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BananaLee
10-12-2009, 06:53 PM
Howdy y'all! A frost hit my musa basjoo last night! It's crazy! It's 20F colder then it's supposed to be!! I hope we don't get another zone 5 winter again!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!!!! :0493:

coast crab
10-12-2009, 08:37 PM
I'd kill for some of that. It was almost 90 degrees here today with 80-90% humidity, and even more rain. God, will cool dry fall weather EVER get here????

WV Girl
10-12-2009, 08:53 PM
Be careful what you wish for!:gif_esqui

sbl
10-12-2009, 09:32 PM
It is not the heat so much as it is the humidity--even early in the mornings when it is in the 70s, you can't do anything without getting soaking wet! I'm ready for this wet humid weather to get out of here!

Patty in Wisc
10-12-2009, 11:51 PM
I spent yesterday hauling all my plants in. Takes 3 days to get them out but I got'm in in 1 day --well over 100, so I was beat. We had frost the last 3 nights but the REAL frost hit here last night (being close to the lake). At Mike's house (30 miles north) I saw it snowing Sat morning!!!! This is just too cold for this time!!!
I hear CO (Denver?) had plows out for snow!!!!
We have had a very cold & VERY humid summer. Weird.

enigma99a
10-13-2009, 02:24 AM
This coming winter scares me. We had a record low of 43F a few days ago.

moonboy87
10-13-2009, 03:37 AM
OH MY GOODNESS!

All of a sudden. BAM! Hello winter Colorado! It wasn't really enough to get the plows out to be honest, but it was REALLLY cold the past couple of nights; Sat night was about 15F and last night was around 13F until the morning and then it was just a hazy/barely above freezing day both sunday and today. Oh well, that's why I understand that my naner will just have to love the great indoors! We have similar tastes in climate, nana nain and I :D I hope everyone a safe first frost!

BTW Looking like 60's-70's for the rest of the week...Oh Colorado, you sneaky hormone imbalanced state you! :lurk:

jeffreyp
10-13-2009, 03:37 AM
They say sun spot activity is down which is supposed to be a huge contributor to global warming. They are predicting a cold winter for the north east.

bananadude
10-13-2009, 06:39 AM
It's 28 degrees here this AM....had a killer frost last week with a low of 24! They say with the El-Nino going on...its going to be a warmer/wetter winter...so that means heavy wet lake effect snow!



El Niño Arrives; Expected to Persist through Winter 2009-10

July 9, 2009

NOAA scientists today announced the arrival of El Niño, a climate phenomenon with a significant influence on global weather, ocean conditions and marine fisheries. El Niño, the periodic warming of central and eastern tropical Pacific waters, occurs on average every two to five years and typically lasts about 12 months.

Sea Surface Temperatures the week of July 2009.

Sea surface temperatures along the equatorial Eastern Pacific, as of July 1, are at least one degree above average — a sign of El Niño. Animation.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

NOAA expects this El Niño to continue developing during the next several months, with further strengthening possible. The event is expected to last through winter 2009-10.

“Advanced climate science allows us to alert industries, governments and emergency managers about the weather conditions El Niño may bring so these can be factored into decision-making and ultimately protect life, property and the economy,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.

El Niño's impacts depend on a variety of factors, such as intensity and extent of ocean warming, and the time of year. Contrary to popular belief, not all effects are negative. On the positive side, El Niño can help to suppress Atlantic hurricane activity. In the United States, it typically brings beneficial winter precipitation to the arid Southwest, less wintry weather across the North, and a reduced risk of Florida wildfires.

El Niño’s negative impacts have included damaging winter storms in California and increased storminess across the southern United States. Some past El Niños also have produced severe flooding and mudslides in Central and South America, and drought in Indonesia.

An El Niño event may significantly diminish ocean productivity off the west coast by limiting weather patterns that cause upwelling, or nutrient circulation in the ocean. These nutrients are the foundation of a vibrant marine food web and could negatively impact food sources for several types of birds, fish and marine mammals.

In its monthly El Niño diagnostics discussion today, scientists with the NOAA National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center noted weekly eastern equatorial Pacific sea surface temperatures were at least 1.0 degree C above average at the end of June. The most recent El Niño occurred in 2006.

El Niño includes weaker trade winds, increased rainfall over the central tropical Pacific, and decreased rainfall in Indonesia. These vast rainfall patterns in the tropics are responsible for many of El Niño’s global effects on weather patterns.

NOAA will continue to monitor the rapidly evolving situation in the tropical Pacific, and will provide more detailed information on possible Atlantic hurricane impacts in its updated Seasonal Hurricane Outlook scheduled for release on August 6, 2009.

NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.

sandy0225
10-13-2009, 07:09 AM
I just hope this year we have snow when it gets to be -25. Last year it got that cold for 2-3 nights in a row but we didn't have any snow to insulate the ground. Bad news for plants, but good news for perennial sales!...lol...
So far here we had some widespread heavy frost last week, but it didn't get my tomatoes and peppers and eggplants. We have just a little bit of a hill here so the frost settles to both sides where it's lower. So I'm out for one more final picking today. I know I have about a bushel of habaneros to pick for market. Hope everyone wants hot peppers!

JuniPerez
10-13-2009, 07:35 AM
They say sun spot activity is down which is supposed to be a huge contributor to global warming. They are predicting a cold winter for the north east.
It's 28 degrees here this AM....had a killer frost last week with a low of 24! They say with the El-Nino going on...its going to be a warmer/wetter winter...so that means heavy wet lake effect snow!

I hope bananadude's prediction is the correct one. Our northeastern summer has been sucky, wet and cool. We deserve a mild, dry winter to balance it all out.

To be honest, I don't trust long-term forecasts anymore. Last year they claimed the summer of 2009 was going to be a hot drought for the northeast. That proved to be silly of them. :ha:

justjoan
10-13-2009, 08:00 AM
We had 2 1/4 inches of snow yesterday, everthing was very pretty but toooooo early for this stuff. It's supposed to get to 62 on Sunday, looking forward to that,with this ElNino they say things could be cooler in October and November and then warmer December and January, I hope so because if it stays like this I will be spending a lot of time at work this winter season!!! :(

djmb74
10-13-2009, 08:50 AM
Actually no sun spot activity means the earth is going through a cooling off period.

Cosmic rays due to sun spot activity cause more upper atmospheric clouds to form that causes the heat to be bounced back to the earth causing the earth to warm up. Global warming is just a political coined term, scientists are still really divided on what actually is going on and still are not sure. Whoever is getting paid the most to tell their theory is the one being heard the loudest.

We are defiantly going through a climate change but what it really means is still all speculation.

I think we are going to set some winter cold records this year and a lot of people are going to be surprised by it.

Here is a really good article from BBC that seems to be a little more honest about the whole Global Warming BS...

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | What happened to global warming? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8299079.stm)

"What happened to global warming?

By Paul Hudson
Climate correspondent, BBC News

This headline may come as a bit of a surprise, so too might that fact that the warmest year recorded globally was not in 2008 or 2007, but in 1998.

But it is true. For the last 11 years we have not observed any increase in global temperatures.

And our climate models did not forecast it, even though man-made carbon dioxide, the gas thought to be responsible for warming our planet, has continued to rise.

So what on Earth is going on?

Climate change sceptics, who passionately and consistently argue that man's influence on our climate is overstated, say they saw it coming.

They argue that there are natural cycles, over which we have no control, that dictate how warm the planet is. But what is the evidence for this?

During the last few decades of the 20th Century, our planet did warm quickly.

Sceptics argue that the warming we observed was down to the energy from the Sun increasing. After all 98% of the Earth's warmth comes from the Sun.

But research conducted two years ago, and published by the Royal Society, seemed to rule out solar influences.

The scientists' main approach was simple: to look at solar output and cosmic ray intensity over the last 30-40 years, and compare those trends with the graph for global average surface temperature.

And the results were clear. "Warming in the last 20 to 40 years can't have been caused by solar activity," said Dr Piers Forster from Leeds University, a leading contributor to this year's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

But one solar scientist Piers Corbyn from Weatheraction, a company specialising in long range weather forecasting, disagrees.

He claims that solar charged particles impact us far more than is currently accepted, so much so he says that they are almost entirely responsible for what happens to global temperatures.

He is so excited by what he has discovered that he plans to tell the international scientific community at a conference in London at the end of the month.

If proved correct, this could revolutionise the whole subject.

Ocean cycles

What is really interesting at the moment is what is happening to our oceans. They are the Earth's great heat stores.
“ In the last few years [the Pacific Ocean] has been losing its warmth and has recently started to cool down ”

According to research conducted by Professor Don Easterbrook from Western Washington University last November, the oceans and global temperatures are correlated.

The oceans, he says, have a cycle in which they warm and cool cyclically. The most important one is the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO).

For much of the 1980s and 1990s, it was in a positive cycle, that means warmer than average. And observations have revealed that global temperatures were warm too.

But in the last few years it has been losing its warmth and has recently started to cool down.

These cycles in the past have lasted for nearly 30 years.

So could global temperatures follow? The global cooling from 1945 to 1977 coincided with one of these cold Pacific cycles.

Professor Easterbrook says: "The PDO cool mode has replaced the warm mode in the Pacific Ocean, virtually assuring us of about 30 years of global cooling."

So what does it all mean? Climate change sceptics argue that this is evidence that they have been right all along.

They say there are so many other natural causes for warming and cooling, that even if man is warming the planet, it is a small part compared with nature.

But those scientists who are equally passionate about man's influence on global warming argue that their science is solid.

The UK Met Office's Hadley Centre, responsible for future climate predictions, says it incorporates solar variation and ocean cycles into its climate models, and that they are nothing new.

In fact, the centre says they are just two of the whole host of known factors that influence global temperatures - all of which are accounted for by its models.

In addition, say Met Office scientists, temperatures have never increased in a straight line, and there will always be periods of slower warming, or even temporary cooling.

What is crucial, they say, is the long-term trend in global temperatures. And that, according to the Met office data, is clearly up.

To confuse the issue even further, last month Mojib Latif, a member of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) says that we may indeed be in a period of cooling worldwide temperatures that could last another 10-20 years.

Professor Latif is based at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at Kiel University in Germany and is one of the world's top climate modellers.

But he makes it clear that he has not become a sceptic; he believes that this cooling will be temporary, before the overwhelming force of man-made global warming reasserts itself.

So what can we expect in the next few years?

Both sides have very different forecasts. The Met Office says that warming is set to resume quickly and strongly.

It predicts that from 2010 to 2015 at least half the years will be hotter than the current hottest year on record (1998).

Sceptics disagree. They insist it is unlikely that temperatures will reach the dizzy heights of 1998 until 2030 at the earliest. It is possible, they say, that because of ocean and solar cycles a period of global cooling is more likely.

One thing is for sure. It seems the debate about what is causing global warming is far from over. Indeed some would say it is hotting up.

Update - 1300, Tuesday 13 October 2009: Paul Hudson has written a blog entry about his article here: "

They say sun spot activity is down which is supposed to be a huge contributor to global warming. They are predicting a cold winter for the north east.

Jack Daw
10-13-2009, 09:05 AM
No frost here, but it's getting colder. We have also had a pleasure of a new, Arctic wave coming to the Central Europe. It moved from Arctic circle to Scandinavia and Russian planes, where it gained intensity and moved over to the Central Europe. Yuppi... almost all bananas are outside having a tough time. :D I wonder, how many of them will survive til Friday, 'cause I don't have the time to move them inside. :(

BananaLee
10-13-2009, 06:26 PM
I'd kill for some of that. It was almost 90 degrees here today with 80-90% humidity, and even more rain. God, will cool dry fall weather EVER get here????
You can take it!! lol! :ha:I would love a good 90 degrees right now! :02: I'm usually used to the cold but since its like 20 degrees colder, I'm freezing my butt off!!! :coldbanana:

Youngbb
10-13-2009, 06:42 PM
I'm flying to Boston Friday morning, spending the weekend and coming back Monday afternoon. I am not living in Florida for the weather - so looking forward to nice crisp cold weather, Yeaahhh!

Patty in Wisc
10-13-2009, 10:01 PM
I'm freezing my pineapples off!!! (pine-ipples?):)
Tomorrow will be 7 days strait of HIGHS in mid 40's. Not ready for this. :(

sbl
10-14-2009, 06:27 AM
Apparently we are finally going to get some cooling this weekend--Sat low in the 50s, Sun in the upper 40s. It will be welcome relief from the heat we have had.

