Log in

View Full Version : Real cold on the east coast this weekend


JCDerrick
01-13-2009, 05:31 PM
Any of you preparing for this real bad cold snap we've got coming through? We're probably going to have our coldest weather in the past five years.

Next two nights at a very reasonable 29F, though still below normal.

19F Thurs Night (that's as cold as we've gotten all winter back in Nov)
36F Friday Daytime
12F Friday Night (that's colder than I can remember in almost a decade)
22F Saturday Night

I am really concerned about all the bananas p-stems. I have several mulched with hay, and another two with Christmas lights, but all the others that are not protected and have survived. They were all growing new leaves last month before Christmas when it was warm.

I'm not even sure the Christmas lights will help much at 12F. I may try and wrap my largest one with the lights in a frost blanket. That seems to at least keep the temp 10F higher than the surrounding air. Glad I brought so many indoors after all.

Chironex
01-13-2009, 05:33 PM
Best of luck, John. Let's hope next year feeze-pruf becomes available.
Until then, pray!

Simply Bananas
01-13-2009, 06:41 PM
We are looking at 19 down here on the coast. Not much I can do either. I am putting a few work lights from Lowes into the 'greenhouse'. I watered them heavily last week as it was over 70.

mskitty38583
01-13-2009, 06:58 PM
20* tonight(tuesday)
5* wednsday night
too freeking cold!
have to mulch the ornatas, dwarf oronicos tomorrow morning. they only have about 4 inches of mulch on them now. so much for my experiment.....basjoos should be ok, i have 4 mulched high and one with 4 inches of mulch.

Richard
01-13-2009, 07:04 PM
20* tonight(tuesday)
5* wednsday night
too freeking cold!


:eek: :( :eek: :( :eek:
Holy Smackrels! Might as well be in Nebraska.

JCDerrick
01-13-2009, 07:08 PM
I just put x-mas lights on all the big ones in the backyard and then wrapped them with frost blankets. So that'll be at least 5-10F extra protection. A few I can't wrap, but I'll see what happens I guess. Scot, I do indeed hope FP is available next year, could really use it this week.

Praying the forecast is wrong - for a bunch of us.

5F mskitty? Yikes!

CookieCows
01-13-2009, 07:46 PM
Everything I have outside is covered with about 2' high of hay with backups inside. We always have a little bit of this each year so I'm interested to see how it all works out come spring.

Good luck everyone!

lt_eggbeater
01-13-2009, 10:36 PM
20* tonight(tuesday)
5* wednsday night
too freeking cold!
have to mulch the ornatas, dwarf oronicos tomorrow morning. they only have about 4 inches of mulch on them now. so much for my experiment.....basjoos should be ok, i have 4 mulched high and one with 4 inches of mulch.

So wheres the global warming at???? Could use some right now!

buzzwinder
01-13-2009, 10:57 PM
20* tonight(tuesday)
5* wednsday night
too freeking cold!
have to mulch the ornatas, dwarf oronicos tomorrow morning. they only have about 4 inches of mulch on them now. so much for my experiment.....basjoos should be ok, i have 4 mulched high and one with 4 inches of mulch.

Sam, we're looking a low of -11 thursday morn. a high of -2 thursday, low -21 Fri. morn. and a high of 3 for Friday, Saturday is going to feel like spring around these parts with a high 19!

Al Gore can take a leap.
Global warming ?
I beg to differ with that opinion!:bananas_b

JCDerrick
01-13-2009, 11:06 PM
Do we have to get into politics yet again? Seriously guys. One cold spell says nothing about our climate. 11 of the warmest years on record have all been in last 13 years.

buzzwinder
01-13-2009, 11:17 PM
Sorry John, wasn't meaning to get political, just making a comment, I'm just sick of all the COLD weather and extra 20 inches of snow so far this year from our norm. :bananas_b

lt_eggbeater
01-13-2009, 11:20 PM
Do we have to get into politics yet again? Seriously guys. One cold spell says nothing about our climate. 11 of the warmest years on record have all been in last 13 years.

It was actually not a politicaly motivated quote. It was a joke. I could actually use an extra degree or two here in the winter. But I know the consequences might not be good elsewhere. As far as my stance on actual global warming goes. I am not convinced one way or the other, but am all for saving energy and finding alternative energy sources for other enviromental reasons. I have a 10kw solar array scheduled to be installed on my roof in the next 60days. I would have had larger but I have an unusual roof line and didn't have anymore south facing roof area available. I will also be installing a solar hot water array maybe even two, and the hotwater systems currently installed are on demand units. I have no incandescent lighting in my house. All of my windows are argon filled low E etc etc etc.

