The Blizzard,I am guessing 15+" of snow its hard to est

[hardyjim]

It was nasty,a full fledged blizzard to be sure.


Everything that is covered is benefiting from the insulation,
even the Cactus "g-house" which is now completely(or almost)
leveled.

Tomorrow I will try to shovel the snow off and see if it can be lifted up.

Part of me wants to just leave it for 4 more weeks when I could just remove it,
the heavy snow on it keeps it between 28F and 38F even though it was -5F here last night.






The(east)crushed side.






Snow \drift outside kitchen window-2nd floor




Here's what it "usually" looks like.





...and now-looks like a tidal wave hit it!

[canadianplant]

Wow Jim, it looks like here

Is anything crushed underneeth that snow?? Im sorry to hear about it collapsing. I hope everything is ok

[lucky1]

Man, that's a mass of snow!

I can see the dilemma, whether to remove the snow take the load off plants and structure, losing insulation.
Or keeping snow on to keep plants warmer and risk a longer "weight" on them.

I'd poke around with my hands first before using a shovel; I still think it's better than you fear.

And next winter...I'll hound you to place that tent pole in the middle...again.

Is your cold weather scheduled to end?
With the cold still streaming in through New Mexico and north Texas, will that go south of you?

Barb

[TerdalFarm]

Jim,
that is a lot of snow.
Lots of collapsed roofs around here, but not here on the farm fortunately.
I foresee discussion on this forum about snow loads for palm shelters.
As for me, I am leaving snow in place around my palms to hold soil temps up.
This cell phone snap shot shows W clearing the driveway, while I sit in my truck to keep an eye out for traffic. --Erik

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4 ... site"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_r-Mv ... ractor.jpg" height="383" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/terdalfarm ... ">February 2011</a></td></tr></table>

[BILL MA]

Oh, Man Jim That is tough buddy, I was hoping it looked better in my mind after talking yesterday.

I wonder if you could just cut a hole in the south side end and take a peek in there before you remove the snow off it. If it looks ok you could just bury the part you cut open with snow, there's plenty of it

Keep the faith, I'm sure pulling for everything to be ok, as is everyone else.

Bill

[hilashes]

Holy cats Jim! I've been thinking of you guys out there since the big storm and seeing everything on the news I was wondering how everyones plants held out! hopefully yours will be safe as is under all of that snow. I've been checking in for a post on this weather....Sorry about your structure, I know I'd be a little freaked out!

Heidi

[hardyjim]

Thanks for all ya'all's comments-I am pretending I am living on the south


I am not.


Next week looks even colder with 3 days (nights actually)of sub-zero(F) cold forecast!


Barb


I don't think a tent pole would have done much but if I would have
stayed home and kept an eye on it,this could have been avoided


It's pretty solid until it's loaded unevenly,that was my bad.


Bill

That's a good idea about looking in from one side...
(curious to see where the heater and fan -that was hanging-is right now)
the zipper is actually on the west side that is partially still standing....
with the cold coming next week,the idea of leaving it 'as is' has
suddenly become more appealing.

[igor.glukhovtsev]

,the idea of leaving it 'as is' has
suddenly become more appealing.

[TerdalFarm]

We spent all day moving snow yesterday, and now it is snowing heavy--probably 10 cm already.
I try to remind myself that it is palm root insulation.
Jim, is this snow moving up to you? I thought it was a Texas thing but it moved north.

[hardyjim]

Luckily no snow for a while....not more than a few more inches anyway-

There was a chance of another big storm on Wednesday-
it now appears that one is going south,watch out down there!

[TerdalFarm]

It is snowing heavy right now. More in the forecast for Sunday + that big system for Wednesday.
I can say for sure that 35 oN is far too north for me!
--Erik

[hardyjim]

15+" of snow(as you know) took out the g-house.



I dug out the collapsed g-house today-

The weight of the snow on it was ridiculous and I had to cut my way through the snow in 5 different places to get to it!

If you notice the height of the railing(1st pic) on the porch you can see how leveled the g-house was.-Thanks for pointing that out Bill!




Now look at where the top(porch railing) sits in comparison to the first pic.
Keep in mind there is 1 1/2 feet of snow on top!







Started digging






Crushed variegated Yucca spear poking through.






Crushed Colorgaurd Yucca-save me!




Space heater with the frame laying on it-
glad I walked home in the peak of the Blizzard to make sure everything was o.k.
and turned it off!