Youngbb
10-14-2009, 04:22 PM
SLB, What kind of banana plant is that in your picture - with the red stems? And where is a good place around our area to get banana plants? I want a Siam Red - they're spectacular. Also I want one with the varigated spotting on the leaves. :lurk:

frondly
10-14-2009, 04:36 PM
You can take it!! lol! :ha:I would love a good 90 degrees right now! :02: I'm usually used to the cold but since its like 20 degrees colder, I'm freezing my butt off!!! :coldbanana:

My first flower bud is forming (OCT 7), but the cold nights will be here soon. What can I do to protect the musa bajoo flower bud to enjoy? I am dismayed that my tree took until now (frost time) to bud.
frondly

BananaLee
10-15-2009, 07:40 PM
We might have a little snow tomorrow morning!!!! That must be a record!! I protected my basjoo and my palms and we'll see how things go from there!

Nicolas Naranja
10-15-2009, 07:51 PM
Actually no sun spot activity means the earth is going through a cooling off period.



I recently saw some data that seemed to indicate that the El Nino southern Oscillation and the Atlantic Oscillation are much better correlated with warming and cooling than carbon dioxide. And apparently there are some multidecadal cycles that correlate very well with global warming and cooling. I had to take some climatology and meteorology classes for my agronomy degree and my professors who were all full tenured professors didn't buy into the man made global warming stuff.

enigma99a
10-15-2009, 08:04 PM
Yes global warming... It's a big hoax and I'm glad people are starting to realize it.

Al Gore said, "But it is the awareness itself that will drive the change and one of the ways it will drive the change is through global governance…" (and global taxes)

So the truth is, there is no global warming but it's just a giant push toward globalism.


On the frost: Let's see some pictures! I'm stuck in 70s and 80s LOL.

djmb74
10-15-2009, 08:06 PM
Yah money is a pretty good motivator to coin a term and promote an agenda. Yes we do need to do more to help the environment but I think some greedy people did a really good job at swaying the public some politicians so as to market global warming in such a huge way to line their pockets.

I remember how so many people jumped on the Y2K bandwagon, man that made a lot of people some money up until Jan 01. hahaha

I recently saw some data that seemed to indicate that the El Nino southern Oscillation and the Atlantic Oscillation are much better correlated with warming and cooling than carbon dioxide. And apparently there are some multidecadal cycles that correlate very well with global warming and cooling. I had to take some climatology and meteorology classes for my agronomy degree and my professors who were all full tenured professors didn't buy into the man made global warming stuff.

BananaLee
10-15-2009, 08:12 PM
Global warming is totally a fake. I don't know why they say there's global warming when we just had the coldest winter and coldest summer in 30+ years! Lol!

Richard
10-15-2009, 09:12 PM
Howdy y'all! A frost hit my musa basjoo last night! It's crazy! It's 20F colder then it's supposed to be!! I hope we don't get another zone 5 winter again!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!!!! :0493:

At my location, we have Frost 24 hours a day every day of the year: The Frost Family (http://home.roadrunner.com/~frost/) !

Global warming is totally a fake. I don't know why they say there's global warming when we just had the coldest winter and coldest summer in 30+ years! Lol!

If you talk with a global warming researcher at say, Scripps Research Center they will tell you that Global Warming is defined as a 1-degree increase in the average temperature of the earth in 100-year intervals. Whatever happened in your region over the last 30 years is insignificant by comparison.

SeriousBan
10-15-2009, 09:38 PM
I guess it depends where you are. But in Houston, no one who has lived through the past 30 years here would argue against an obvious warming trend. If not 'global' warming, definitely 'Houston warming'. When I arrived here, temperatures to 19 degrees were common, people didn't wash their cars in winter - just too much slush on the road; we could actually grow peaches and pears. Today, it never gets below 28 degrees, several winters never see a freeze, all cars are spotless and shiny throughout winter; we almost can't grow peaches, but we sure as hell can grow bananas - which was out of the question 30 years ago.

So this year will be the test - a really cold one by all accounts. Half my plants froze to the ground last winter, with its 8 light freeze nights, and hence did not bear fruit. But lots of others did. This winter, hopefully not before December, I'm going to spread some plastic across lots of plants cut to 5 feet and put a heater under it on the dangerously cold nights. There's a way to beat this - it just has to be developed - until it gets really warm around here.

Richard
10-15-2009, 10:33 PM
... we could actually grow peaches and pears. Today, it never gets below 28 degrees, several winters never see a freeze, all cars are spotless and shiny throughout winter; we almost can't grow peaches, but we sure as hell can grow bananas - which was out of the question 30 years ago. ...

You can grow the ultra-low chill peaches, apples, cherries like we do in San Diego! See these listings for "European" Fruits & Nuts (http://www.plantsthatproduce.com/guides/CommonEuropeanFruitsNuts.htm).

Patty in Wisc
10-16-2009, 12:06 AM
My weatherman just said on 10 O'clock news that most ppl think because we are having Nov weather now, that it will be a cold winter. NOT TRUE; because of El Nino, we will have a warmer winter. YEAY!!!!!
I guess this also means we will have more snow! YUK

Jack Daw
10-16-2009, 02:25 AM
Europe reports the coldest october weather in 50 years, due to a super cold front from Arctic that came practically 12 hours after having a 30°C (86°F) the day before. Many people still trapped in mountain explorations are reported missing, several of them were trapped by 5 foots of snow in the mountains and so far we have 4 dead, all of them tourists, all of them from Austria.
Germany and Austria are no better. Alp regions and areas are under heavy snow cover and will probably recover in March at best. And so is a good part of Europe as well.

95% of natural vegetation has green leaves (as it should be at this time of the year) and are undergoing unbelievable amount of strees...

Great news for 1st year banana hardiness experiments, ay? Grand Nain has survived its first real snow today (and so has Pahari Kela, after what I recovered it inside!!! - safety measures), no damage, minimal temps around 34°F and no damage to leaves (I should also mention that these temperatures are constant, so it's just 34 to 40F all day and night-long), P-stem or what-so-ever - no damage or signs of anything bad....

I should also mention that it hasn't seen the sun for like 5 days. Rain/rain-snow all the time, day and night.

Even though I think we are lucky. If this came in January, we would probably survive (zone - 1.5) winters that come once in 50 or so years.

Cheers from waterland! :D Btw. the snow didn't have a chance. It practically melted down as soon as it touched the ground. :D But other regions weren't so lucky. 4+ foot.

ilmr
10-16-2009, 02:35 AM
95% of natural vegetation has green leaves (as it should be at this time of the year) and are undergoing unbelievable amount of strees...

Great news for 1st year banana hardiness experiments, ay? Grand Nain has survived its first real snow today (and so has Pahari Kela, after what I recovered it inside!!! - safety measures), no damage, minimal temps around 34°F and no damage to leaves (I should also mention that these temperatures are constant, so it's just 34 to 40F all day and night-long), P-stem or what-so-ever - no damage or signs of anything bad....


I haven't had a chance at looking at what damage the latest frosts have done but I guess now I'll have to feel "lucky" about having cold crap weather for a couple of weeks as I even did some mulching a few weeks back. All my exotics are having their first winter out and at least they had some time to adjust now.

Jack Daw
10-16-2009, 05:03 AM
I haven't had a chance at looking at what damage the latest frosts have done but I guess now I'll have to feel "lucky" about having cold crap weather for a couple of weeks as I even did some mulching a few weeks back. All my exotics are having their first winter out and at least they had some time to adjust now.
I didn't even had time to make autumn preparations, my tomatoes were still green, when it snowed for a few minutes. Lovely sight. Unfortunatelly I didn't have my camera with me. :(
No mulching either.

Dalmatiansoap
10-16-2009, 06:13 AM
Hey Jack,
just imagine that we had snow on Biokovo mountain Mon-Thue. It is wierd ;).
Today max. 17C.
:woohoonaner:

Seweryn
10-16-2009, 03:41 PM
Fortunately we have only a lot of snow and no frost here - the temperature in nights oscillate about O C. I haven't wraped my banan jet becouse it is very wet and I afraid of roting under cover.
In case of frost i made a temporary vlies tent and puted 2 or 3 long lighting candles inside - this is very easy and cheap protection agains freeze (of course against brief and low frost)

Jack Daw
10-16-2009, 04:15 PM
Hey Jack,
just imagine that we had snow on Biokovo mountain Mon-Thue. It is wierd ;).
Today max. 17C.
:woohoonaner:
Wow, Ante, 17°C, did you have to wear gloves? :ha: No really, I went to school just in a T-short without any additional clothing. I thought that it was just a silly chilly morning. Surprisingly I was the only one not to catch the cold that day. :ha:
Grand Nains are still fighting outside and not the cold, but water seems to be problem for them in almost frosty days... Curious.
Biokovo rulez. It snows there, your seaside will vaporize the water which will then eventually come as a rain and wind from the temperature differential. Interesting.


Fortunately we have only a lot of snow and no frost here - the temperature in nights oscillate about O C. I haven't wraped my banan jet becouse it is very wet and I afraid of roting under cover.
In case of frost i made a temporary vlies tent and puted 2 or 3 long lighting candles inside - this is very easy and cheap protection agains freeze (of course against brief and low frost)
Good thinking Seweryn, it's raining here terribly too and that could indeed lead to a deadly rot. Best of luck with your naner!

enigma99a
10-16-2009, 08:59 PM
Send some of that cool weather my way... It's 87F in my room this evening and I'm trying to not turn on the A/C. Still hot outside so the windows being open isn't helping much...

Abnshrek
10-17-2009, 01:01 AM
It was great here friday.. sunny not so hot I sweat inplace(normal). I don't think I wiped my forehead all day infact. I don't know about a low of 45 tonight...

bananadude
10-17-2009, 02:25 AM
EL-NINO .....WINTER WEATHER UPDATE .....with forecast maps!

NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA: El Niño to Help Steer U.S. Winter Weather (http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20091015_winteroutlook.html)

enigma99a
10-17-2009, 05:36 AM
Florida looks :coldbanana: this winter. Sorry for them;)

Abnshrek
10-17-2009, 10:49 AM
I wouldn't go buy OJ on a prediction.. but if Florida Freezes.. I should be building snowmen again like 8 yrs ago.. lol Well it all melted the next day.... Ok I don't have an 8 year itch, and I'm not going to Wisconsin much less Arkansas to enjoy the cold.. Its surely time to make some rumbletusks(like a spoetzl) for chili...

Richard
10-17-2009, 12:05 PM
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=15180&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=15180)

enigma99a
10-18-2009, 03:48 PM
Richard, great pic lol


Also on the discussion of global warming: (this is much in line with Al Gore's world government comments)

A former science adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher says the real purpose of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on Dec. 7-18 is to use global warming hype as a pretext to lay the foundation for a one-world government.

"At [the 2009 United Nations Climate Change
Conference in] Copenhagen this December, weeks away, a treaty will be signed," Monkton told a Minnesota Free Market Institute audience on Thursday at Bethel University in St. Paul.

"Your president will sign it. Most of the Third World countries will sign it, because they think they're going to get money out of it. Most of the left-wing regimes from the European Union will rubber stamp it. Virtually nobody won't sign it," he told the audience of some 700 attendees.

Richard
10-18-2009, 07:28 PM
1/5 of the world population and 2/3 of the world's internet users are in China. I doubt you'll see them sign up anytime soon.

sbl
10-19-2009, 10:20 AM
SLB, What kind of banana plant is that in your picture - with the red stems? And where is a good place around our area to get banana plants? I want a Siam Red - they're spectacular. Also I want one with the varigated spotting on the leaves. :lurk:

That one was sold at HD as a Dwarf Cavendish--which it is not! Some of the experts here have suggested Tall Red and some Kru, but final identification will require flowering. The plant is extremely cold sensitive--I just moved it to the greenhouse and will leave it there til spring.

I have had better luck ordering mine--I ordered RP, IC, DR, DO from Greenearth and all of them have done well.

1aday
10-19-2009, 10:21 AM
Back on topic, we got our first frost last night. Everything is indoors, or in GH. I should say ALMOST everything, I still have a couple hundred Calla Lily pots to dump out, and I always find some plant that I've missed in the roundup.
But, it feels good to be done with the hauling of the plants, took me about a week, most of it in cold dark days with rain. Baahhhgh.

