Next in importance to light, is the matter of temperature. The ordinary
house plants, to be kept in health, require a temperature of sixty-five
to seventy-five degrees during the day and fifty to fifty-five degrees
at night. Frequently it will not be possible
to keep the room from going
lower at night, but it should be kept as near that as possible;
forty-five degrees occasionally will not do injury, and even several
degrees lower will not prove fatal, but if frequently reached the plants
will be checked and seem to stand still. Plants in the dormant, or
semi-dormant condition are not so easily injured by low temperature as
those in full growth; also plants which are quite dry will stand much
more cold than those in moist soil.
The proper condition of temperature is the most difficult thing to
regulate and maintain in growing plants in the house. There is, however,
at least one room in almost every house where the night temperature does
not often go below forty-five or fifty degrees, and if necessary all
plants may be collected into one room during very cold weather. Another
precaution which will often save them is to move them away from the
windows; put sheets of newspaper inside the panes, not, however,
touching the glass, as a "dead air space" must be left between. Where
there is danger of freezing, a kerosene lamp or stove left burning in
the room overnight will save them. Never, when the temperature outside
is below freezing, should plants be left where leaves or blossoms may
touch the glass.
As with the problem of light, so with that of temperature--the specially
designed place for plants, no matter how small or simple a little nook
it may be, offers greater facility for furnishing the proper conditions.
But it is, of course, not imperative, and as I have said, there is
probably not one home in twenty where a number of sorts of plants cannot
be safely carried through the winter.
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