It has a huge root system. I put it in the ground because I didn't want to have to re-pot it again. It was in a 24" pot. I have 2 dollies that I use to move my pots in and out of the greenhouse. Which one I use depends on the size of the pot and whether I can talk my DH into helping me. LOL.
I try to avoid digging big holes. Since moving to the ranch, I have acquired 3 slipped discs and a crushed vertebra. The last I got early last year when I was trying to help my DH weigh a newborn calf. Her mother objected, picked me up and threw me 6' into a cactus patch. I was in such misery with hundreds of thorns and stiff hairs embedded in my back from my neck to my calves. Since all these injuries were incurred helping him on the ranch (his idea), I had more leverage on getting his help until his job took him out of the state.
Single Brug mini-greenhouse
Bless your heart. Did you ever get all the stickers out of you??
Lordy, I know that was a painful deal times two. Wonder you made it.
I know what you mean about digging holes. I have two nephews that I pay to dig when hubby is out of town. I have so much damage to my spine and pelvic bones from cancer treatments that I have not been able to dig for a few years.
Oh my Cactus patch. I know that was very painful. So Sorry to hear that. Ouch!! Ouch!! I feel the pain thinking about it.
Charleen, I hope your noid that is in the ground makes it. I have several noids that I just love. For some reason the noids want to out do the named brugs by putting on more and larger flushes. Or atleast mine do. LOL
I will have enough to share, keep that in mine for this spring. I learned a lot last year from this one Beautiful pink Noid I had. i don't think Betty would care if I showed her to you.
I LOST ALMOST ALL OF MINE THIS PAST WEEK WITH FREEZIND WEATHER WE HAD..i HAD THEM IN A LOOP HOUSE BUT NO HEAT SO THEY DIDNT MOST DIDNT MAKE IT ..I HAVE MAYBE 4 OR 5 THAT MADE IT.. I AM GIVIVNG UP..I HAVE SPEND SO MUCH MONEY ON BRUGS AND EACH WINTER I LOSS THEM..A FRIEND HAD JUST SEND ME SOME PLANTS THEY ARE ALL GONE
This message was edited Jan 13, 2010 5:52 PM
Don't give up. I have mine in my house. Don't have a GH. Please don't give up. Maybe I'll have a bumper crop and can share with you. I have some given to me and I know I will have plenty once it warms up and we get them growing.
Charleen
So many are root hardy-- some I know to here in z7 with low average temp 10°(well that is an average--0° last week)--maybe they will come back. I have had heater failures in the gh before and was surprised at the number of plants that came back from roots.
Elva, I'm sorry you lost most of your plants. Don't give up too soon. Some may return from the roots unless they were in pots. This makes them more vulnerable to freezing. Are you able to get some heat in the hoop house? Depending on the size of the hoop house, a small electric heater might do. I'm leery of suggesting the use of small self ontained propane heaters because incomplete burning would release carbon monoxide.
Unfortunately, without out heat hoop houses, even greenhouse, don't give more than a few degrees of protection. As long as our state freeze was, the plants may as well have been outside. That's why I went through all sorts of contortions to get under the plastic and hang some Christmas lights on my plant. Some Brugs in the large heated greenhouse were damaged when the propane tank ran dry long enough for the temperature in the greenhouse go down to 30.4ºF. If you decide you are still interested in Brugs later this year, I'll probably have some that can spare being cut.
The noid I had was left outside and it came back last spring and I am hoping it will this year. But I did bring some cuttings in.
Don't give up, there may be more will to live in those plants than you think.
Hillbilly_Gran, I don't know how many hours below Elva had, but I had 31 hours. That would have been enough time for soil in pots to freeze.
I still have ice in my little ponds. Should start thawing supposed to start warming up.
Bet My dog Missy will be glad to have Regular water I put her some out in a bucket, Poor darling.
Instead of ice.
Bettydee --we can always hope the roots didn't freeze ^_^ A small kerosene heater would work in a hoop house, I have used those exclusively for GH heat in the past, until kerosene became too expensive. On low, a tank (2.5 gal usually) can last a couple nights and provide all the heat you need. I would not work in a tightly closed Gh or hoop house with one lit for the same reasons that Betty mentioned with a propane heater. The carbon monoxide doesn't bother the plants at all tho.
Betty mine were all in pots and for 4 days we had several hours of weather in the mid 20's. I would guess at least 24 hours of freezing weather if not more...all were young plants that I had brought in Sept and Oct of this year..they look like mush so I dont think they are coming back ..they were in 1 gal pots since they were all small yet.. I am brokenhearted.I had put christmas lights inthere no heater tho.. :(,,I will take u up on some cuttings when it gets warmer..