Christine1950
10-19-2009, 11:18 AM
We dropped down to 26 last night... WAY to cold for us already, not a good sign all the old timers are saying about the up-coming winter :>(
Christine

Dalmatiansoap
10-19-2009, 12:15 PM
[QUOTE=Jack Daw;103685]
Biokovo rulez. It snows there, your seaside will vaporize the water which will then eventually come as a rain and wind from the temperature differential. Interesting.QUOTE]

As U allready mention this as interesting now there is absolutlly no more doubt about it:ha::ha:.
Need to mention here that mountain Biokovo is 1762m high and only few miles away from coast (Biokovo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biokovo)). In some way I can say it guards our costal region from cold air from north and keeps warmer air from south.
I took this pix hour ago from main road and this is view to the north:
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=25280&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=25280&ppuser=4565)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=25278&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=25278&ppuser=4565)
On my back this is view to south-west with beautifull sunset:
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=25281&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=25281&ppuser=4565)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=25279&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=25279&ppuser=4565)
Despite all snow minimum temperatures today warent below 9C with 14C max. This isnt usual situation and can happend 2-3 times a year.
Wierd fall:ha:
:woohoonaner:

southernbanana
10-23-2009, 05:28 PM
A week away from halloween and it's 73 degrees on a friday night at 6:30 pm. We may see frost in november in the good ole deep south.

1aday
10-23-2009, 06:49 PM
Very beautiful, Dalmationsoap!

sbl
10-23-2009, 10:16 PM
We did not get a fall--we went straight from highs in 80s & 90s --lows in 70s to high in 60s and low in 40s --for 3 days---now we are back in the 80s. The weatherman keeps saying we will see some cooler weather--I am ready for a little cooling--that 3 days of 60s was nice.

coast crab
10-23-2009, 10:40 PM
We did not get a fall--we went straight from highs in 80s & 90s --lows in 70s to high in 60s and low in 40s --for 3 days---now we are back in the 80s. The weatherman keeps saying we will see some cooler weather--I am ready for a little cooling--that 3 days of 60s was nice.

Amen, brother!

But the wind was terrible. Even that little bit of cold and wind made my Siam ruby look terrible. No cold tolerance at all.

Are you still in tall red denial?

Russell

sbl
10-24-2009, 02:02 PM
Amen, brother!

But the wind was terrible. Even that little bit of cold and wind made my Siam ruby look terrible. No cold tolerance at all.

Are you still in tall red denial?

Russell

I don't know if it is Tall Red, but it does seem to fit better than most other choices. I now have a Dwarf Red and it clearly is not a DR. The leaves on the DR are much thicker and more leathery. I have them both in a greenhouse for the winter, but will divide and plant the Tall Red inground next spring.

It was nice this morning except for the wind.

BananaLee
10-24-2009, 03:25 PM
We had nice cool weather for the last 3 days. Today and yesterday it was around 50 to 60F. I love when that good old fall smell of the leaves on the ground came! Smells so good! A couple days ago it went to about 65F. I had my Basjoo covered (I wanted to protect the p-stem from the killing frost) and this morning I felt a little nob in the burlap and it grew about an inch. Were finally having some decent weather.

stevelau1911
10-25-2009, 01:01 AM
Heres some leaf burn from 37F a couple nights ago, but not really a big deal.

Musa basjoo
http://www.bambooweb.info/images/crafts/dsc00190.jpg

Jonathan_byron
10-25-2009, 10:50 AM
Actually no sun spot activity means the earth is going through a cooling off period.



Maybe - but the 'cooling' that people have been talking about is relatively isolated and probably due to el nino.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/get-file.php?report=global&file=map-blended-mntp&year=2009&month=9&ext=gif

BananaLee
10-28-2009, 12:16 PM
They say that el ninos are being proved wrong. They say the farmers are saying it'll be another cold winter and they're usually right! Does anyone else believe this?

BananaLee
10-28-2009, 12:20 PM
Heres some leaf burn from 37F a couple nights ago, but not really a big deal.

Musa basjoo
http://www.bambooweb.info/images/crafts/dsc00190.jpg
Yours got leaf burn at 37F? To bad, mine didn't but when it got to the low 30's mine turned completely black! So I cut it down already. Bummer!:2141:

enigma99a
10-28-2009, 12:25 PM
Oh yeah I think so. The whole month of October for us was cold from 2-15 degrees below average. We have a lot of arctic air come down and cool things off like we are in right now. For example, it was well into the 80s now 16-20 degrees cooler. Luckily it's not winter or I would be worried about my plants and it's going to get back to the 80s by this weekend:) (jungle flame is trying to bloom)


10/25 84
10/26 82
10/27 66

djmb74
10-28-2009, 12:30 PM
yah I believe there are going to be some more record setting cold temps this winter...

I know it does not get too cold down here were I am but we got a pretty good frost and freeze last year. I got access to a large green house and as soon as it starts getting close to the 50's here for a length of time all my potted plants are going in the green house where it will stay nice and tropical and see if I can keep them growing over winter!

They say that el ninos are being proved wrong. They say the farmers are saying it'll be another cold winter and they're usually right! Does anyone else believe this?

cherokee_greg
10-28-2009, 04:05 PM
This is a good frost website

Frost Date Selector Page - Victory Seed Company (http://www.victoryseeds.com/frost/)

djmb74
10-28-2009, 04:17 PM
ya except that chart is over 20 years old... gives you a good idea though.

You can go here and get recent data..

NCDC: U.S. Climate Normals - (http://cdo.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/climatenormals/climatenormals.pl?directive=prod_select2&prodtype=CLIM2001&subrnum=)

sbl
10-29-2009, 07:43 AM
Thanks--fits pretty good with what I remembered--if you use 50% and 32 degrees, our first freeze is Dec 10 and last is Feb 22. My memory was Dec 8 to Feb 15.

JuniPerez
10-29-2009, 08:33 AM
Heres some leaf burn from 37F a couple nights ago, but not really a big deal.

Musa basjoo
http://www.bambooweb.info/images/crafts/dsc00190.jpg

Hi Steve. I'm up in Rochester and we had lows of about 29°F a few nights this months, and many low 30's. Mine haven't suffered burns at all (if they have, it must be very minimal because I can't see it). I sprayed them with FeezePruf at the beginning of October, just to see how well it works.

We should be closing off the week with temps in the 60's, so after this I'll chop them down.

enigma99a
10-29-2009, 02:21 PM
Last night was 36.9!!! :coldbanana: That's either a record or close to it. Is this January or what? ... This winter is going to be brutal. Arctic is COLD this year

sbl
10-29-2009, 10:37 PM
Low of 74 here tonight.

stevelau1911
10-29-2009, 10:56 PM
Wow I never knew someone else in Rochester grew bananas, thats awsome. Do you have any pups you are willing to spare? I'm interested in getting more bananas, but I don't know what types will survive up here. If you are interested I could trade you some of my temperate bamboos for some banana pups.

Also about the freeze-pruf, does it actually work? I have a solar greenhouse that can raise the temperature by more than 10F on cold nights so if it really works well, I might get it and keep my bananas in the greenhouse over winter.

Hi Steve. I'm up in Rochester and we had lows of about 29°F a few nights this months, and many low 30's. Mine haven't suffered burns at all (if they have, it must be very minimal because I can't see it). I sprayed them with FeezePruf at the beginning of October, just to see how well it works.

We should be closing off the week with temps in the 60's, so after this I'll chop them down.

BananaLee
10-30-2009, 04:58 PM
Today's good. It was 70F just now at 5:30pm.

BananaLee
10-30-2009, 05:00 PM
Last night was 36.9!!! :coldbanana: That's either a record or close to it. Is this January or what? ... This winter is going to be brutal. Arctic is COLD this year In zone 10 California!? Wow...better protect some plants. I feel sorry for you. :2141:

ewitte
10-30-2009, 09:21 PM
Pretty chilly upper 40's most of the night. Its 51 right now. The pineapple is now in for the winter. Not worried about insulating the bananas yet.

enigma99a
10-31-2009, 02:09 AM
In zone 10 California!? Wow...better protect some plants. I feel sorry for you. :2141:

Well... borderline in my microclimate. Yes that was BAD but, it has since moderated and 80 degrees for the next 5 days! :banana_ba

51st state
10-31-2009, 03:29 AM
It's supposed to be an El Ninho year, what's the effect of that across the US?
In theory the net tells me in the UK we should have a mild winter. Which after last years severe one would be nice

sbl
10-31-2009, 10:33 AM
It's supposed to be an El Ninho year, what's the effect of that across the US?
In theory the net tells me in the UK we should have a mild winter. Which after last years severe one would be nice

That depends on the area. The Southeast is usually colder and wetter in El Nino yrs. Some other areas are warmer, some drier.

BananaLee
11-07-2009, 03:09 PM
A day or two ago we had a extreme low of 23F!!!!!! But it really warmed up, right now, it's 64F with a nice warm southern breeze. For the next two days we'll have the same nice weather with a low of 47F. Not bad!!!

Eric
11-07-2009, 07:00 PM
That depends on the area. The Southeast is usually colder and wetter in El Nino yrs. Some other areas are warmer, some drier.

:lurk: Thanx for using "usually". Dunno, maybe Oklahoma's just a weird location But El Nino effects seem to be real unpredictable here. Some summers it's just the opposite of what's predicted to happen.
Been nice though! Been having record rains & Oklahoma's usually pretty dry. Great weather here, right now. 70's (F) highs, 50's (F) lows But by Tuesday, will be getting about 10 days of 60's (F) highs, 40's (F) lows. Just hope we get 70's, this year, for Christmas. But after hearing about all the unusually cold weather up north, I have a feeling we wont.
Btw, :lurk: Thanx for all the great info & pics! Luv those mountain scenes, Ante!
Also, I think global worming is over-rated. Think it's a great idea to try and stop wrecking the planet But a lot of scientists believe it's nothing we can control. They believe it's caused by lots of things - even things we dont understand yet.

51st state
11-08-2009, 05:33 AM
[QUOTE=Eric;107563Also, I think global worming is over-rated. Think it's a great idea to try and stop wrecking the planet But a lot of scientists believe it's nothing we can control. They believe it's caused by lots of things - even things we dont understand yet.[/QUOTE]

WHAT...When will America wake up?? we can see all it, try googleing world CO2 emission figures and look at the change in the last 10 years alone! This is not some theory, this is Fact. This is something we can try and do something about. Sad the 'fox news generation' are so blind

BananaLee
11-08-2009, 01:04 PM
WHAT...When will America wake up?? we can see all it, try googleing world CO2 emission figures and look at the change in the last 10 years alone! This is not some theory, this is Fact. This is something we can try and do something about. Sad the 'fox news generation' are so blind In my opinion the increasing and decreasing of weather is all natural. The planet warming up has to do with the ozone layer. If global warming was real, we wouldn't of had the coldest winter in 30 years. While we're not awake yet, were awakening. YouTube - Switchfoot - Awakening (Official Music Video) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHTU2i8RhH8)

enigma99a
11-08-2009, 02:20 PM
WHAT...When will America wake up?? we can see all it, try googleing world CO2 emission figures and look at the change in the last 10 years alone! This is not some theory, this is Fact. This is something we can try and do something about. Sad the 'fox news generation' are so blind

Yes, it is a FACT and proven that CO2 only warms the earth about 1/6th as originally thought. It takes one trillion tons of CO2 to warm the earth one degree. So the most the earth can warm by the end of 2010 is one Fahrenheit degree. The sun on the other hand, can either cool or warm the earth far greater than a single degree. So man made global warming is a hoax.

jeffreyp
11-08-2009, 02:47 PM
I look at global warming as a religion, a cause that some people take great offense if you speak an opinion contrary to it. I like to take a positive approach, increased co2 (at substantially greater levels) used in greenhouses increases plant growth and yields. Warmer temperatures could also mean longer growing seasons and greater range for growing crops. Plants can also utilize the extra co2 and sequester it.

JuniPerez
11-08-2009, 07:19 PM
I for one believe that it's completely selfish of the tropics to hog up all the cool palms, bananas, citrus, and great weather. While I don't believe mankind is causing all this global warming, I do believe we are experiencing some kind of a climate shift and that it would come regardless of our presence here, just as it has over the past millions of years. I just don't believe it's going to be that BIG of an impact and that most of that will be noticeable in the polar areas... here in NY we've had a cooler than normal summer actually. I look forward to a mild winter.

sbl
11-08-2009, 08:06 PM
A warm spell, a warm summer, a warm or cold winter is not climate--that is weather.

As a scientist, I happen to think the evidence is pretty solid that increasing CO2 is responsible for the warming we have seen in the past several decades.
And the warming over the past several decades is pretty undeniable.

However, It really shouldn't matter if we believe in global climate change or not as far as trying to conserve energy and find and develop alternate energy sources--to do otherwise is to provide our enemies with the money and means to destroy us.

