Indoor Flowers in Minnesota 2009

Post by **daiv** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:01 pm

Well this is one COLD fall here and what is bizarre is that we aren't getting sun with that either.

In the fall, it usually is warm if it is cloudy - like in england - while clear skys mean cooler temps - especially at night. But we've got rain and cold. The sun has hardly shown for about a week not and won't for about another week.

The 10 day forecast:
High temps are between 36F and 55F
Lows between 29F and 41F

That is exceptionally cold especially with the cloud cover for October.

Post by **daiv** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 7:33 pm

OK, we got down to about 27F last night. I had the "little buddy" heater on in the greenhouse set to low and it was 40F at 8:00AM.

Here is a picture showing the frost on the plastic:

And here is another shot of the T. bicolor that I got from Darryl about a year ago. It is still blooming!

I posted some pics of the hardy cacti outdoors here:
http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14421

Daiv

iann · Post by **iann** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 9:26 pm

How warm does it get in the greenhouse?

Post by **daiv** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:07 pm

Ian, you mean when the sun comes out? It peaked at about 80F. Don't think it will get over 60F today.

Here it is this morning:

From outside.

Here is an inside view. It was 19F this morning and inside it was about 40F. You can see the heater I am using. It is an "indoor safe" propane heater mostly used in fish houses up here. Anyway, I just set it on low and it seems to do the trick. Along with the radiant heat off the floor and plants and such. Even the Plumeria is doing fine.

I notice that there is condensation on the walls, but very little and none on any of the plants.

Aside from the Thelocactus, here is A. capricorne trying to sneak out a bloom today.

Post by **daiv** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:16 pm

By the way, since I built the greenhouse and started using it after frost concerns were over, I didn't worry about sealing it tight.

In fact, I had rather large gaps in places that turned out to be just the perfect amount of ventilation I need on hot summer days.

Here is the picture above again with arrows to point out the area where there are gaps.

I used 1inch pipe insulation and clear tape to stuff and seal the cracks. The green arrows show where I have the gaps completely sealed up. The red arrows are not sealed. There is a gap under the eaves on both sides that is a little less than 1 inch. I stuck pipe insulation along these gaps, but because the roof is corrugated there are openings all along it. the peak had this same problem, but I used Great Stuff to seal the peak along the top and on the ends.

I'm not sure how much heat I might be losing through the eaves. Since it works so well in the summer, I really don't want to permanently seal it using the expanding foam. Thats why is used the pipe insulation. I can easily remove it come spring.

Post by **daiv** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:21 pm

I just remembered. I took this picture. It shows the eaves and you can see the dark strip of pipe insulation going horizontally accross it. Then I pointed out where the poly is corrugated and that is where my gaps are. I put clear tape over some of the larger spots, but mostly they are not covered.

One thing I thought of doing was to stuff some rags in those spots. It would be a bit of a pain, but again, I really don't want this sealed up in summer as the ventalation is really ideal.

vlani · Post by **vlani** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:30 pm

Do you have one layer of plastic or two?

Post by **daiv** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:57 pm

Just a single layer of 4 mil.

Again, this is primarily for the summer and not meant to be used in winter. So I'm trying to do the minimum to affect sunlight and ventalation for the warmer months.

I'm just trying to avoid a full 7 months of darkness by stretching out the fall with night time heat. This is the first year I am trying the heat option and the weather is almost making me wish I wasn't. The forecast is freezing every night and not just frost, but tonight will likely hit the teens again! And at 1:00PM right now it is only 31F!

To give you an idea, average temps for Oct. 10

High = 56
Low = 37

Last year actual:

High = 50
Low = 41

So our high is 25 degrees below average and the low is about 18 below average!

Post by **daiv** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 2:26 pm

Well, I've got the date set. This Sunday, November 1 I will move the cacti out of the greenhouse and into the basement for the winter. This week has actually been warmer than most of October and I haven't had to run the heater at night. I will need to Fri. and Sat. night and that will be it. Then this thread will be closed for the year.

I'm not looking forward to moving the O. santa-rita.

Andy_CT · Post by **Andy_CT** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 2:34 pm

Mine have been in the basement prison for 3 weeks already

masscactus · Post by **masscactus** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 3:36 pm

Plants and greenhouse look great Daiv, I dig the cacti/snow contrast. You are a brave man.

I actually did some very light watering Sunday for some select plants! (and man has it made me paranoid!

) Most plants haven't seen any water in a month and some really looked like they could use it. September and early October got cold fast but then we had a good stretch of warm and very sunny days last week with some more to come. With the cold frame mostly complete now, with lid, it warms very fast, add 10+ degrees easy! Leaves are off the trees (I have raked 22 bags with more to go...) and its getting a lot of sun.

Post by **daiv** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 7:06 pm

@ Andy - Sad as it is, at least you don't have to worry about heaters going out and stuff now. You just have to wait it out. I will be glad to have that peace of mind.

Bryan - hope your plants do well. The leaves are still comming down here. I've got a crazy neighbor who is obsessed with having a perfect lawn and he cleaned his yard yesterday. I caught a few dirty looks from him as we've got a yard full of leaves. But I just can't see the sense in raking them when there is still 30% or so up in the trees yet. I think he needs a hobby like growing cacti so his lawn can be less of a priority.

masscactus · Post by **masscactus** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 10:44 pm

You have taken harder hits - it would be awesome if you make it through with minimal (or no) loss this year and yes...I know what you mean unfortunately, there is one in every neighborhood.

Post by **daiv** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 3:52 pm

Well this pretty much wraps up my cactus growing for the year.

Here is one last look at the greenhouse before I started moving the plants out:

Now only three remain. The big grusonii and the Trichocereus were taken out shortly after the pic and they spend the winter in my brother's house. This is great because he keeps his house at 50 degrees most of the time because is is often not home. The big O. santa-rita is the only one that got moved seperately in the back of pickup. The rest went inside the van. The O. santa-rita is just way too dangerous to let inside. It is now in storage with the rest of them and the greenhouse is empty.

Here are two pictures of the ex-coal-bin in the basement that I use for storage. It is ideal for this because it is rough and I don't have to worry about dirt and spines. It can be closed off from the rest of the basement and will stay around 50 degrees or so for the winter.

Hard to photograph without a wide-angle lens.

And that's it!

Dalesmicro · Post by **Dalesmicro** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 4:35 pm

As always, great pictures and information. Moving large cacti has got to be one of the more dangerous moving jobs there is. Good luck for the winter, I look forward to seeing more pictures next year.