This message was edited Jan 13, 2010 8:18 PM
Now that the weather is getting warmer how does Audrey Hepburn look. I am hoping that all of your hard work paid off for you.
Janice
:-( Janice, she didn't die all the way down to the ground, but she lost all her "Y"s. So not quite a success, but I'm not giving up. This year, she was exposed to some freezes when the plastic was torn off the pvc frame and before I wrapped her in a cocoon. I have all the materials I need to put up a shrink wrap cover on the frame — no loose ends to catch the wind. I'll take a photo of her when it warmer outside. We're expecting 32ºF tomorrow night. So I'll have to throw the frost cloth over her before then. It's too windy to put it out now. I'd find the cloth in the next county.
Wow, I was so wishing that you could keep her alive above the Y's. I cannot wait to see the pic of her when the weather warms up more. I am sure she will bounce back very fast and put on a show for you early.
Janice
Next year, put a large, dark trashcan full of water inside and hang/lay black plastic on the back (N and E) walls and the ground.
I had 4 large black trash cans, a frost cloth warranted down to 24ºF and two sets of C7 Christmas lights. I also had a temperature and humidity sensor in with it, but there was a period of about 2 weeks where it was vulnerable to freezing weather with with only the frost cloth. We did get some rain during that period which would have allowed the cold to get in with the rain. The damage came after the plastic was torn off the pvc frame and before I made the cocoon. One of the first freezes, while the mini-greenhouse was still on, got down to 18ºF. The Brug made it through that with the loss of only a few flowers
You were really well prepared, I hadn't read all the details. Maybe put a couple bands of duct tape all the way around the thing, with an "X" across the top from corner to corner, push the plastic onto it from inside, so the plastic holds up better for you next time. I'm thinking the wind must've flexed and stretched it to the breaking point, which the duct tape will help prevent.
Sorry, duct tape is useless. It was one of the first tapes I tried. All of the all purpose tapes sold at the box stores will lose their adhesiveness below 32ºF. The only tapes that may work are those sold for greenhouse repair. I have some, but they got lost in the barn and re-ordering would have taken would have taken too long. I made do with gorilla tape. It lasted about 3 weeks before it lost it's ability to hold 2 pieces to plastic together.
When the winds get up to 35 mph, there isn't much one can do.
How about a translucent (clear white or beige) tarpaulin, with nylon thread woven into it for strength: check this out: http://www.tarpsplus.com/supheavdutcl.html
I think this would solve the problem of wind destroying your actual barrier.
Here again, putting it together relies on using tape. Tape is the weak point because it becomes useless in freezing weather. Some duct tape is made for use in sub-zero temperatures, but the tape is not moved after it is applied. When applied to flexible plastic, it doesn't hold up. My older son, "Mr. Duct Tape", assured me Gorilla tape would do the job. That stuff is adheres so well that it's difficult to separate it from itself. It has to be cut because it won't tear the way normal and cold resistant duct tape will. It lasted only 3 weeks. I used it to seal off the corners of my greenhouse to prevent heat loss.
Tape has been an issue for me for the last 2 winters. Whatever I do, has to be done without using tape.
I bought the medium weight marine shrink wrap. I seen posts that some Dgers have used it for a number of years are to wrap their temporary greenhouses in sizes much bigger than than this little one. The wrap is wide enough that there should be only one seam vertically and I plan on putting that down wind. If I put the top and side pieces separately putting the seam of the side piece on the bottom, that seam will be pressed against the mulch and soil by straps. I'll also get an air barrier the width of the pvc pipe if I do that. I also purchased a shrink wrap door that closes with a zipper so I don't have to keep taping and un-taping.
The advantage of using shrink is that if done properly, there shouldn't be any loose pieces that can come lose. It's those lose ends that come loose because the tape loses its adhesiveness at low temperatures that allow the wind to do its damage.
No tape necessary --get a big enough tarp so you can get all the grommet edges UNDER your PVC, inside the tent, and run a rope or wire through the grommets, gathering all four edges together.
Better, run the line through all but two grommets --two in the middle of one edge. Get a broom handle, screw an "eye" bolt into one end. Put another piece of rope through the eye, tie the two ends of the rope to the unused grommets. This will let you tuck that section of the tarp way back in, under the PVC, or pull it back out, so you have a way in.