Unfortunately, I think we are screwed--I think it is too late to stop the climate change and there are too many selfish people out there who would rather stick their head in the sand than give up any convenience. And others that are so interested in making a buck that they would sell our enemies the bomb to blow us up.

BananaLee
11-08-2009, 08:11 PM
I for one believe that it's completely selfish of the tropics to hog up all the cool palms, bananas, citrus, and great weather. While I don't believe mankind is causing all this global warming, I do believe we are experiencing some kind of a climate shift and that it would come regardless of our presence here, just as it has over the past millions of years. I just don't believe it's going to be that BIG of an impact and that most of that will be noticeable in the polar areas... here in NY we've had a cooler than normal summer actually. I look forward to a mild winter.
I agree, but I think we might have a colder than norm winter but I'm not sure. Though in zone 6 we can grow pretty amazing tropical things, it's never that easy. Your right JuniPerez, here in the more polar regions, were not gonna see much of a difference. The good thing about colder regions is that we have more noticeable seasons. Like cool springs, hot summers, colorful autumns, and beautiful white winters. I try to appreciate what I have, though tropicals are better by a long shot!:ha:

coast crab
11-08-2009, 08:21 PM
Global warming or not, I'd rather have a frost right now compared to what's headed my way....

sbl
11-08-2009, 08:33 PM
Global warming or not, I'd rather have a frost right now compared to what's headed my way....

Yeah, I think we are going to have a little wind--biggest impact for me will probably be my citrus trees--loaded with fruit. We were almost there!

saltydad
11-08-2009, 09:31 PM
Good luck you guys.

Eric
11-08-2009, 09:32 PM
A warm spell, a warm summer, a warm or cold winter is not climate--that is weather.
As a scientist, I happen to think the evidence is pretty solid that increasing CO2 is responsible for the warming we have seen in the past several decades.
And the warming over the past several decades is pretty undeniable.
However, It really shouldn't matter if we believe in global climate change or not as far as trying to conserve energy and find and develop alternate energy sources

Seems kind of silly to worry about what's responsible for the changes since we shouldn't be polluting everything anyway. The pollutants just make it harder to breathe (esp. in Japan), harder to grow stuff (including nanners), harder to get clean water, an harder for other animals (we use for food) to survive. Think it's also important to remember that even though we've been on Earth a very long time, all this industry stuff hasn't been here very long so who knows how bad it Can get?
Personally, I'd rather grow nanners without acid rain.
Levi's right about the incredible seasons in Canada But he's right about the Tropics, too! With all the early cold stuff, I'd Luv to pack up my nanners & leave on the first boat out :) !

Btw, Good Luck with your citrus stuff, Sbl. Hope ya dont get hit too hard.

island cassie
11-08-2009, 11:17 PM
Take care all you guys likely to be in Ida's path - lol! usually it's us!
(sorry - thread hijack!)

Eric
11-09-2009, 09:34 AM
Holy Bleep :eek: !! Thanx Cassie, wasn't even thinkin about Hurricanes (no frost)!
Just checked with the Weather Channel. As of 7:11 am ET, Ida has weakened to an 80 mph hurricane & is approching the mid gulf. It's supposed to make landfall, tonight, and Hurricane warnings are out for an area from Pascagoula Mississippi to Indian Pass, Florida. They think it might weaken to a tropical storm but that's bad enough!
Good Luck, you guys, in the path of the storm. Might wanna do some things to protect those nanners!

BananaLee
11-10-2009, 05:52 PM
It was warm yesterday and on Sunday. On Sunday it went up to 68F! Finally! I got to wear a t-shirt!

BananaLee
11-11-2009, 01:10 PM
The weather says this Friday we might have rain mixed with SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dang, that's not suppose to come until mid December!!!!!! Hope that doesn't happen! :(

Eric
11-11-2009, 05:38 PM
Rain & snow!? Ouch! We'll be in the 70's for a little longer But, come Sunday, 50's with lows around 40, Brrrr! Think I'll hibernate in my electric blanket till spring!

jwmahloch
11-12-2009, 02:51 PM
You might try Freezepruf next fall www.luquidfence.org . I live in St Louis MO and used it on my bananas ans they still look great on 11/12 (almost a month after our first frost). I understand it adds at least 5 degrees of cold tolerance so that would mean it could get down to 27 and most cold hardy bananas will be unharmed by freezing tempetures. Another tip is to plant you bananas up against the south or east side of you house, it will stay a couple degrees warmer within 5 feet of you house even without freezepruf. Good Luck

Jeremy
:0517:

BananaLee
11-15-2009, 05:06 PM
It's been pretty warm this week. Finally the weathers been getting back on schedule! Whew! ;)

moonboy87
11-16-2009, 12:35 AM
Ugh. Currently 19F here and massive amounts of snow and ice everywhere on earth. Hard to drive, hard to breathe, dry as all hell, and all together a huge pain in the arse. :( Oh well, at least it's 76 inside and nice and humid ^_^

Eric
11-16-2009, 06:37 PM
Ugh. Currently 19F here and massive amounts of snow and ice everywhere on earth. Hard to drive, hard to breathe, dry as all hell, and all together a huge pain in the arse. :( Oh well, at least it's 76 inside and nice and humid ^_^

OMG, Miles!! :( Sounds horrifying... more like petrifying LOL! Well, not so LOL, it's only down to 45F here now and I'm already freezing my Bleeps off! Nice inside here, too, but would LUV to be on a beach in Tahiti right now :) !
Removed an abbreviation, here, cause I dont know what it means.
Snow? Is that that white stuff I saw coming out of the sky 2 winters ago? Jeeps! Stay home & Stay Warm :).

coast crab
11-16-2009, 07:22 PM
OMG, Miles!! :( Sounds horrifying... more like petrifying LOL! Well, not so LOL, it's only down to 45F here now and I'm already freezing my Bleeps off! Nice inside here, too, but would LUV to be on a beach in Tahiti right now :) ! ^_^
Snow? Is that that white stuff I saw coming out of the sky 2 winters ago? Jeeps! Stay home & Stay Warm :).

Y'all can keep that nonsense! But I don't know where we'd put all of you, so....

R

enigma99a
11-16-2009, 07:32 PM
OMG, Miles!! :( Sounds horrifying... more like petrifying LOL! Well, not so LOL, it's only down to 45F here now and I'm already freezing my Bleeps off! Nice inside here, too, but would LUV to be on a beach in Tahiti right now :) ! ^_^
Snow? Is that that white stuff I saw coming out of the sky 2 winters ago? Jeeps! Stay home & Stay Warm :).

Snow? The white stuff that hasn't stuck to the ground since 33 winters ago? :D Just to think a repeat of history is coming someday scares the heck out of me

sbl
11-16-2009, 08:01 PM
There was one here back in the 70's--1977 I think. About 1 in 5 people here wrecked their car! There was another snow in the early 90s that stuck to some tree limbs--enough to make a snow ball or 2.

enigma99a
11-16-2009, 09:46 PM
That is weird. We had ours in 1976 and yours in 77. Considering the Sun is in a cycle every 11 years, that's 3 complete cycles... which is scary for this year/next. (due to inactivity)

We had a snow of 4 inches in 1888. Which is another number divisible of 11 and puts it in the same position of its cycle as 76/77. Am I on to something here? I'm not a scientist, but just observing facts

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e1/Sunspot-bfly.gif

If you notice 1888 and 1976/7 are times of inactivity of sunspots. And with that comes cooler temps on Earth.

Eric
11-16-2009, 10:49 PM
Y'all can keep that nonsense! But I don't know where we'd put all of you, so....
R

Put winter haters :confused: !? How about Tahiti :) !! Ya must not like winter much yourself, though, livin down in the Heart of Dixie! Bet ya won't have to worry much about winter there! Wish we didnt.

Snow? The white stuff that hasn't stuck to the ground since 33 winters ago? Just to think a repeat of history is coming someday scares the heck out of me

LUCKY! Wish we could go 33 years without it! It'd Def scare me to go that long and think one might be coming, though :eek: ! Wish ya luck on missin it!

harveyc
11-17-2009, 02:41 AM
I'll admit it, I want more CO2 to warm things up so I've got my smudge pot burning tonight to help protect my bunch hanging on my mystery banana plant (aka busy bee banana in 2008 photos). We had frost this morning and I sprayed everything down at 6:30am with water but it was already down to 41F by 9:30pm tonight so I moved stuff around outside for a bit.

enigma99a
11-17-2009, 02:46 AM
I'll admit it, I want more CO2 to warm things up so I've got my smudge pot burning tonight to help protect my bunch hanging on my mystery banana plant (aka busy bee banana in 2008 photos). We had frost this morning and I sprayed everything down at 6:30am with water but it was already down to 41F by 9:30pm tonight so I moved stuff around outside for a bit.

Harvey

How does water spraying work? It doesn't hurt the plant?

harveyc
11-17-2009, 02:51 AM
No, water helps warm up the surface of the plant immediately in the case of a light frost. Frosts of longer duration can be somewhat mitigated by continually apply water even if the water freezes as the water gives off heat as it freezes. In addition, much of the damage caused by mild frosts is due to dehydration.

Circulating air fans an also help, all of these are commonly used in various farm settings.

harveyc
11-17-2009, 02:53 AM
Principles of Frost Protection (http://biomet.ucdavis.edu/frostprotection/Principles%20of%20Frost%20Protection/FP005.html)

sandy0225
11-17-2009, 07:14 AM
When we went to Freeport, bahama a few years ago, we decided on a whim to go to church that Sunday even though we didn't have really appropriate church clothes. We usually go around here and it just didn't feel right. So we got out the phone book and found one and went there. When we got inside, everyone there was dressed up like Easter Sunday at our church, hats, suits, gloves, nice dresses, etc. Here we were in our jeans and t shirts! But anyway, they were really nice, announced us as visitors from the US-- and even made us go first through the cookie/coffee line after the service in the reception hall. (They do that every week, have church, then have a social hour in the reception hall).
They told us that it had snowed down there four or five years ago, just enough to whiten the ground, but not enough to accumulate. Several of the people there said they had taken pictures of it and had them at home. Then the minister insisted on driving us back to our hotel to save us cab fare. People are good everywhere aren't they? And weather is weird...

sbl
11-17-2009, 07:12 PM
Our average first frost is early December, so we haven't even been close to frost yet. My pecan tree is still solid green and peppers are still producing.

We do get cold from time to time, but we can have highs in the 70s any day during winter. Actually, that is one of our problems, it can be 70 one day and then we can have highs in the 40s or 50 the next.

Abnshrek
11-17-2009, 09:05 PM
Like Sbl said its not like you can keep your stuff dormant if its 70F or better several days a week in the winter. I'm not so fortunate.. maybe a couple..lol I'm about to get my pups out before the weather gets them since its not frezing here for the whole next week (and hopefully then some). I really need them out of the way for what I'm doing maintain what I have in the yard minus 3 & pups. I am trying something different to maintain what I have in the ground. Well I'm pulling 3 out the ground to pot like the pups in my artificial sun room (another test).

enigma99a
11-18-2009, 04:19 AM
Like Sbl said its not like you can keep your stuff dormant if its 70F or better several days a week in the winter. I'm not so fortunate.. maybe a couple..lol I'm about to get my pups out before the weather gets them since its not frezing here for the whole next week (and hopefully then some). I really need them out of the way for what I'm doing maintain what I have in the yard minus 3 & pups. I am trying something different to maintain what I have in the ground. Well I'm pulling 3 out the ground to pot like the pups in my artificial sun room (another test).

Why would you want to keep them dormant anyway? We hit 80 degrees on January 12th this year and lots of 70s throughout. Yes they woke up but even when we had a cold day of 29 degrees late that month there was a little damage but nothing major. If the pups pop out, just protect them

Janyse
11-18-2009, 01:19 PM
I have several potted banana trees in my backyard. I want to know if anyone can tell me how to prepare them for winter. I live in Oklahoma City. We had temperatures that reached freezing last night and my poor banana trees look awful. Is it to late to save them. I have read that I need to cut back the leaves and remove the soil from the roots. I just don't know what to do next. I have a garage or an attic that I can place them in. I just want to know if I need to put them in a container or wrap them in plastic. Also, do they need sunlight or water while they are dormant?

Thank You!

sbl
11-18-2009, 01:45 PM
If you are going to store them bare root at temps below 60, you can just remove the leaves (you can leave 1) and lay them in a cool dark place (garage, basement, crawl space is best). Keep them dry.