East side flat as a pancake.





Inside-amazingly the flat side was where most of the low stuff was-the trunk cut Fortunei from last year
was spared being severed/trunk cut again by the snow storm







Looking south-so glad the Yucca,Havardiana and Parryi(among others) were spared!





About as good as I could get it.

Note to self...stay home and keep snow off weakened g-house for future snows!

[TerdalFarm]

Jim,
thanks for making the effort to share photos and details.

The structural damage was bad, but the plant damage not as bad as I feared.
Can you get the heater going now? I hope so as next week will be cold.

I am a teacher so I had a snow day for the blizzard and could supervise snowfall.

But for the future, I'd like us all to research snow loads. Does anyone here work in construction?
--Erik

[sidpook]

We spent all day moving snow yesterday, and now it is snowing heavy--probably 10 cm already.
I try to remind myself that it is palm root insulation.
Jim, is this snow moving up to you? I thought it was a Texas thing but it moved north.

Oh no...Sorry to hear it!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sidpook]

Wow Jim, it looks like here

Is anything crushed underneeth that snow?? Im sorry to hear about it collapsing. I hope everything is ok

UGGH...looks like here too...Can't wait for it to be over!!!!!!!

[lucky1]

Jeez, Jim, you should buy a lottery ticket.

Far less damage than I thought there'd be.

I would've had my heart in my throat opening it up and looking inside.

Can you patch the small holes so accumulated heat won't escape?
Another tarp over the top to provide an airspace between the two covers?

Chin up, buddy.

[DesertZone]

That sucks, I hope everything comes back good this spring.

[hardyjim]

Thanks

Luckily there were a few things in there that kept it from bottoming out to bad-
the space heater ,the Yucca and what was left of the Yew -
that I originally cut down to make the whole dealeo!

Really happy the big Yucca is not snapped,I guess I didn't load the picture of
it with it's(and it's babies)spears poking out of the plastic,it looks like the
spear is intact -I think it would have rotted had it stayed as it was.


All in all I was very fortunate-I will take another look around in there today
and patch a few rips in the plastic-if accuweather is to be believed(it's not but I can hope )
after some cold weather mid-week,we are well in to the 40s to near 50(F) in the 15 day!

We'll see about that!

Would be nice though!

[canadianplant]

Wow Jim, at first glance it looked bad, but looking inside, it doesnt look to bad at all ( concidering how much snow was on there).

I couldnt tell much from the pics, but it didnt seem like you had any support for the cage, just a few to connect the mesh? I wouldve bought 3 large pieces of rebar, and put one at each end, and one in the middle like ribs. Snow weighs 15 pounds per cubic foot. Im horrible at math, so ill spare the calculations LOL. 10 cubic feet would be 150 pounds?

You also have to take into account the snow drifts that end up forming around your greenhouse because one side could have double the amount of wind packed snow on it, then what fell. I would reinforce the greenhouse you have now with "ribs" of strong steel, iron ( or bamboo??) Then mabey some running long ways, to reinforce the sides. Barb was close too when she mentioned a stick or something, to brace the middle, and mabey near the walls on the inside to support it?

Im not a construction worker or anything, but ive built tons of things with my dad when I was younger.

Im sure things will work out better then expected in the spring

[lucky1]

Yippee to the old yew...

Glad it's milder for you now.
Another blast is coming Tuesday for the previously hard-hit areas.

Look at these charts (bottom of page) for the week ending February 16
http://members3.boardhost.com/HardyPalm ... 19424.html

It'll give folks some time to prepare.

Barb

[TerdalFarm]

That map is scary, but all the forecasts I am seeing call for me to stay in the low single digits from it vs. the -10 oF that map threatens.
My favorite part of that thread is the Alabama igloo. We're out making an okie igloo right now. --Erik

[lucky1]

Alabama igloo

Quite the feat!

Could see only 2 palms, not the third.
Maybe it was inside the igloo...

[TerdalFarm]

I'll post photos of the Okie igloo later. It won't be that big, and it is in my (failed) bamboo garden vs. by the palms but still a fun excuse to be outside in the delightful weather right now: sunny and warm
Maybe Jim could build igloos over some of his palm shelters before the next cold front hits.

[hardyjim]

I was fresh out of sticks when I built it


If the A-hole who built it would have shoveled the
snow off like he is supposed to this would have been avoided-


he had other fish to fry.