At the risk of getting into all kinds of trouble ...

It sounds to me like lots of you are wasting a lot of $$ on excess heat. I
know many of you have longer, colder winters than we do. But
even here in South Florida, we _do_ get some cold nights. As a business, we
heat to 55F (lots of reasons, most of which wouldn't apply to a hobby
grower)..

But most of our hobby-grower customers don't worry about heating above 40F,
nor did we in our backyard days. Now, it does pay to keep in mind that
weather prediction is at best an inexact science -- I will never forget the
night I went to bed after an 11 pm prediction of a 49F low, only to wake up
and find
it 37F on my partially-enclosed porch the next morning. No thermometer in
the detached shadehouse, but undoubtedly some degrees colder. Everything
was set back for a full year, a few things took 2 years to get back on
track, and I
totally lost 5-6 plants (out of about 500). So if you need to turn
something on, or if your heating method is to bring your plants inside your
home, you need to act if the low is predicted to be 55F -- that prediction
could be off by 12 or more degrees.

Certainly, there are a few plants which are inherently "extra-sensitive" to
cold, along with those in spike/bud/bloom. But you don't have to heat your
whole growing area to accommodate those few, if you have them. If bringing
them inside with you is not a good option, then create one small
"extra-warm" zone for those few, and then lower your general thermostat to
something like 45F.

And then next spring, come spend your utility savings with us <G>.

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids
kenni [at] jborchids.com

If you havent lived in the northern US you wouldnt know how easily all 500
of your orchids could be turned to ice with only 5 or 6 living thru it. You
live in south florida. I lived in Lakeland in central Florida for 3 years so
I have a good idea of what your winters are like. I grew up in Indiana and
have seen temperatures go from just above freezing to -20 while I slept.
Combined with some 50 mph winds that will turn a poorly heated green house
into a plant graveyard. Thats not all that common in central Indiana but
farther north in Michigan it is normal winter weather. So I think the
overkill may be more like insurance. And there might be a different survival
rate for plants that were exposed overnite like yours and plants exposed to
cold temps for weeks at a time

Roger In Indy
"Kenni Judd" <kenni [at] REMOVEjborchids.com> wrote in message
news:grCdnZs_I4DTOcfenZ2dnUVZ_s2dnZ2d [at] adelphia.com...
> At the risk of getting into all kinds of trouble ...
>
> It sounds to me like lots of you are wasting a lot of $$ on excess heat.
> I know many of you have longer, colder winters than we do. But
> even here in South Florida, we _do_ get some cold nights. As a business,
> we heat to 55F (lots of reasons, most of which wouldn't apply to a hobby
> grower)..
>
> But most of our hobby-grower customers don't worry about heating above
> 40F, nor did we in our backyard days. Now, it does pay to keep in mind
> that
> weather prediction is at best an inexact science -- I will never forget
> the night I went to bed after an 11 pm prediction of a 49F low, only to
> wake up and find
> it 37F on my partially-enclosed porch the next morning. No thermometer in
> the detached shadehouse, but undoubtedly some degrees colder. Everything
> was set back for a full year, a few things took 2 years to get back on
> track, and I
> totally lost 5-6 plants (out of about 500). So if you need to turn
> something on, or if your heating method is to bring your plants inside
> your home, you need to act if the low is predicted to be 55F -- that
> prediction could be off by 12 or more degrees.
>
> Certainly, there are a few plants which are inherently "extra-sensitive"
> to cold, along with those in spike/bud/bloom. But you don't have to heat
> your whole growing area to accommodate those few, if you have them. If
> bringing them inside with you is not a good option, then create one small
> "extra-warm" zone for those few, and then lower your general thermostat to
> something like 45F.
>
> And then next spring, come spend your utility savings with us <G>.
>
> --
> Kenni Judd
> Juno Beach Orchids
> kenni [at] jborchids.com
>
>
>

Kenni Judd wrote:
> At the risk of getting into all kinds of trouble ...
>
> It sounds to me like lots of you are wasting a lot of $$ on excess heat. I
> know many of you have longer, colder winters than we do. But
> even here in South Florida, we _do_ get some cold nights. As a business, we
> heat to 55F (lots of reasons, most of which wouldn't apply to a hobby
> grower)..
>
> But most of our hobby-grower customers don't worry about heating above 40F,
> nor did we in our backyard days.

You have some chilly nights, but does it usually warm up the next day?
Plants may well tolerate temperatures in the 40s for a few hours, if
they warm up into the 70s the next day. But what if they stay cold?
On short, cloudy northeastern or midwestern winter days, there may not
be enough solar heating to push the temperature much above the
night-time low. With a minimum night time temp of 55-60 that may be
enough to keep the plants ticking over, even if they aren't growing
much. But, if the temperature drops to the 40s at night, the grower
will probably have to run the heater during the day to get the
temperature up (thus negating some of the savings).

Sunny days are, of course, no problem, but I prefer to set the
thermostat once, rather than running out to change it whenever the
weather shifts. My most expensive month is December, which tends to be
cloudy. By February, the days are usually sunny enough for significant
solar heating, even though the nights are still cold. Other peoples
mileage may vary, but I start to lose plants and/or have problems with
bacterial rots if I set the thermostat much below 60.