If you are like us and may have mid 20s or even upper teens for lows between warm spells of 70 to 80, a container works well so that you can move them inside for the cold spells, but still keep the water level low.

Depending on the variety, you can protect them inground to get the pseudostem to survive temps in the mid 20s.

Eric
11-18-2009, 04:07 PM
Sbl has some good info, there. Also, I left a post in your other thread with info on how I've been doing it for the past 3 years here.

Eric
11-18-2009, 04:16 PM
Like Sbl said its not like you can keep your stuff dormant if its 70F or better several days a week in the winter. I'm not so fortunate.. maybe a couple..lol I'm about to get my pups out before the weather gets them since its not frezing here for the whole next week (and hopefully then some). I really need them out of the way for what I'm doing maintain what I have in the yard minus 3 & pups. I am trying something different to maintain what I have in the ground. Well I'm pulling 3 out the ground to pot like the pups in my artificial sun room (another test).

Please keep us posted :). Would Luv to know how your tests come out.

BananaLee
11-18-2009, 06:13 PM
You guys who have it all warm don't like snow?! It's not that bad! It reflects heat so it feels warmer if its 20F with snow than 20F without snow. With snow you get to snowboard!!! But don't get me wrong, after New Years day, I'm sick of it!!

Eric
11-19-2009, 05:10 PM
You guys who have it all warm don't like snow?! It's not that bad! It reflects heat so it feels warmer if its 20F with snow than 20F without snow. With snow you get to snowboard!!! But don't get me wrong, after New Years day, I'm sick of it!!

Would totally Luv snow & snowboards :) !! But all we ever get is ice. Didn't even get enough snow, last winter, to make a very big snowball :(. Hope we get snow this year cause I wanna build a snowman and a snow igloo!!

jwmahloch
11-19-2009, 05:24 PM
I grew up near Green Bay Wisconsin and had snow on the ground for 4 months of the year. Now I live in St Louis MO and it only snows a couple times each winter. It seems like we get ice and sleet more often which is worse than snow. I have lost trees because of ice before, it sucks. So I could live without the snow and ice myself. But the kids do like to go sleding when we do get snow. - Jeremy

Eric
11-19-2009, 08:08 PM
I grew up near Green Bay Wisconsin and had snow on the ground for 4 months of the year. Now I live in St Louis MO and it only snows a couple times each winter. It seems like we get ice and sleet more often which is worse than snow. I have lost trees because of ice before, it sucks. So I could live without the snow and ice myself. But the kids do like to go sleding when we do get snow. - Jeremy

Yeah, snow's a blast, ice sucks! St louis? Were you there when the 2007 ice-storm disaster hit? Had Lots of split & broken up trees then, still do. The trees all over town still look like something out of a Halloween movie.

BananaLee
11-20-2009, 11:51 AM
That reminds me of a story my dad told me. In Spain it was -4F (-20C) and in only two minuets in went up to 40F (5C)!!!! Since the temp went that high in such a short amount of time, the trees and the sidewalks split in two!! I don't know when this happened though but it's pretty interesting!

Seaner
11-20-2009, 03:34 PM
That reminds me of a story my dad told me. In Spain it was -4F (-20C) and in only two minuets in went up to 40F (5C)!!!! Since the temp went that high in such a short amount of time, the trees and the sidewalks split in two!! I don't know when this happened though but it's pretty interesting!

That's also common in the deserts, here. The temp falls so fast at night that rocks explode! Very eerie! Of course, in the deserts there's little danger of many trees splitting since there aren't many trees! LOL! Canada has it's own problems, too. The temp extremes make it impossible to build bridges over large lakes. Truckers have to drive slowly over the ice.

BananaLee
11-20-2009, 04:49 PM
In the Upper Peninsula in the winter in Keweenaw, near Lake Superior, there's ice volcanoes! They can reach 20ft-30ft high and explode ice! http://www.geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/ice/images/long-arc.jpg http://www.geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/ice/images/arc2.jpg MTU Volcanoes Page - Ice Volcanoes (http://www.geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/ice/)

Seaner
11-20-2009, 05:25 PM
Thanks for the links, Bananalee! I knew the waves could crack the ice beneath trucks but I never dreamed it could make eruptions. That's just awesome!

BananaLee
11-20-2009, 05:28 PM
Thanks! I want to see one soooo bad that would be great!!!!!

Seaner
11-21-2009, 12:20 AM
That would definitely be awesome! Back on target, we had our first real frost here just before the weekend. We're back in the 60's for a few days then dropping back to the 50's days and 30's nights. I'm sure glad I only have 2 plants to protect this year. You're up in Michigan. I hear it gets real cold up there! I definitely wish you luck with your plants.

BananaLee
11-21-2009, 09:28 AM
That would definitely be awesome! Back on target, we had our first real frost here just before the weekend. We're back in the 60's for a few days then dropping back to the 50's days and 30's nights. I'm sure glad I only have 2 plants to protect this year. You're up in Michigan. I hear it gets real cold up there! I definitely wish you luck with your plants.
Thanks! It does get cold up here but not as cold as most think to tell you the truth, in zone 6 here it only gets to the minimum with a big blast of wind. Usually, it's in the 20's for the average or the low. Michiganders weather pros say what you can grow in zone 7 Arizona and zone 7 Kentucky you can grow in southern Michigan, has to do with our Autumn and the Great Lakes, weird huh! :) We got frosts really early this year, before Halloween! We get lake affect snow too...a lot of it. Lake-effect snow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_effect_snow) In the Upper Peninsula, it snows on a clear sunny day because Lake Superior is near and the water evaporates and freezes up immediately and turns to snow, so there's a endless amount of snow...tons and tons of it... feets and feets of it...I'm guessing over 5ft. On Mt. Bohemia (a ski resort) they get annually 200 to 300 inches of snow a year!! That's 25ft!!!! Glad I don't live up there! ;) :woohoonaner:

Seaner
11-21-2009, 01:04 PM
Thanks for the link for lake-effect snow! I've seen that in TV docs, before. Awesome! I can see why you wouldn't wanna live there but it would be a great winter paradise to visit :D! 5 feet!? A guy could dig a tunnel-maze through something like that and have plenty left for all types of snowmen & snowballs! I've also seen docs of ice sculptures. Sweet!
October frost!? I'd freak! But I was in Michigan a few years ago in the summer. There seems to be more plantlife up there than we have here.

Eric
11-22-2009, 10:47 PM
Elephant ears & cannas are suffering heavilly :(. Trees have lost about half their leaves, some lost them all... even the pecan tree. Calla Lilies are gone. Startin to look Too much like winter.
Bamboo still green, though, and the roses're still blooming :) ! Hosta's hangin on & the Shamrock's bloomin, too!
Guess it won't be long now, though.

Levi, Thanx for the great info on the ice volcanoes an stuff :) ! Awesome!
Sean, if we do get snow this time... U know :ha: !

BananaLee
11-23-2009, 12:43 PM
It gets over 3ft sometimes over here, but sometimes up there in the mountains it gets 25ft and over the houses!!!!

Seaner
11-23-2009, 01:24 PM
It gets over 3ft sometimes over here, but sometimes up there in the mountains it gets 25ft and over the houses!!!!

25 foot snow!? Dude! That's like totally Rad! A guy could make snow-tunnel Central outa that! Def Thanks for the info!

Eric: I didn't hide it. Clue: closet drawer, maybe :cool:.

Ezekiel
11-23-2009, 02:44 PM
No frost here in Paris, France.

Hoping that the frost will keep away from my yard until late december...

Last year we had a cold and wet winter in my town (12°F / -11°C during a few hours)

51st state
11-23-2009, 03:47 PM
No frosts here yet either. we came very close on Oct 18th but since then it's just been one Atlantic storm after the other, leaves looking a bit shedded but still hanging on :ha:

BananaLee
11-27-2009, 05:58 PM
I can't believe it!!!!! Outside there's rain mixed with a little....SNOW!!!!!!!!! This isn't supposed to be happening!!!!! This is insanity!!!! This is stinkn' bull crap!!! What a rip!! The high today was like 39F or 40F!!!!!!!!! This is sick man!! Really sick!!! Sorry for my sudden outburst... (sigh...) :(

Eric
11-27-2009, 06:43 PM
I can't believe it!!!!! Outside there's rain mixed with a little....SNOW!!!!!!!!! This isn't supposed to be happening!!!!! This is insanity!!!! This is stinkn' bull crap!!! What a rip!! The high today was like 39F or 40F!!!!!!!!! This is sick man!! Really sick!!! Sorry for my sudden outburst... (sigh...) :(

Well... I thought he took that really well... I woulda been screaming my lungs out and throwing things through windows!!
70's (F) here today with upper 60's tomorrow... then... watch out! 50's in the daytime with 30's at night... I'd react to that but I dont wanna break my computer...
So I'll just say this
I Demand Summer Back... Now!!!!!!
:)

Abnshrek
11-27-2009, 09:15 PM
Somehow or another it got to 32F this morning.. Of course it was 70 this afternoon.. wth? :^) well they all took it well other than a 4ft DC that has a lil browing on leaf edges.. <-thinkin the heat-tapes need to be on standby.... lol

jwmahloch
11-27-2009, 10:21 PM
It was 28 here in St Louis last night, first hard freeze this fall. My basjoos and bordeleens suffered some damage even with freeze pruf. But the leaves were still mostly green. I cut back 2 of my 5 banana plants today and covered them for the winter. My palms are still looking great. I have 5 windmill palms (3 T Fortunei's and 3 T Takil's) and 1 CA Fan palm outside. I will need to cut back the other 3 banana plants later this weekend and cover them as well. The problem is that I used all my leaves. Maybe I can steal some leaves from my neighboors yard. - Jeremy
:bananas_b

enigma99a
11-28-2009, 03:28 AM
Jeremy
You had FreezePruf on both sides of the leafs I guess....and yet there was still damaged. I am a bit surprised since the Basjoo is really hardy. But still mostly green? I would like to see photos

Eric
11-28-2009, 08:37 AM
It was 28 here in St Louis last night, first hard freeze this fall. My basjoos and bordeleens suffered some damage even with freeze pruf. But the leaves were still mostly green. I cut back 2 of my 5 banana plants today and covered them for the winter. My palms are still looking great. I have 5 windmill palms (3 T Fortunei's and 3 T Takil's) and 1 CA Fan palm outside. I will need to cut back the other 3 banana plants later this weekend and cover them as well. The problem is that I used all my leaves. Maybe I can steal some leaves from my neighboors yard. - Jeremy
:bananas_b

28 in St louis, ouch! I'm in central Oklahoma and would Def like to hear more about those palms this winter! I'm just gettin started growin palms so I'm trying to learn all I can about how good they do in cold weather.
Thanx for the info!

BananaLee
11-28-2009, 10:12 AM
It was 28 here in St Louis last night, first hard freeze this fall. My basjoos and bordeleens suffered some damage even with freeze pruf. But the leaves were still mostly green. I cut back 2 of my 5 banana plants today and covered them for the winter. My palms are still looking great. I have 5 windmill palms (3 T Fortunei's and 3 T Takil's) and 1 CA Fan palm outside. I will need to cut back the other 3 banana plants later this weekend and cover them as well. The problem is that I used all my leaves. Maybe I can steal some leaves from my neighboors yard. - Jeremy
:bananas_b
Wow! You have true Takil palms?! If you do, where did you get it?! I would love to know!

Abnshrek
11-28-2009, 11:52 AM
The day after is really a true sign.. I have some frostbite on the leaves but my dwarf orinico got it the worst, and is protected the most.. Food for thought for the rest you-al' :^) I doubt it's worth putting a heat-tape on it @ this point.. time will tell it's suppose to be 73F and not freeze for a while... we'll see

Eric
11-28-2009, 02:59 PM
The day after is really a true sign.. I have some frostbite on the leaves but my dwarf orinico got it the worst, and is protected the most.. Food for thought for the rest you-al' :^) I doubt it's worth putting a heat-tape on it @ this point.. time will tell it's suppose to be 73F and not freeze for a while... we'll see

Da*n! Sorry to hear about your Orinoco :(. I just worked my tail off trying to get 2 Orinocos from corms (my first successfull attempt with corms). But bananas are Very stubborn. If there's no corm rot, you might consider diggin it up and over-wintering it inside. Even if there are some soft spots, you could try cutting them off. I've got my Orinoco corms by a heater & they're pushing up leaves fast! I left the corms planted but super dry till they pushed up 4 inches of new leaf. Took a long time but it was worth the wait!
Just a thought.
Good to hear you're warming up! Hope your other nanners do good!

