Not really off topic but...6

[No-Pro-mwa]

As I said, it's pretty darn cold inside right now.

[Mountaineer370]

I think most of us, regardless of the outdoor temperature, keep our houses at a temperature that is comfortable for us humans and any pets we have. So in winter for many of us, that means artifically heating our house. Michigan is part of the country in the midst of a cold snap now, where daytime highs are in the teens, and this is supposed to continue for another week or so. I keep my house at approximately 70 degrees all winter. My indoor humidity is always lower in the winter than it is in the summer. Lately, it's been in the 20s. I do not have the option of raising the humidity, so the orchids are going to have to live with it. They all seem to be fine. I am watering more often than normal, every other day for most of them, and I mist those with aerial roots. This is the second or third Michigan winter for several of them. Two of my three phals are spiking right now, one of which already spiked and bloomed a few months ago. So I guess they're not too unhappy.

Greenpassion, you say you've been growing orchids for seven years (which is several years longer than I have). Did they survive the winter indoors in Vermont? If so, I think you may be worrying about nothing. Cold spells happen all the time, all over the world. It's not a big deal for plants kept indoors in a climate-controlled environment.

[greenpassion]

Mountaineer, this is the first year that I've really cared for them at this level. Last year and in prior years I have had some success with blooming phals, but no where near what it is now. I know that there are cold spells, (been here 36 years) and you are right that I could be worrying over nothing, but with so many all in spike and budding, where once I didn't pay too much attention to them, I became a doting fool. This is a tired subject for some - I know. At this point I'm all set, and not concerned, (or have gotten tired of being so overly concerned) and am really just enjoying the show. In the next month my downstairs is going to be unbelievably awesome!

[No-Pro-mwa]

I really think there going to be fine, we had 59 F in the house yesterday and I didn't check what it was this morning and all mine seem to be doing fine. I'm getting it warmed up but it's no heat wave at the moment. -3 F outside. I'm just hoping the wind doesn't blow.

None of mine have dropped buds and my project Miss Wonderful is opening.

[estación seca]

Do any of you remember the winters of the mid to late 1960s in the midwestern US? Bitter cold, snow on the ground November to March. People did grow orchids back then.

I used to think old houses should be preserved only due to their age. I'm coming around to realizing housing technology has improved so much it is exceptionally unwise, economically, to maintain obsolete structures.

[Orchid Whisperer]

A member of Orchidboard, Naoki, I believe lives in Alaska. You might look him up.

If you have any kind of a light set-up to keep your plants, and can partially enclose that space, it will greatly increase the temperature and humidity in the area immediately surrounding the plants. I have a very frugal set-up, my lights are T-8 fluorescent shop lights, inexpensive shelving, whatever I have available for drip trays under the plants. I don't fully enclose, but an inexpensive fabric shower curtain encloses the back of my shelves. Add a clear shower curtain to the front, you will hold in a lot of heat generated by the lights and humidity surrounding the plants.

Regarding "global warming", there is a reason it is called climate change now. I am a scientist (geologist) and have read a lot of what has been published on the subject, I do believe it is quite real. Don't worry about the short-term fluctuations in temperature that occur for a few days or weeks on 1% of the globe (=weather). The world-wide changes (rising sea level, many consecutive years of record high global temperatures, etc.) are climate change, and IMO, are quite concerning.

[greenpassion]

[Dollythehun]

"I used to think old houses should be preserved only due to their age. I'm coming around to realizing housing technology has improved so much it is exceptionally unwise, economically, to maintain obsolete structures."
__________________
So, we should tear down our built in 1957 home and live in a tent?

[greenpassion]

Well, my house was built in 1945. So I could tear my house down, and upgrade to a 1957 house!

[estación seca]

No. I mean when house shopping, be sure to wind up with a technologically modern house. I wish I had. Heating and cooling costs are drastically smaller. Structural problems, electrical, plumbing, rot, pest and termite issues are far less.

The advances in all aspects of house construction are far more dramatic than most people realize. The downside, which again most people don't realize, is newer houses burn many times faster than older houses, and escape time is very much shorter.

This would entail deciding on a housing budget, and either buying something older to upgrade within the budget, or buying something new.

My house is in an all-electric neighborhood, and was built in 1960. Every house was built by different builders from different plans. Mine is of concrete block, with no insulation in the block cells, and no insulation in the exterior walls. It has huge windows. I do have a nearly flat foam roof, which is almost the best insulation available.

In those days electricity was extremely cheap in Arizona, so heating and cooling a badly insulated house was a minimal expense relative to installing proper insulation. Not so any longer. Fortunately for me, I almost never feel the need to turn on the heat. The dogs often shiver in the house in the winter. I provide supplemental heat for the orchids in the sunroom.

On the topic of going with the cheapest bid: The old San Francisco Veterans Administration Hospital had new construction added in the 1960s. The government went with the lowest bidder. The new construction had no on-off switches for the fluorescent lights. This saved a huge amount of money on the construction. When I was there around 1980 the lights still could not be turned off.