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Record Low Temps

I'm in Mississippi, and occasionally we see temps below freezing, but this year it has been colder than I remember it in a long time. We've already had snow, which happens only once every few years, and we are supposed to have some more this week. We are having lows in the low teens with highs not getting out of the 20s. This is highly unusual for this area, and I'm losing a lot of plants in my greenhouse because of it. My little space heater that has always been good enough for our weather is not cutting it with these super low temps.

I have NEVER worried about my sars during the winter. This is where they grow naturally, after all! But I got a lot of new plants this year, and a lot of them came from California and they are not used to these kinds of temps. I'm wondering if I should move everything into a greenhouse, or maybe at least put a plastic Wal-Mart bag over each pot to protect them from the wind until things warm up a little more.
 
Bagging might not be a bad idea. Do you have snow or wind? Snow works well to protect Sarrs, but wind is the enemy in the cold. Make sure they're in some standing water/ice so they don't dry out and get freezerburn. The best defense against unseasonable freezes, in my experience, are rectangular pots that you can crowd together with no gaps. In any case, pack your pots closely together to slow their freezing and thawing.
If you feel comfortable with it (not worried about pests, etc.,) you could put them in your greenhouse. You might want to section the coolest side off with plastic so you can ease your temperates into the greenhouse temperatures. Do you have a volume of water in there as well? If you can find a big barrel or tub, fill it with water and put it where it will get sunlight in the greenhouse - near the heater is good too. Water (and the additional plants) will hold more heat than air, which should reduce the load on your heater.
Best luck,
~Joe
 
I am going to go out there and water everything in just a little while. Yesterday the plants in the greenhouse were looking kind of wilted. The heat sucks the water right out of them. I think it would be easier to bag the sars than to try to move everything into the greenhouse. I have too many of them.
 
have you mulched the bejeesus outta them? my mulched sarrs always deal with the winter weather better than those I havn't...
 
No, I haven't mulched anything. I never have to! They always make it through the winter just fine with no help from me. We never have temps this low though. I'm thinking I might just suck it up and move them into my greenhouse for the next 2 weeks until we get past these rediculously cold temperatures.
 
oh I feel ya, my temp last night was -6. even for us this cold is ridiculous for such a prolonged period of time
 
had a few days so far where the high for the day wasnt -6.....still got a bit till the real cold hits :D
 
you know... as soon as I saw you post on here I already knew I was going to be made to look like a weakling haha

since as well all know, rattler lives in the arctic circle.
 
not quite.....just not a darn thing between me and the Arctic Circle but a few hills :D if it makes yah feel any better it also gets over 100 here in July and August aswell.....its kinda nice, throws the Californians for a loop and they rarely last more than one year before heading for warmer areas....however makes it frustrating as hell trying to grow veggies and fruit....summers are generally to warm for cool growing stuff but the season to short and winters to cold for growing much in the way of warm weather stuff....also even for things hardy to here it generally kills half of them their first winter, i really dont have any weak growing plants in my yard cause if they do happen by some miracle to make it through their first winter they generally dont the second....
 
  • #10
I went outside to see what I could do with the plants. I needed to water everything, but my hose is frozen solid. I'll try again later this afternoon when it has had a chance to get above freezing for a little while.

I moved all small sars into my greenhouse. I took all the Wal-MArt bags that I had and covered up most of the others. I have about 9 left that are just going to have to tough it out. I know that the worst on sars is when their pots are frozen solid and the winds zap all the water from the plant. They die of dehydration and not the cold. So covering them up to retain moisture and keep the wind from them is the best I can do until we are past this cold snap. I had some that I needed to ship out today, but the pots are frozen all the way through! I'll have to wait on those.

We have a water fountain in the yard and it froze! That surprised me, because it was left running. Normally running water doesn't freeze. I unplugged it so the pump wouldn't burn up.

---------- Post added at 04:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:36 PM ----------

I'm also worried about my 3 dogs. Last night I put a blanket out there for them and they cuddled up on it, but I think I need to bring them inside somehow. They are large and are not house broken.......
 
  • #11
fast moving water generally doesnt freeze, but areas of slow moving water will......
 
  • #12
I hear you guys. I am in central Texas (San Antonio) and our average lows in December are tyipcally still in the 40s. Well, got down to 27 last night, Thursday night we are dipping down to 19 and on Friday 17. The forecast so far shows we will be experiencing lows in the teens through Sunday. Just like Back2eight I am very close to where Sarracenia alata lives in the wild and will be using very large sheets/blankets to form a protective covering around my plants. It is rare for these temperatures to hang around.

They are not in pots but minibogs so I know temperature flucutation will not be as drastic, but nevertheless I want to take the necessary precautions. For those in the south be sure to drip your faucets and wrap your external pipes!

Phil
 
  • #13
BaylorGuy, I used to live near there. Our weather is about the same. You guys get it about a day before we do here.
 
  • #14
Yeah, I think we are in the same zone aren't we? I wish I had a greenhouse to move the plants to... it is hard moving a 30 gallon minibog full of peat and Sarracenia! Especially when I had to move it to the front of the house and into the garage.

What area did you live in when you were here?
 
  • #15
I lived in Schulenburg, it is a little town halfway between Houston and Austin. I've been to San Antonio many times.
 
  • #16
Iknow exactly where Schulenberg is... basically half way between San Antonio and Houston. Very cool. if you know where Helotes is that is where I live. Basically Northwestern San Antonio right up against the hills.

Well, here's to the survival and health of our plants lol I am sure they will be fine, but I always get a bit paranoid when it is unusually cold for this region.

Phil
 
  • #17
yea l Last year and this we had similar temps at this time , however it went on for about twenty days at below 18 at night ,and barely above 24 or so each day , is this due to , global warming? ive heard the winters are to be even colder . if we dont do something about global warming ,
What about the ice ages that occured b-4 we were even a slug on the beach?
How does warmer translate to colder winters ? Please dont persecute. Just asking for an opinion. Any one.
 
  • #18
Don't even get me started with Global warming lol
 
  • #19
Saturday night looks like it will be -13º here in Olathe , KS
 
  • #20
yea l Last year and this we had similar temps at this time , however it went on for about twenty days at below 18 at night ,and barely above 24 or so each day , is this due to , global warming? ive heard the winters are to be even colder . if we dont do something about global warming ,
What about the ice ages that occured b-4 we were even a slug on the beach?
How does warmer translate to colder winters ? Please dont persecute. Just asking for an opinion. Any one.

keep in mind we still arent as warm as the Medieval warm period.....during that time Greenland could support agriculture....at this point it cant.....we are in a cycle of ice ages, we will likely be going back into one inside another 10,000 years.....the earth is still physically recovering from the last one...the British Isles are still raising up from the weight of the ice sheets being gone....the coastline of the Great Lakes is still changing, the land there has raised nearly 4 feet in recorded history.....in early Scandinavia the Vikings had laws over who could claim lands that had risen out of the sea......the problem with most global warming models is that they are looking at way to short of a time span and making way to big of a deal about it......over the long haul its been a minor blip within normal ranges....so long as they dont use faulty data....
 
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