Btw, weird stuff like 32* night then 70* day is so common in Central Oklahoma, "wth" doesn't apply, LOL!

JuniPerez
11-28-2009, 08:21 PM
Wow! You have true Takil palms?! If you do, where did you get it?! I would love to know!

Lee,

I got T. takil from hardytropicals. I love 'em. They seem to take the cold better than the T fortunei I got, even though I was told it was slightly less hardy and not tested enough. And the leaves grow at a much faster rate too.

Juni

jwmahloch
11-28-2009, 09:29 PM
I also got my takil palms from hardytropicals.com (they are located in Seatle WA). I Bought 2 one gallon palms about a year ago and started them in pots over the winter and then planted them outside. They seem to grow faster than the fortunei's. Not sure about the difference in cold hardiness yet.

I just cut down my basjoo's today and I didnt take any more pictures. With the freeze pruf they had no damage down to about 30 degrees at 28 they had some damage but the leaves were still mostly green. The wind got them pretty bad so I just cut them down. I spent all day covering the 5 banana plants I have.

Eric
11-29-2009, 02:29 PM
Cold front moved in around 11 am this morning. 42*F with 34*F wind chill. North winds at 17 Mph with 24 Mph gusts! Great day to go explore some things if the rain'll just take a break!

BananaLee
11-29-2009, 04:46 PM
Cold front moved in around 11 am this morning. 42*F with 34*F wind chill. North winds at 17 Mph with 24 Mph gusts! Great day to go explore some things if the rain'll just take a break!
Not that bad! Over here it's the high is only in the low 40's! Hope that doesn't mean anything...

BananaLee
11-29-2009, 04:50 PM
They seem to grow faster than the fortunei's. Not sure about the difference in cold hardiness yet.

Read "Palms won't grow here and other myths", they talk about the hardiness of the takil, they say it's a lot hardier than fortuneis but they get crown rot really easily so they need to be sprayed with fungicide I think.

jwmahloch
11-29-2009, 05:00 PM
I have read "palms wont grow here and other myths" several times. I bought it 2 years ago and the book got me started with palms. I have been emailing Dr Frankco some pictures and he said he might use them in the new addition of the book that his is working on now. I can give you his email if you want and you can send him some pictures as well. He did tell me that the publisher is very picky about lighting in the pictures. He asked me to send him more pictures in Summer 2010. - jeremy
:waving:

BananaLee
11-29-2009, 05:03 PM
I have read "palms wont grow here and other myths" several times. I bought it 2 years ago and the book got me started with palms. I have been emailing Dr Frankco some pictures and he said he might use them in the new addition of the book that his is working on now. I can give you his email if you want and you can send him some pictures as well. He did tell me that the publisher is very picky about lighting in the pictures. He asked me to send him more pictures in Summer 2010. - jeremy
:waving:

That would be great!!!!!

jwmahloch
11-29-2009, 09:32 PM
Here is Dr David Frankco's email address at the University of Alabama. dfrancko@ua.edu

I sent him some pictures a couple weeks ago to show him how well the freeze pruf worked. He asked me to send him more pictures next year and that he might use them in his book.

Are you growing any palms in Michigan?

Jeremy

Jack Daw
11-30-2009, 11:25 AM
Here is Dr David Frankco's email address at the University of Alabama. SOME E-MAIL ADDRESS

I sent ...
If you put his address here just like that, thousands of automated spambots will send him something interesting everyday too. :ha:

You can hide it by clicking EDIT - ADVANCED SETTINGS (or EDIT) and then find an icon on the bar that looks like an envelope with a big letter. Press it and put his address there, that way it will remain relatively safe and hidden. ;)

Cheers,

djmb74
11-30-2009, 11:34 AM
That's not even funny because its true! Harvesting email addresses is a huge business...

If you put his address here just like that, thousands of automated spambots will send him something interesting everyday too. :ha:

You can hide it by clicking EDIT - ADVANCED SETTINGS (or EDIT) and then find an icon on the bar that looks like an envelope with a big letter. Press it and put his address there, that way it will remain relatively safe and hidden. ;)

Cheers,

BananaLee
11-30-2009, 05:05 PM
Here is Dr David Frankco's email address at the University of Alabama. dfrancko@ua.edu

I sent him some pictures a couple weeks ago to show him how well the freeze pruf worked. He asked me to send him more pictures next year and that he might use them in his book.

Are you growing any palms in Michigan?

Jeremy

Yep! So is a friend of mine and someone else in my area to!

jwmahloch
11-30-2009, 08:46 PM
What type of palms are you growing? How do you protect your palms in the winter?

Eric
12-01-2009, 01:11 PM
Привёт Товарищ :) !
Just for a sec, I'd like to go back on-topic, then you can get back to palms!
It's now December 1 and we had our first visible frost this morning in central Oklahoma. It's taking out the Mexican sunflowers, mums, & cannas and those are always the last to go. Here's a pic I took this morning:

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=27337&size=1

Okay, Back to Palms!

Abnshrek
12-01-2009, 09:25 PM
Well I can say I'm 80% prepped for our freeze coming in 2 days.. Talk about a pain in the butt.. I hope all this effort is worth it.. post pic's tomorrow... All the banana leaves I cut my pigs is in hog heaven..lol

enigma99a
12-01-2009, 09:54 PM
Well I can say I'm 80% prepped for our freeze coming in 2 days.. Talk about a pain in the butt.. I hope all this effort is worth it.. post pic's tomorrow... All the banana leaves I cut my pigs is in hog heaven..lol

Ouch good luck with that:( ... We are still waiting for first frost. Not sure when it will happen. Maybe next Monday??

Eric
12-01-2009, 10:25 PM
Well I can say I'm 80% prepped for our freeze coming in 2 days.. Talk about a pain in the butt.. I hope all this effort is worth it.. post pic's tomorrow... All the banana leaves I cut my pigs is in hog heaven..lol

LOL! A pig's Thanksgiving, Awesome! Wish ya lots of luck. Will be watching for the pics, too!

Enigma99a, keep us posted!

BananaLee
12-03-2009, 05:29 PM
It might have a little bit of flurrys and snow tomorrow but it doesn't bother me. I'm kinda ready for the snow. It looks really ugly without it.

microfarmer
12-03-2009, 05:42 PM
If you put his address here just like that, thousands of automated spambots will send him something interesting everyday too. :ha:

You can hide it by clicking EDIT - ADVANCED SETTINGS (or EDIT) and then find an icon on the bar that looks like an envelope with a big letter. Press it and put his address there, that way it will remain relatively safe and hidden. ;)

Cheers,

Your quote of his quote also has his email addy in it, and you too should edit your post...

It's only fair...:ha:

jwmahloch
12-03-2009, 05:44 PM
We had some snow fluries last night but it all melted when it hit the ground. All my plants are covered up, in my greenhouse or in my basement so I am ready for it to snow. My kids love the snow. We dont get much here in St Louis, and when we do it melts in a few days.

Abnshrek
12-03-2009, 08:27 PM
Well I'm done prepping for the frost. I had a lil prince in the front bed I finally pulled, and glad I did since the roots were starting to root with this cool weather, and its pretty damp there.

Abnshrek
12-03-2009, 08:27 PM
Well I'm done prepping for the frost. I had a lil prince in the front bed I finally pulled, and glad I did since the roots were starting to rot with this cool weather, and its pretty damp there.

Eric
12-04-2009, 04:29 PM
It's December 4th, here in central Oklahoma, USA, and we are Def past the frost thing. In fact, we've made it to hard freeze :(.
This is what it looked like outside less than 20 minutes ago. It's 40 degrees F, right now, and we hit 23 degrees F, early this morning.

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=27435&size=1

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=27436&size=1

Think anything, that wasn't safe at this point, is toast... Ice toast!

jwmahloch
12-04-2009, 04:47 PM
It was 22 in St Louis last night and we had some snow fluries (no accumulation). All my plants are either protected outside, in my greenhouse or in my basement. I went to lowes today to buy some mulch and the bages were frozen. I dont care for this cold weather.

Jack Daw
12-04-2009, 06:14 PM
Your quote of his quote also has his email addy in it, and you too should edit your post...

It's only fair...:ha:
What? Where? ;)

P.S: Yes, I edited it. :ha:

BananaLee
12-04-2009, 07:24 PM
It might get down to 18F (-8C) tonight!!! I don't think it's suppose to get that low at this time of year.

BananaLee
12-04-2009, 07:56 PM
What type of palms are you growing? How do you protect your palms in the winter?
So far, I have three livistonia chinensis's in a clump I found in the garbage, and a baby trachycarpus fortunei. I mulched both of my palms and covered my trachy. My livistonia did not get any cold damage after going through the low 20's! I plan on getting a T. takil, T. wagnerainus, T. manipur, T. latisectus, T. nanus, Sabal Minor, S. Louisiana, S. Tamaulipas, S. x texensis 'Brazoria' S. Uresana, Rhapidophyllum hystrix, Washingtonia filifera, W. Robusta, Butia capitata, Arenga engleri, and maybe Kerriodoxa elegans and rhapis humilis.

bikoro child
12-05-2009, 04:11 AM
Lee,are all these palms growing outside? Btw the correct name is Livistona Chinensis ,curiously it 's a frequent error here too...

Abnshrek
12-05-2009, 10:53 AM
Well my pygmy date palms took the 23F last night quite well, even the three small one's. I don't nothing else to worry about :^)

BananaLee
12-05-2009, 11:19 AM
Lee,are all these palms growing outside? Btw the correct name is Livistona Chinensis ,curiously it 's a frequent error here too...
All the palms I plan on trying to overwinter here. I know lots are not hardy but I don't mind covering them. A lot will probably not make it but hey! Nothing bad about pushing the limits!! Oh yeah, sorry 'bout my spelling I'm not to great of a speller. :(

Abnshrek
12-05-2009, 10:13 PM
I know one thing my 2 young robusta sure didn't like the 23F last night.. Well I sure hope they like 27F tonight.. I personally think I'm going to loose all the fronds on them.. So goes life next year they'll eat that stuff up :^) The oranges (are still blooming), and grapefruit took it great by the way..

BananaLee
12-07-2009, 04:46 PM
Snowed this morning for the first time, just a little and then it melted. Didn't last as long as I thought. In western Michigan, they got 14in a couple days ago, it's from the lake effect snow.

jwmahloch
12-07-2009, 04:53 PM
Lee,

Where exactly is St Clair? Is that close to Detroit? Do you get much snow?

I grew up near Green Bay WI and I remember there being snow on the ground from Dec through March. The small lakes were frozen so deep that you could drive a pickup truck out on the ice in Janurary.

I moved to Missouri when I was in high school. In St Louis we only get snow a couple times each winter and its normally gone in less than a week.

Personally I could do without the snow and extreme cold.

BananaLee
12-07-2009, 07:22 PM
It's kind a far from Detroit, 'bout a hour away or less. We get lake effect snow. Average Michigan snow, over 3ft usually, enough to tunnel thru.

Abnshrek
12-07-2009, 11:15 PM
Lake effect is why buffalo & northern NY get dumped on. Good thing Molson is cheap up there lol
Sturgeon Fishing in Feb on Lake Winnebago, WI :^)
We got down to 21F Saturday morning here in the bayou. Former cheesehead as well :^)

jwmahloch
12-09-2009, 10:52 AM
We got heavy rain in St Louis yesterday, it was 40 degrees at 10pm last night, this morning at 7am it was 30, now its 22 degrees at 10am!!!!!!!!! And on top of that we have 40 mile per hour winds. But no snow or Ice like they got up north, so it could be worse. All my palms and bananas are covered outside so everything should be ok. I had to crank up the heat in my greenhouse to 62 just to keep it above 55 in there. I am worried that we might lose power. If that happens I have a kerosene heater as a backup for the greenhouse. Havent had to use it at all yet.

Abnshrek
12-09-2009, 11:17 AM
I have something for the frost's you know what... my Banana Cubby was 82F after my grow-lights (installed yesterday) were on for 3 hours.. :^)

BananaLee
12-09-2009, 11:27 AM
Today it's 43F with a low of 24F but tomorrow the high is only 25F with a low of 15F!!!!! If it's gonna be this cold, bring on the snow!!!!

Seaner
12-09-2009, 04:59 PM
Wow! Has somebody been reading our forecast of what!? :ha:
It's 25f here, right now, then down to 15f tonight! It took around a half hour to heat my fingers back to the skin, LOL! We don't hit any 15f till late January. This is totally bizarre!
Jeremy - Be careful with that kerosene. That's real tough to put out if it gets outa control! Luck guys :D !

jwmahloch
12-09-2009, 05:06 PM
Seaner,

Where do you live? I am in St Peters MO (St Louis Metro area).

