Time to start thinking about ~ How Cool was your Plant Rooms this Morning ? ~
We live in Sunny Florida and our room was 64 degree's. I would not want it much coolr for long period of time. It will go to low 80's here today. Plant room below 68 for long period of times will slow the growth of your plant, babies and can cause mildew, and fungus. Time to prepare for this now. Good idea to keep a Thermometer on plant stand, by plants on windows as Temp's will be different than teps on your room wall Thermometer.
How Cool was your Plant Rooms this Morning ?
Wish I could allow my plants to have 68 degrees in the winder. BUT they have to do with what I can afford. I try to keep the house now lower than 65 during the fall and winter. They have survived for 3 years. Growth does slow down a bit, but heck, so do I.
What was your temp's this morning Nanna ? Our room was 64 degree's and after months and months of non-stop 90's it sure felt great ! We are to have low 80's today. but the home is still only 72 degrees ! No A/C for the past few days ! It will get hot again.
The outside temp was about 39 this morning. I think it is supposed to get up to 65 or 70, today. Perfect weather for the leaves to turn beautiful colors.
I wanted to mention if your home is cool in the winter like mine, between 60 and 65 degrees, it is best not to wick. The water in the wells gets too cold. I found that out last year.
Yes so true and then the plants have cold wet feet they don't like. I have always fount in the winter water needs go down to half. I keep a fan going year round for circulation.
You have a beautiful fall day there Nanna ! I just love when the weather cools down a little bit for us.
It was beautiful but didn't make it past 60
We switched over from "cool" to "heat" on the thermostat, and it's programmed for a nighttime low of 64 degrees. I've got the lights set to go on after midnight, figuring that a little extra heat from the fixtures will help offset any chill from the windows, although since the window faces south (generally no wind from the south) and is well insulated I don't anticipate a problem. The AVs did great there last winter, much better than when they were on the basement light stand!
That's a great idea. I read somewhere lately, can't remember where, to wrap the plants in a plastic blanket at night making sure the drape goes to the floor and there are no open spots. Apparently, the plants give off just enough heat to keep themselves warm under the plastic. Has anyone ever tried this? Should be easy enough to get a "drop cloth" used in painting and make a cover for my stands.
What do you think?
Our house temp goes down to 60 at night and my plants do just fine. To prevent mildew, the fans are running at night. When it gets super cold - below zero - I change the lights to a night setting. I also do a lot of misting with 1/4 t. of 20-20-20 fertlizer and Lysol in the water.
Our state show was the best ever. One of the local TV stations had us on periodically for over two hours on Sunday. It really brought the people in. I sold over 100 plants and am now cleaning and rearranging my shelves. I still have too many plants!
Nancy B
wow thats wonderful. good for you. more room more plants. lol
bonnie
Congrats on your show, Nancy! 100 plants? whoa!
Great show, Nancy -- way to go!
Thanks for mentioning the fan... When I was growing AVs on my cooler basement light shelves last fall, mildew was a bit of a problem. It went away when the basement babies "moved uptown" to the warmer upstairs bedroom, so I figured the chill was the problem. I've been "culling" the plantlets on my upstairs plant stand because I have a bunch of leaf babies that need to be up-potted and no room for them (and, really, the plantlets that are growing funny or got crown damage from too much light earlier this summer aren't anything I'd be proud to send to anybody in any case). But I still don't think I have room for the babies from so many leaves, so if I can move some back down to a basement light shelf with a fan that will really help!
SC that sounds wonderful. I had a little trouble with mildew last year but it only got one plant that was way at the back of the shelf. Circulation was the problem, I am sure. How much lysol do you put in the water for the misting?
1/4 t. of lysol per cup of water should take care of the mildew. If a plant is flowering, you can brush it on the leaves with a very soft makeup brush.
When my leafpots produce too many babies, I do not allow myself to pot up more than two babies. I keep an inventory so that I know how many mature plants, babies, or leaves that I have. This kinda keeps my numbers under control. (Yeah, right!!)
The only time I will pot up a lot or sell leafpots is just before our two sales. People grab them when I only charge $1.50.
We gave a free flowering plant to anyone who signed up and paid for a one year AVSA membership. They now have 4 new members.
Nancy B
That sounds like a very doable system.
Great everyone ! Even in Florida plant room can go to 40's. Fan's and lights ran here at night last winter. Lysol was a friend. It even went into water.
Good to share experiences as I recall lot's of the people here has great luck last year with changes and experimenting and helping each other !