JCDerrick
01-13-2009, 11:23 PM
No worries, just after almost two years of politics - I wanna talk plants :)

In fact, about right now I'd be happy to have some GW.

buzzwinder
01-13-2009, 11:29 PM
No worries, just after almost two years of politics - I wanna talk plants :)

In fact, about right now I'd be happy to have some GW.

No worries, though rather than GW I want A GH (green house)so I can get my nanners out of that small room in the basement :)

Tired of the MITE Wars and trying to keep humidity up!

JCDerrick
01-13-2009, 11:34 PM
They say everything has a purpose. I'd love someone to tell me what the purpose of mites, aphids, and mealy bugs is. Or mosquitos or fire ants for that matter. LOL, I think we'd all be happier with out them - as would our plants.

buzzwinder
01-13-2009, 11:47 PM
I think the Mites are here in winter to take the place of the mosquitos from the summer, as far as aphid go, well the ants eat'em and mealy bugs just because they're nasty lil buggers that make us ask ourselves " why are these here? I'm sure they all fit in the world somewhere but why do have to try and fit on our plants, Now Thats a Question for the ages! :ha: :bananas_b

lt_eggbeater
01-14-2009, 12:03 AM
No worries, just after almost two years of politics - I wanna talk plants :)

In fact, about right now I'd be happy to have some GW.

JC are you using mini Christmas lights or the larger ones?

JCDerrick
01-14-2009, 12:09 AM
JC are you using mini Christmas lights or the larger ones?

Mini on most of them, I have been using a combination of the large and small on my largest banana (making sure the actual lights don't touch the stem to avoid burns). And that banana is wrapped to, it's covered head to toe in lights. I have it on a thermostat that powers on at 36F. Worked like a charm so far - no p-stem damage at all on that plant and it's the only one. The others all are fine too, were putting out new leaves around Christmas again when it was so warm - but the top of their stems is mushy. So I'm a believer in the lights now - I may try them on more plants next year - it doesn't look as weird in the back yard as I'd imagined it would either.

lt_eggbeater
01-14-2009, 12:17 AM
Mini on most of them, I have been using a combination of the large and small on my largest banana (making sure the actual lights don't touch the stem to avoid burns). And that banana is wrapped to, it's covered head to toe in lights. I have it on a thermostat that powers on at 36F. Worked like a charm so far - no p-stem damage at all on that plant and it's the only one. The others all are fine too, were putting out new leaves around Christmas again when it was so warm - but the top of their stems is mushy. So I'm a believer in the lights now - I may try them on more plants next year - it doesn't look as weird in the back yard as I'd imagined it would either.

Cool I thought about the mini lights. We have thousands on the house, but wasn't sure they would make enough heat. In the end I said the heck with it and gave no protection at all. Every banana for himself! We will see if they made it this spring.

JCDerrick
01-14-2009, 12:21 AM
They don't put off a lot of heat and I've only tried them stand-alone on one banana out front, and I didn't wrap it especially well - BUT it seems to be doing well. It too is better than the stems that have nothing. The big lights are by far the warmest ones - they probably would burn if left in contact with the stem. But they seem to keep it a good deal warmer than the surrounding air on the cold nights. I have used the frost blankets to wrap around the plant and the heat from the lights really keeps it warm then. I have 5 remote thermometers in the yard to monitor various temps (I'm a weather geek) and the readings on that banana with the lights really is surprising some cold nights. I've seen it at 41F when it was 28F outside (blanket was on it).

I brought in WAY too many bananas in the garage this year - which bc of the cold is nice, but it's just asking for bug problems and they stretch so bad. Next year I am going to maybe save one pup of each type - but then see how they do. Right now I only have basjoo and Veluntina in the ground. But next year I think it'll be 14 different species - so a lot of finger crossing (though I got most of them from Pete and he's a bit colder than me in Lousiana).

lt_eggbeater
01-14-2009, 12:37 AM
They don't put off a lot of heat and I've only tried them stand-alone on one banana out front, and I didn't wrap it especially well - BUT it seems to be doing well. It too is better than the stems that have nothing. The big lights are by far the warmest ones - they probably would burn if left in contact with the stem. But they seem to keep it a good deal warmer than the surrounding air on the cold nights. I have used the frost blankets to wrap around the plant and the heat from the lights really keeps it warm then. I have 5 remote thermometers in the yard to monitor various temps (I'm a weather geek) and the readings on that banana with the lights really is surprising some cold nights. I've seen it at 41F when it was 28F outside (blanket was on it).