Havent had to use the kerosene heater yet and hopefully I dont have to. Its only a emergency backup for my greenhouse in case of a power outage.

The forcast here says 15 tonight as well, orginally it said 10, now its warmer. Its been very windy today, 40 plus mpr winds.

Seaner
12-09-2009, 05:52 PM
Dude! St Peters Missouri!? That's def really close! I'm in central Oklahoma - Midwest city but it's really just south Oklahoma city. But we're really flat, here, so we get some really nasty winds. The wind chill, this afternoon, was like 13f... s*cks!

bikoro child
12-10-2009, 03:18 AM
To cheer you up, here's a little link that shows you Andres 's garden, who lives in Poland and has annual temperatures largely negative (go see all the pages to follow the evolution of the garden)

LE FORUM DES FOUS DE PALMIERS - Afficher le sujet - Mon jardin polonais (http://www.fousdepalmiers.fr/html/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2936)

BananaLee
12-10-2009, 11:35 AM
We have a little snow outside (about time!) looks very pretty, but you can still see the grass.

Eric
12-10-2009, 01:05 PM
Sean's right, it's Def winter here, now, in central Oklahoma! (in degrees F):
Mon night 21, Tue 41, Tue night 13, Wed 26. It was even colder, last night!
I went out this morning to check on things and even found this! I thought it was a snowflake but it was definitely an icycle!

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=27603&size=1

Took a pic of the Passiflora vine this morning, too. Doing super!

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=27604&size=1

Unfortunately, the water plants aren't doing as good.

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=27605&size=1

Sure hope they're just hibernating.

Abnshrek
12-10-2009, 01:34 PM
I can't believe this but I put a piece of clear plastic (like a window) on top of one of my banana bags and this banana ((DC) 5ft p-stem) is pushing a leaf and its 40F? I know it was covered by a slab of straw too. I'm amazed

curriedrice
12-10-2009, 01:41 PM
Tragic morning, my bananas are all suffering frost damage - brown leaves and some with brown stem. I'm happy that the the worse of this frost is over for the time being.

Next year I'm getting a cold shelter!

Eric
12-10-2009, 01:58 PM
I can't believe this but I put a piece of clear plastic (like a window) on top of one of my banana bags and this banana ((DC) 5ft p-stem) is pushing a leaf and its 40F? I know it was covered by a slab of straw too. I'm amazed

Totally congratulations on the new leaf! That's awesome at those temps! Got new leaves on 2 Orinocos but they're staying even warmer than I am, LOL!

cherokee_greg
12-10-2009, 02:49 PM
now were goin be a bunch of ducks here

Today: Considerable cloudiness. A few sprinkles possible. High 53F. Winds light and variable.
Tonight: Showers this evening, becoming a steady rain overnight. Low around 40F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.
Tomorrow: A steady rain in the morning. Showers continuing in the afternoon. High 53F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
Tomorrow night: Overcast with rain showers at times. Low near 45F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Saturday: Cloudy with rain. Highs in the low 50s and lows in the mid 40s.
Sunday: Occasional showers possible. Highs in the low 50s and lows in the mid 30s.
Monday: Mix of sun and clouds. Highs in the mid 50s and lows in the upper 30s.
:raftingnaner:

cherokee_greg
12-10-2009, 02:52 PM
[QUOTE=Eric;113739]Sean's right, it's Def winter here, now, in central Oklahoma! (in degrees F):
Mon night 21, Tue 41, Tue night 13, Wed 26. It was even colder, last night!
I went out this morning to check on things and even found this! I thought it was a snowflake but it was definitely an icycle!

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=27603&size=1

wow you have big ole icycles there bro :woohoonaner:

Patty in Wisc
12-10-2009, 02:53 PM
Eric, I'm sure your pond plants are fine. I can stomp on the top of mine now & not fall thru ice, & I know those lilies will come up next year :)
Wind chill here is -20 f now...brrrr

Seaner
12-10-2009, 05:05 PM
Hi Patty :). Eric's away, for now. He likely won't be home till Monday but I'll pass the info to him. BTW, thanks. I was a little curious myself about the pond plants.
-20F windchill!? OMG! Isn't that the point at which all life ceases to exist!? LOL!
We hit 12F, at 5 am, and that was definitely low enough for me!

Dude! That's one awesome avatar, Greg! But if you're getting that much flood, I'd definitely consider a really nice surfboard for the horse, LOL! If Santa makes it to Redondo beach, let me know and I'll meet you there :D!

Abnshrek
12-10-2009, 09:28 PM
the 2 DC's I checked wrapped with heat-tapes are both pushing leaves so I'm going to redo my plastic after I improvise a a banana cage simular to a tomato cage but wrapped in plastic then the can grow all the hell they want to :^)

Abnshrek
12-10-2009, 09:44 PM
Wow Patty now I know why I didn't go back up there.. lol That's harsh..
The other tid-bit or reason why I htink mine are pushing leaves is I used black plastic on the bottoms and they attract enough heat besides the heat-tapes to make it feel like a suana in the confines where the banana's are growing.. I figure I mise well make enough stackable cages so I don't have to do anything but maintain them. And a feller down the street told me it would be tough getting the tall corms restarted.. man they haven't stopped.. lol

baruman
12-11-2009, 11:08 AM
This is my first post. I am in Atlanta. I started with two Basjoo's bought through mail last year and planted them as 9" tall seedlings. They went to mush after the second frost last December and I mulched them heavily. They came back like gangbusters. One grew to 3.5 feet and the other to 2.5 feet and they threw several pups. I just cut them down to 3 p-stems 1 to 2 feet high yesterday. Bubble wrapped all three and mulched about 8 inches high. Hope it helps. It should help that that are on the south side of the house near the foundation.

jwmahloch
12-11-2009, 11:12 AM
Welcome!!!! You can find lots of usefull information on this site about cold hardy bananas and other plants too.

Seaner
12-11-2009, 11:19 AM
Abnshrek! That's Awesome! Totally Congrats on the DC leaves! That's a little past survival, dude, you're beating winter! Sweet! Def keep us up on the project. I might wanna try that next winter, myself.

Seaner
12-11-2009, 11:28 AM
This is my first post. I am in Atlanta. I started with two Basjoo's bought through mail last year and planted them as 9" tall seedlings. They went to mush after the second frost last December and I mulched them heavily. They came back like gangbusters. One grew to 3.5 feet and the other to 2.5 feet and they threw several pups. I just cut them down to 3 p-stems 1 to 2 feet high yesterday. Bubble wrapped all three and mulched about 8 inches high. Hope it helps. It should help that that are on the south side of the house near the foundation.

Welcome to the site, Jorge! Basjoos are very cold-hardy, even in Oregon & Connecticut, so they should do great! For Georgia, 8 inch mulch should be about right. The main thing is not to let the corm get wet when it's cold. By the end of next summer, they could easilly get 10-14 feet tall.

jwmahloch
12-11-2009, 11:40 AM
I think the arctic cold snap is over in St Loius for now, 40 day and 50 by Monday. Not below 20 at night for the next week. That will make it much easier to heat my greenhouse. Its amazing how much heat you lose when the temp drops below about 20 degrees.

BananaLee
12-11-2009, 11:44 AM
Howdy Jorge!!! You're gonna love it here! God Bless ya! BananaLee

BananaLee
12-11-2009, 11:49 AM
Snow is on the ground now, was really cold this morning, down to 12F!!!!! Hope we don't get another record breaker!!

jwmahloch
12-11-2009, 11:51 AM
Lee, Hows the weather in Michigan? Any snow on the ground? Its going to be 40 and sunny here today which is nice considering it didnt get above freezing for 2 days.

BananaLee
12-11-2009, 11:57 AM
Lee, Hows the weather in Michigan? Any snow on the ground? Its going to be 40 and sunny here today which is nice considering it didnt get above freezing for 2 days.

Cold...with a little bit of snow on the ground. Went down to 11F or 12F!!!! Shouldn't get that cold until January!!!! Usually the coldest standing temps are 10F to 5F and only reaching below 0 with a big wind chill, so we're more zone 6/7.

jwmahloch
12-11-2009, 12:04 PM
Thats about the same low temps that we get in St Louis in the winter. I actually looked up the annual min temps on weather underground and the average min temp for the past 10 years was 5F. So that would mean that St Louis is really in zone 7b (thats in the city). I live in the NW suburbs and it seems to get a little bit colder here but not below zero in the past 3 years that I have lived here, we are probably more like 7a where I live.

I think that when the new USDA zone maps come out the St Louis metro area will be in zone 7 and surrounded by a sea of zone 6. My wifes parents have a second home in the Ozarks and it gets colder there 150 miles SW of st louis.

Seaner
12-11-2009, 12:51 PM
I was really hoping the new USDA zone map would raise us (central Oklahoma) to like zone 8. Last winter was so mild, I barely needed a sweater for Christmas and the worst we got was in January-February. But even that was only upper teens F (lows) and didn't last long. The way it is now, though, I'm just hoping it won't drop us into zone 6 :ha: !

BananaLee
12-11-2009, 08:31 PM
They'll probably make us a frikkin zone 5 since we had a record breaker...sigh...:(

BananaLee
12-12-2009, 07:56 PM
The low for tonight and for a couple of days is 27F, thank God! Finally a little warmth! We might have a high of 40F or something on Monday. I took out one of my elephant ear bulbs but I'm overwintering one outside. The ground was so frozen that I had to jump onto the shovel and it only dug an inch of the earth! I only got one out, the rest of them I kept in for now 'cause I just gave up!

jwmahloch
12-12-2009, 09:29 PM
Its raining in St Louis now, only a low of 35 tonight, 42 tomorrow and 55 on Monday, then cold as hell again on Tuesday. We had some thunder and lightning today, odd for December.

enigma99a
12-12-2009, 09:48 PM
The low for tonight and for a couple of days is 27F, thank God! Finally a little warmth! We might have a high of 40F or something on Monday. I took out one of my elephant ear bulbs but I'm overwintering one outside. The ground was so frozen that I had to jump onto the shovel and it only dug an inch of the earth! I only got one out, the rest of them I kept in for now 'cause I just gave up!

Dang, frozen soil. That is crazy... but 40F might warm it up a bit.

Abnshrek
12-12-2009, 10:50 PM
Well it rained like all get out today... but 40F is cold when its raining w/ a 3 degree wind chill.. more rain in the week coming up then freeze thursday & friday.. lol crazy weather..

sbl
12-13-2009, 08:00 AM
Well it rained like all get out today... but 40F is cold when its raining w/ a 3 degree wind chill.. more rain in the week coming up then freeze thursday & friday.. lol crazy weather..

Same here--we have got to be working on 8 ft of rain for the yr-- way above normal.

baruman
12-13-2009, 10:29 AM
Way more rain than normal here or actually I should say it has returned to what was normal in Atlanta in the 80's and 90's. Has me nervous and thinking we're in for a couple of ice storms this winter.

BananaLee
12-13-2009, 02:14 PM
It's pretty warm and there's no snow, just rain, very odd for us! Hope we don't have a wet winter this year!

djmb74
12-13-2009, 02:15 PM
Its 83 degrees over here at my house!

Seaner
12-13-2009, 04:29 PM
Its 83 degrees over here at my house!

Some people are born lucky! or smart? 50/30 F stuff for the next ten days here, with almost no rain.

harveyc
12-13-2009, 04:29 PM
Martin, don't rub it in!

It's cool (50F) and rainy today. Rained hard for a while yesterday. Good weather for ducks! We've had low rainfall for the past three years but have had good amounts of rain this fall and winter (most of our rain normally falls from November through March).

enigma99a
12-14-2009, 04:09 AM
high of 53F but low of 50F each day.. Not bad :) Better than 30 degrees!

sbl
12-14-2009, 07:49 AM
High in the 70s here, the air is so humid, you can grab a handful, squeeze it and get water. It is raining on the inside of my screened patio. We had over 7 inches over the weekend, almost 8 ft for the yr.

