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Fragile Orchids (Temperatures Continued)

© Linda Fortner

Last month in the Orchid Garden, I was talking about temperatures and how they can affect your orchids. As promised last month, here is the story about what happened when the furnace went out one night in my greenhouse. Keep in mind this could happen to you!

     My disaster began on Sunday morning January 4, 1998 (I routinely water my orchids early in the morning every Sunday). I enjoy opening the door to the greenhouse and feeling the warm, moist air and smelling the beautiful fragrance of the flowers in the air.

     This particular morning was different. I walked out to the greenhouse and the minute I opened the door, I knew something was wrong... The beautiful fragrance was missing. In fact as I looked around I did not see any blooms either. Oh no! there was a definite chill in the air! I rushed over to the furnace and felt it, it was cold! The pilot light had gone out sometime during the night. I quickly checked the high/low temperature gages and soon learned that it had gotten down to 22 F!!

     Tears started to swell up in my eyes and creep down my cheeks. I knew what cold temperatures would do to my orchids. I slowly walked around and through my tear-filled eyes saw that flowers that were in full bloom yesterday and full of life, now lay limp and dead. Flower spikes that stood so proud and full of buds waiting to burst open and fill the greenhouse with their beauty and fragrance now stood naked and drooping limply like broken arms. I could not bear to look any further. I slowly walked back to the house and told my hubby what had happened. He ran out to the greenhouse to see why the alarm did not sound. Yes we have an alarm to tell us if the temperature gets too low or too high. Why did it fail? He soon discovered that one of the alarm wires had rusted and broken.

    After getting over the initial shock, I went back to the greenhouse to see what could be saved - if anything. The Phalaenopsis were the hardest hit, their leaves looked all mushy and the flower spikes were all droopy. I really doubted if I could save any of them. Surprisingly, the Paphiopedilums and the Cattleyas did not look that bad. Most of the new leaves were starting to turn black and I was sure I would lose the new growth on all of the orchids. The Oncidiums, Dendrobiums and Cymbidiums looked the best, in fact, I

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