Ice Storm

Tachigi

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Woke up around 4:00 am this morning to ice pellets hitting the window. The weather pontificators said nothing but rain since we were so close to the bay and on the east side of the low pressure. Well so much for that. In a panic I slipped on the boots and grabbed these photos. Thank god it as almost totally melted away at this writing, Nor'easter is due with winds in excess of 40 mph. This would be ugly if the ice was still on the trees. Hope you enjoy these early morning shots of mother nature at work.
 

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Graydon

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Nice photos. Now I remember why I didn't like the Dakotas and Minnesota. Brrrrrrr.
 

irene_b

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Beautiful pictures Tom!
Nice to finally see some of your trees :D
Irene
 

rlist

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Wow, you do have some nice trees. But, you know, what would look really nice under that ice are a couple of ponderosas!
 

Bonsai Nut

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Wow. You mean to tell me there are places in the world where ice falls from the sky? Creepy. :)

I think I had to put on a coat this Winter once. Next time I'll take a photo :)
 

Tachigi

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Thanks all for the kudos. Rlist third one from right is a chilled out ponderosa :)

Well I just got back on line, its been 36 hours without power at a daily high of 16 degrees talk about cold. When I first posted this they said the ice was over we would have just wind ......WRONG! We received another 1.5 inches of ice with 40+ mile an hour winds. Power went out and the greenhouse with all my cuttings and tropicals were in peril. Normally not a problem as the its propane heated with a electric backup in case the deliveryman runs behind as he did in this situation. The temp was dropping fast in the greenhouse and I knew I had to to do something. I ended up getting a 50 gallon drum that I filled with wood and placed it a safe distance from the greenhouse. I placed the end of some flexible duct work near the top of the can and then into the greenhouse through one of the vents. I lite the fire and placed a fan driven by a battery/inverter setup and got instant warm air pumped into the greenhouse. Got it to maintain a steady 63 degrees till the power came back on. All the trees and cuttings look at this point no worse for the wear. It can be amazing what one will do for the sake of bonsai.

A picture of a pine and a mother nature made shari after the storm.....a possible new styling technique for bending trunks :)
 

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John Hill

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WOW Tom,
We only had maybe 1/2" here and it was a bXXXh. ;-) I could only imagine. Hey I'll take the tree in that first pic ice and all :)

A Friend in bonsai
John
 
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Thanks all for the kudos. Rlist third one from right is a chilled out ponderosa :)

Well I just got back on line, its been 36 hours without power at a daily high of 16 degrees talk about cold. When I first posted this they said the ice was over we would have just wind ......WRONG! We received another 1.5 inches of ice with 40+ mile an hour winds. Power went out and the greenhouse with all my cuttings and tropicals were in peril. Normally not a problem as the its propane heated with a electric backup in case the deliveryman runs behind as he did in this situation. The temp was dropping fast in the greenhouse and I knew I had to to do something. I ended up getting a 50 gallon drum that I filled with wood and placed it a safe distance from the greenhouse. I placed the end of some flexible duct work near the top of the can and then into the greenhouse through one of the vents. I lite the fire and placed a fan driven by a battery/inverter setup and got instant warm air pumped into the greenhouse. Got it to maintain a steady 63 degrees till the power came back on. All the trees and cuttings look at this point no worse for the wear. It can be amazing what one will do for the sake of bonsai.

A picture of a pine and a mother nature made shari after the storm.....a possible new styling technique for bending trunks :)

Careful of those photos, someone will want to make virts of them!

Your ingenuity amazes me! Did you have the ductwork already? I must say I never would have thought of that one on my own, probably would have been getting out the insurance phone number! Great job!
 

irene_b

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WOW Tom,
We only had maybe 1/2" here and it was a XXXXX. I could only imagine. Hey I'll take the tree in that first pic ice and all :)

A Friend in bonsai
John


Can you please refrain from using this language!:(
We do have very young members here...
Thank You!
Irene
 
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Tachigi

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Your ingenuity amazes me! Did you have the duct work already? I must say I never would have thought of that one on my own, probably would have been getting out the insurance phone number! Great job!

LOL Chris ...... it wasn't ingenuity, it was desperation! I have a large ficus in the green house that I have been working on for the better part of 10 years. I would have done just about anything to save it. The duct work was some flexible stuff we use in the boat business which I have saved for ventilation on new greenhouse construction that is planed for this year. It came in handy.
 
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LOL Chris ...... it wasn't ingenuity, it was desperation! I have a large ficus in the green house that I have been working on for the better part of 10 years. I would have done just about anything to save it. The duct work was some flexible stuff we use in the boat business which I have saved for ventilation on new greenhouse construction that is planed for this year. It came in handy.

No xxxxxxx kidding, man that xxxxxxxxxxxxx ice can be a real xxxxxxx xxxxx especially when the xxx-xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx ice really xxxxx the xxxxxxxx.
 

Dale Cochoy

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Tom,
Been there a couple years ago with the ice. I couldn't get my truck out, and had to drive wifes car through the front yard.
Luckily with this storm all we got up north was 15" of snow!!!

BTW, what is that second tree from the left? I'm likin' that!

D.
 

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Tachigi

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Hey Dale,
The tree second from right is a taxus baccata (English Yew) collected spring of last year. The original tree was about 10 foot tall. Found it off the beat and path up in PA. I think it has some nice nebari and good trunk movement. Ten years down the road it might turn into some thing nice. I'm going to try and give it a split trunk look on the lower portion of the tree to try and justify the second trunk on the right, at least thats what is going through my head now.
 

Dale Cochoy

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"BTW, what is that second tree from the left? I'm likin' that!"

Tom,
Your OTHER left!:p
Dale
 

Tachigi

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LOL .... sorry i forgot to tie a string around my left index finger to remind myself the difference between left and right.

Let me cover my bases here so I can make sure I look like the village idiot. Starting from <~~~ this side. 1st tree is a juniper, 2nd is a yew, 3rd is a ponderosa, 4th and 5th yew again

God I hope I got that right ;)
 

Dale Cochoy

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OK Tom,
i guess they were yews no matter which side you started:D

i'd have never guessed that from the ice pics.
I'd like to see these after the ice melt, especially that second one from the LEFT!:D
I like that one!
Dale
 

Taylor Brown

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When that ice storm hit I thought for sure my little Hinoki would croak. It was covered in 1" of ice, apex to soil. The pot even had a little ice on it near the top. All I have to say is that I'm one LUCKY girl that the Hinoki didn't die.

-Taylor
 
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