Abnshrek
12-14-2009, 06:49 PM
It was so warm the mosquito's were back to norm.. attack mode.. where's the cold? lol

BananaLee
12-15-2009, 04:29 PM
FINALLY STARTED TO SNOW!!!! It looked soooo ugly without it! It's about time we had some!!!

jwmahloch
12-15-2009, 04:43 PM
No snow in st louis and personally I could do without it. Yesterday it as 54 degrees today only a high of 30. But at least the sun is out.

enigma99a
12-16-2009, 04:58 AM
for the last week the lows have been around 50. And highs in the mid 60s by the weekend. Where was the mild air a couple weeks ago :( I guess my Ice Creams will wake up a bit, and that is a good thing since I need them to grow

jwmahloch
12-16-2009, 09:45 AM
Quit complaining, it was 16 degrees in St louis this morning. I would love to have your weather in the winter.

BananaLee
12-19-2009, 03:39 PM
Snow on the ground, that's good. I'm glad.

Dean W.
12-19-2009, 04:52 PM
It was 20 here the a few weeks ago. The psedostems are still green though.

BananaLee
12-31-2009, 01:18 PM
Christmas day was great but outside wasn't. No snow but rain. It did snow two days ago and it looked gorgeous! So we went for a walk on a forest trail.

bananadude
12-31-2009, 01:35 PM
I have 14 inches on the ground now.....way below normal for this time of year....just got done shoveling again....more lake effect snows tomorrow with the cold front coming in...temps Sat are only suppose to be in the single digits....I don't mind the snow, but the cold...well it just SUCKS!

BananaLee
12-31-2009, 01:53 PM
I don't mind the snow, but the cold...well it just SUCKS!
I couldn't agree more!

jwmahloch
12-31-2009, 02:08 PM
We only got 1 inch of snow in St louis yesterday, then it was 38 degrees and most of it melted. There is an artcic cold front coming through today and the temp is supposed to drop into the teens tonight and stay below freezing for almost a week. Brrr!!!!!!! I have lived here for 3 years and the most snow we got at once was maybe 6 inches, seems like we usually get only a few inches at a time. But at least we have not gotten any freezing rain this year like we got the past 2 winters. Freezing rain is by far worse than snow, the trees dont care for it.

enigma99a
12-31-2009, 03:35 PM
Although daytime highs are chilly in the 50s, we are done with lows in the 30s for the quite foreseeable future. :woohoonaner: I guess I will move some stuff out of the garage and put it back into the ground! Spring is here:)


Thursday, Dec 31
Low: 44 °F
High: 56 °F

Friday, Jan 1
Low: 42 °F
High: 56 °F

Saturday, Jan 2
Low: 40 °F
High: 57 °F

Sunday, Jan 3

Low: 43 °F
High: 56 °F

Monday, Jan 4

Low: 43 °F
High: 58 °F

Tuesday, Jan 5

Low: 43 °F
High: 56 °F

Wednesday, Jan 6

Low: 41 °F
High: 56 °F

Thursday, Jan 7

Low: 49 °F
High: 57 °F

Friday, Jan 8

Low: 43 °F
High: 53 °F

Saturday, Jan 9

Low: 44 °F
High: 56 °F

Sunday, Jan 10

Low: 47 °F
High: 52 °F

Monday, Jan 11

Low: 46 °F
High: 54 °F

Tuesday, Jan 12

Low: 46 °F
High: 56 °F

Wednesday, Jan 13

Low: 45 °F
High: 54 °F

Thursday, Jan 14

Low: 48 °F
High: 56 °F

saltydad
12-31-2009, 06:03 PM
"Spring is here:)"


I wish....Brrrrr.

Abnshrek
12-31-2009, 06:34 PM
"Spring is here:)"
I wish....Brrrrr.

I wish too.. lol.... we're going to freeze every night for the next week.. w/ daytimes in the 40-50's

jwmahloch
01-01-2010, 12:19 AM
Spring is not here in St Louis. Its 17F now and its supposed to be in the 20s all week, Brrrrrrrr. My greenhouse is holding steady at 60F. I have an electric heater and a small kerosene heater in it. And I just insulated it with bubble wrap on the inside panels. At least the sun is supposed to come out tomorrow, it will make it appear to be nice out.

Happy new year everyone.

Velutina
01-01-2010, 01:09 AM
Spring is still 4-6 weeks away here in Las Vegas. Mid 30's for lows for the next 7+ days. At least it's not freezing! :)

enigma99a
01-01-2010, 03:09 AM
Still in the 50s in the early morning. I love it. But, thing is we got a BAD freeze that was much colder than normal here. So my stuff got roasted big time. At least it is warming up

Abnshrek
01-01-2010, 11:13 PM
We're going to freeze all week @ night.. one night down to 21F again.. so 3 night's under 25... I hope this goes away soon.. :^)

enigma99a
01-02-2010, 12:03 AM
Watch out Abnshrek, TWC has this planned for Jan 7 low, 17°. Accuweather which is I think is more accurate has 21. So a few more nights of the 20s:)

Abnshrek
01-02-2010, 12:06 AM
I guess my heat tapes will be working over time :^) I like to take the tops off when it's nice so they can get growing and most are.. You know it's just a shame to put them on hold.. :^) but its definately better than dead...

enigma99a
01-02-2010, 12:13 AM
On that cold night, I think the biggest story is going to be frost in Florida.

Look at this in Orlando

Tue Jan 5 High 49° Low 30°. 49 for a high there is pretty cold.

jwmahloch
01-02-2010, 09:59 AM
It was 4F in St Louis last night, coldest night this winter. Still stayed above 29F inside my umbrella greenhouses. I just have heat tape and 45 watt hallogen lights inside them. Stayed 55F in my greenhouse. The sun is out today so even though it will not break freezing today it will be 75 in my greenhouse with the heat of the sun during the day. the umbrella greenhouses normally warm up to about 58F with the sun on cold days. Its supposed to be cold as h...e...l...l for the next 10 days. I am ready for spring.

BananaLee
01-02-2010, 10:54 AM
It's 9F right now! The coldest yet and for the week. Supposed to be lows of 16F Sunday through Tuesday and 14F on Wednesday. Hardly any snow less than an inch! No snow on our neighbors south side. Pretty cold January.

Abnshrek
01-02-2010, 04:46 PM
Well it's 50F and gorgeous to bad I get to coop my nanner's back up. I'm thinkin' 17F if it occurs friday is going to be a true test for some of my stuff? I have to come up with a better coop next year.. tweak the concept. mini(WxD) 6-12ft(H) greenhouses :^)

D.C._Palms_N_Sports_Fan
01-03-2010, 01:40 AM
It's 9F right now! The coldest yet and for the week. Supposed to be lows of 16F Sunday through Tuesday and 14F on Wednesday. Hardly any snow less than an inch! No snow on our neighbors south side. Pretty cold January.

Its 17.8 on my thermometer, and the two weather stations closest to me one of which is in my sig is reporting 18F We usually dont see this kind of cold until very late jan and feb. Not to mention, were getting wind gusting to 55+ here. It sounds like a freight train outside tonight. with all this cold, my windmills are still comfy 40 degrees or so in their plastic / xmas lights. The HIGH today was 27, and the high tomrrow will be 28. Were usually around 43 or so for daytime highs. YUK!


EDIT:

Its 17.3 here now. By contrast, its 18F in Juneau, AK, and 37F in Nuuk Greenland. Yeah, thats 37F ABOVE zero, in Nuuk, Greenland, just a couple degrees south of the Arctic Circle. Its 41F in Tampa, FL

enigma99a
01-03-2010, 02:30 AM
Still stayed above 29F inside my umbrella greenhouses. I just have heat tape and 45 watt hallogen lights inside them.

Can you explain how well these work? Winter appears to be over for the year but, I might want to try some of these for next Winter. (if they work well that is)

I would like to contrast and compare these with frost blankets. This might be the way to go. Although the tallest one I could find is 49" tall, so it is better suited for small stuff I guess. It sure would have kept my 3 year old hibiscus alive when we froze last month...

D.C._Palms_N_Sports_Fan
01-03-2010, 08:27 AM
Update: make that 15.5 F now. YUK!

sbl
01-03-2010, 09:10 AM
It was 28 this morning--they are predicting lows in the 20s for most of the week and low 20s by the weekend. I hope my protection works.

D.C._Palms_N_Sports_Fan
01-03-2010, 09:53 AM
The image below is of a weather station that is very close to me. I did the screen shot about 45 minutes after I woke up this morning. When I woke, it was 15.5F. This station is almost exactly the same as my outdoor temp sensor, which is behind my place on the north side, 6 feet off the ground, in shade, in a cedar tree, about 15 feet away from the building.

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=28503&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=28503&ppuser=3982)

jwmahloch
01-03-2010, 11:36 AM
Can you explain how well these work? Winter appears to be over for the year but, I might want to try some of these for next Winter. (if they work well that is)

I would like to contrast and compare these with frost blankets. This might be the way to go. Although the tallest one I could find is 49" tall, so it is better suited for small stuff I guess. It sure would have kept my 3 year old hibiscus alive when we froze last month...

I have two 49" tall umbrella greenhouses. I have pipe heating cables wraped around the truck of the palms and around the truck on the ground covered with an inch of mulch. Make sure the temp sensor is outside the umbrella so its exposed to the cold. Also make sure the cable doesnt wrap on top of its self or it could melt. The cables will turn on when the outside temp drops below about 40F. I also have 45 watt hallogen lights inside both umbrellas (that are on a timer so they turn on only at night, I used light fixtures that stick into the ground. Then I covered both with quilt batting (the synthtiec kind) and put a green frost blanket over the quilt batting. I used bricks to wait down the blanket so it wont blow off.

I have a wireless weather sensor inside one umbrella that is attached to a bamboo pole about a foot off the ground. I have the weather station in my kitchen so I can track the temp, it also tracks the min and max temp. My expereince is that it will stay about 20 degrees warmer than outside depending on the outside temp. If its above 40 out then it will normally stay about 5 degrees warmer. If its a sunny day it will warm up 20 to 30 degrees warmer than outside just by the heat of the sun.

On days that are above 40 I will fold back the blankets and open the vents to let the outside air in. Its been about 2 or 3 weeks since I have done that. the umbrellas look pretty cool at night when they are lit up. My wife calls them igloos.

BananaLee
01-03-2010, 01:20 PM
I can't believe it! It went down to 4F or 5F last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So much for my hypothesis of a zone 7b winter. Usually a record breaker is followed by a very mild one.

Abnshrek
01-03-2010, 04:37 PM
[QUOTE=BananaLee;116491]I can't believe it! It went down to 4F or 5F last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So much for my hypothesis of a zone 7b winter.QUOTE]

So much for that global warming theory...lmao It was 48F this afternoon Sunny and very nippy... & that's with me wearing a coat and a madd bomber..

51st state
01-03-2010, 04:42 PM
I have two 49" tall umbrella greenhouses. I have pipe heating cables wraped around the truck of the palms and around the truck on the ground covered with an inch of mulch. Make sure the temp sensor is outside the umbrella so its exposed to the cold. Also make sure the cable doesnt wrap on top of its self or it could melt. The cables will turn on when the outside temp drops below about 40F. I also have 45 watt hallogen lights inside both umbrellas (that are on a timer so they turn on only at night, I used light fixtures that stick into the ground. Then I covered both with quilt batting (the synthtiec kind) and put a green frost blanket over the quilt batting. I used bricks to wait down the blanket so it wont blow off.

I have a wireless weather sensor inside one umbrella that is attached to a bamboo pole about a foot off the ground. I have the weather station in my kitchen so I can track the temp, it also tracks the min and max temp. My expereince is that it will stay about 20 degrees warmer than outside depending on the outside temp. If its above 40 out then it will normally stay about 5 degrees warmer. If its a sunny day it will warm up 20 to 30 degrees warmer than outside just by the heat of the sun.

On days that are above 40 I will fold back the blankets and open the vents to let the outside air in. Its been about 2 or 3 weeks since I have done that. the umbrellas look pretty cool at night when they are lit up. My wife calls them igloos.

sounds like a great setup, got any pics of them in action?

Abnshrek
01-03-2010, 11:24 PM
Well it's 50F and gorgeous to bad I get to coop my nanner's back up. I'm thinkin' 17F if it occurs friday is going to be a true test for some of my stuff? :^)

Well my new forecast is for 15-16F Friday & sat.. I'm thinkin' we're finally getting out zones temps.. man alive that's messed up

sbl
01-04-2010, 07:36 AM
28 again last night, but predictions for tonight have suddenly dropped to 20--they were 26 yesterday. They are also predicting 20 for Friday night.

Patty in Wisc
01-04-2010, 08:59 AM
A town in NW Wisc had a minus 47 * temp yesterday --& that's actual temp, no windchill!

jwmahloch
01-04-2010, 09:56 AM
thats crazy. Its been in the low single digets in st louis that last couple nights and thats cold enough for me.