When the big one hits, whats your plan to save your orchids?
Hope everyone on the east coast of North America fared OK over the past few days.
As we watch hurricane Isaias drift off to Quebec, I was thinking this might be a good time to have a conversation on disaster plans for our orchids. Some of us have a handful of plants on windowsills and others have maybe thousands in greenhouses or outside and probably the majority are somewhere in between.
For those that live in areas prone to hurricanes/typhoons and other major natural "events", do you have a plan? Has it been tested yet and to what degree? Some of us here have a collection that we have made a substantial financial investment in. (and afterall, isn't that what a hobby is all about?) If you haven't thought about a plan, you probably should.
Here's mine.
I grow in a 10x20 shadehouse in the lower FL Keys where I moved my collection in 2016 after growing for several years in a small greenhouse in New Hampshire.
A year after moving my plants to FL they got to experience the thrill of being 5 miles to the dirty side of the center of hurricane Irma. Nearly 150 mph winds for 8 straight hours and a tidal surge of about 6 feet. Fortunately for me it wasn't 6'6" or I would have lost every single plant.
The good thing about a hurricane is that you have time to prepare. Our house is on 10' columns and one section (12x12) underneath the house is an enclosed workshop/storage area. We moved all the plants, on their benches, into the enclosure and piled all the hanging plants on top of them. Took down the shadecloth and threw that in under the benches, locked the windows and door and left with our fingers crossed.
The plants were in there for 3 days before the storm hit and it was 2 weeks after the storm before we could get back in.
What a mess!!!!! We had 24" of sea water inside the enclosure and the bottom of my bench tops are 30" off the ground. I lost about 30 plants out of 200 which really isn't too bad in retrospect. The ones lost were lost to what I refer to as "cooking". They were closed up in that place with no water or air movement for almost 3 weeks in temperatures that had to have been around 100 degrees. What's even more amazing is when I opened that door, there were several that had bloomed.
I think I learned a few things from that experience and will be better prepared for next time in the evnt we get higher water inundation. I've created a stage set-up of cinder blocks and 2x6's that can be quickly put together that can raise the benches another 20" and now have overhead poles to put all the hangers on. I still have no idea what to do about the fact that they are enclosed for so long but at least I feel like I'm giving them a chance.
I knew so many folks who lost all of their orchids and I really want to avoid that if at all possible.
So, let's hear about your concerns, plans and experiences.
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