -18 C is about 0 F? I do agree, there's lots to like about the cold weather,,,,no bugs for instance.

[Steve B]

Hi Laura L

Yep - that is about right. C=(5/9) x (F-32)

Steve

[PhalPal]

Laura not all warm weather areas come with bugs.