Well, as one in hurricane land, I spend about two days doing the 'haul-in' mambo. It's a lot of work but time well spent.

Marci

Hi Kev. We've had those same winds you're talking about! I had three plants that I thought were firmly rooted after a repot last month. In spite of rhizone clips (unfortunately, anchored rather loosely on plastic pots), the plants were blown over on two and blown OUT on the third. My little equitant oncids were also blown out of the pots. What a mess. My other outdoor potted plants didn't fare much better. I keep buying more & more hangers. Seems less damage when they can swing in the wind.

Happy growing,
Sheila :)

Everytime I see what some of you go through with the elements outside, I am glad my plants are all inside. As much as I would like to do it, and am sure that it is better for them, I guess these situations make me stop and think. Hope they all do alright, we have alot of wind here too and even my plants in the ground outside have enough to deal with. Good Luck!! Tricia

Kevin, that's too bad. Did any of your plants get damaged?

My plants aren't out yet - procrastination, but a few weeks ago, we had winds that knocked over the empty shelves and lattice on the patio, shattering the Plexiglass sheet that lay on top to protect the plants from extended periods of rain. Bricks on the shelves & Plexiglass weren't enough to keep the shelves upright.

The next day, the whole thing got blown over again, so I disassembled everything and laid it flat on the patio.

I remember you advised me to secure the shelves to the 4"x4" deck supports on either side. This year, I'll do it.

I'm glad your precautions prevented what could have been a catastrophe of epic, disproportionate squirrel proportions. Whitecat8

I too am a fellow "Hurricane Lander" & simply roll down the hurricane shutters & let the storm pass me by =0). I am growing my plants on a 4th floor balcony, so its very easy to control the extremes of nature. The shutters are particularly handy on those rare cold windy nights that sneak up on us here in South Florida. I can quickly have all the plants protected in a mater of 2 minutes. My mom, on the other hand, takes 30 minutes or so to move them all into the garage for the night.

-Ray-