I brought in WAY too many bananas in the garage this year - which bc of the cold is nice, but it's just asking for bug problems and they stretch so bad. Next year I am going to maybe save one pup of each type - but then see how they do. Right now I only have basjoo and Veluntina in the ground. But next year I think it'll be 14 different species - so a lot of finger crossing (though I got most of them from Pete and he's a bit colder than me in Lousiana).

Off the top of my head these are the species in my yard. Rajapuri(currently has bananas) goldfinger,brazillian red, manzano, saba, cardaba, praying hands, zebrina, red ensente, icecream, valery, williams, dwarfcavendish, orinoco, mysore, basjoo, giant plantain, monkey finger. I'm sure I left some out but we will see who makes it.

JCDerrick
01-14-2009, 12:40 AM
I'd be curious to see who makes the grade. You're a little bit warmer than me, but still - should give a good idea of what's fussy and what's not :) We typically don't go below 20F more than once in the winter. This is a freakish cold snap for us. Looks like parts of NC will actually be a tad warmer than central SC. Go figure.

lt_eggbeater
01-14-2009, 12:47 AM
They don't put off a lot of heat and I've only tried them stand-alone on one banana out front, and I didn't wrap it especially well - BUT it seems to be doing well. It too is better than the stems that have nothing. The big lights are by far the warmest ones - they probably would burn if left in contact with the stem. But they seem to keep it a good deal warmer than the surrounding air on the cold nights. I have used the frost blankets to wrap around the plant and the heat from the lights really keeps it warm then. I have 5 remote thermometers in the yard to monitor various temps (I'm a weather geek) and the readings on that banana with the lights really is surprising some cold nights. I've seen it at 41F when it was 28F outside (blanket was on it).

I brought in WAY too many bananas in the garage this year - which bc of the cold is nice, but it's just asking for bug problems and they stretch so bad. Next year I am going to maybe save one pup of each type - but then see how they do. Right now I only have basjoo and Veluntina in the ground. But next year I think it'll be 14 different species - so a lot of finger crossing (though I got most of them from Pete and he's a bit colder than me in Lousiana).

I'd be curious to see who makes the grade. You're a little bit warmer than me, but still - should give a good idea of what's fussy and what's not :) We typically don't go below 20F more than once in the winter. This is a freakish cold snap for us. Looks like parts of NC will actually be a tad warmer than central SC. Go figure.

yah I have some mystery bananas also which seem to be doing well will have to try to identify them if they flower. I am on top of a small mountain so the wind is doing a job on them as well as the cold.

mskitty38583
01-14-2009, 08:38 AM
i have 2 dwarf cavadish,1 musella,5 basjoos, 3 types of ornatas, 2 sabas, 1 oronico, 3 dwarf oronico, brugs and ee's out in this lovely weather. all but the 2 basjoo, 3 do, and 3 ornatas are all covered with mulch. today is the day to cover the rest.

Bob
01-14-2009, 09:00 AM
The low here tomorrow is going to be about 3F (not including wind chill). It's probably not going to get past the high 20s for a week. They call this the "Garden State"?:bananas_b

gioia
01-14-2009, 09:19 AM
Sanity, beauty and food
Here I am in Costa Rica for lthe winter and just picked a peck of naranjillas.
While down at the beach last week I enjoyed the best sorbet ever. NARANJILLA! Does anyone have a recipe for this?
I see that you are all into "bananas". They are all over the yard and I know not one name. Large and smalll, that's all. Just enjoying them for the past thirty years in spite of their anonymity.

JCDerrick
01-14-2009, 09:53 AM
They've lowered our official forecast to 10F now, and my area usually gets a little colder - so I'm expecting 8-9F now. High of only 35F Friday. This will probably do some damage to things - luckily I've mulched very heavily in the back with paper, leaves, and soil starting my lasagna gardening project. It's everything else in the ground that's out front (like some EE's and gingers) I'm concerned about now.

This weather stinks!

saltydad
01-14-2009, 03:13 PM
I'm looking at 14F tonight, 28F right now and the pond is almost completely iced over except for the waterfall (which is still running). The fish look like beautiful statues under the ice. I have straw mulched basjoo, cavendish (not much expectation here), sikkim and lasiocarpus, plus ee's, gingers and palms (trachycarpus x 4, sabal minor, s. mexicana, and woolly pindo). This winter I left my needle palm uncovered to test out it's reputed hardiness. The Siam Ruby and dwarf cav are inside the living room.

JCDerrick
01-14-2009, 03:24 PM
Good luck with the Cavendish Howard - let us know how they fair. I'd like to leave those out next year if I can - they're getting a bit heavy to haul indoors each winter and just take up too much space. Like you, I won't hold my breath for them.

I see they've ticked us back up a whole degree to 11F on Friday - LOL, now if we could just 5-6 more I'd be OK.

Bob
01-14-2009, 03:31 PM
I'm looking at 14F tonight, 28F right now and the pond is almost completely iced over except for the waterfall (which is still running). The fish look like beautiful statues under the ice. I have straw mulched basjoo, cavendish (not much expectation here), sikkim and lasiocarpus, plus ee's, gingers and palms (trachycarpus x 4, sabal minor, s. mexicana, and woolly pindo). This winter I left my needle palm uncovered to test out it's reputed hardiness. The Siam Ruby and dwarf cav are inside the living room.

Hey howard, have you left your pindo palm out before? I was thinking of testing one next year.....Thanks, Bob

saltydad
01-14-2009, 03:42 PM
Hey howard, have you left your pindo palm out before? I was thinking of testing one next year.....Thanks, Bob

This is the first winter; I actually put it in the ground this past spring. It is reputed to be at least as cold hardy as a regular pindo, if not more so. It's still a small fella. My fingers are crossed; I so want to have a pinnate palm overwinter successfully. I also forgot to add that I have a chinese fan palm, L. chinensis, that overwintered last year outside. This year the larger palms have straw and a burlap wrap.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3077/2899282383_e39be864fe_m.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3004/2806388293_49c6608ab1_m.jpg

dablo93
01-15-2009, 02:15 PM
succes with your plants
it got down to -20 in the east of the netherlands, belgium and in large parts of germany and the trachycarpus are severely damaged, also Jubaea's, butia's , ch amaerops , washingtonia and more.
i'm glade that the temperature here didnt got lower than 16F
no damage to the trachycarpus fortuneis:2223:

chrisltropical
01-16-2009, 08:58 PM
-2F was our lowest this week. Thank God for Lake Ontario!

The lowest it's been since I've been growing bananas was -9F last year.

Chironex
01-16-2009, 09:10 PM
Reports from back in Northern IL was that the overnight low was -26. Frozen beef jerky, Yikes! I don't miss that at all!

mskitty38583
01-17-2009, 12:27 AM
if it gets much colder outside, my outside kitties will be kitty-pops. (yes they have kennels outside covered in heavy towels.)

JCDerrick
01-17-2009, 05:40 PM
Well that was a fun cold spell, Not. Luckily we only hit 12F last night, they'd forecast the single digits. I have no doubt I've lost more p-stem on all my bananas than I'd have liked, I put every last x-mas light, blanket, frost cover, etc I had on them - but we'll see how they come out. It's supposed to warm back up here over the coming month, so if they start with growth again, I should know just how much they survived above the ground). Still gonna be a chilly weekend - calling for a chance of snow tomorrow.

saltydad
01-17-2009, 06:08 PM
My pond is frozen white, but the waterfall is still flowing, aand the de-icer is doing it's job nicely Pictures of them plus my palms and bananas are on my Flickr site Flickr: hgorinson's Photostream (http://flickr.com/photos/saltydad/). Last night was down to 10F. I'm ready for April.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3516/3204986306_2604210a46_m.jpg

D_&_T
01-17-2009, 07:21 PM
When got home Friday morning from working, we had -15F with about -30 windchill and only got as warm as 0F for high on Friday!!!

Bob
01-17-2009, 08:38 PM
When got home Friday morning from working, we had -15F with about -30 windchill and only got as warm as 0F for high on Friday!!!

Yikes!!! It got down to 2 at home and -5 where I spent the day outdoors today.(no wind, lucky) ..............Yikes