Niagara z7 winter palm protection

seedscanada · Post by **seedscanada** » Fri Dec 07, 2012 3:44 pm

Here's a peek at what we have done to protect our palms, yuccas and bananas. Oh and Zizyphus jujuba.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEufWQ-a ... e=youtu.be

Have a great day!

Oh and it was 16c here on wednesday, wow!

seedscanada · Post by **seedscanada** » Fri Dec 07, 2012 3:55 pm

We have since buried the fig. Also, put in a separate thermocube in the Washintonia filifera box to trigger lights for the one washy and the Butia lights.

3 W. filifers outside this year:
one has a clear plastic container over top of it, filled with cedar mulch.
one with a rose cone over it, 2" of mulch at plant base.
one in insulated box with 2 litre water buffer, and six xmas lights actuated by thermocube and south-facing window for natural filtered light.
Any bets on how well they'll do?

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Fri Dec 07, 2012 5:41 pm

The thermocube sure make life easy!

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sat Dec 08, 2012 8:07 am

Hey, Adam, interesting to see all the protection you've done.

Q: doesn't having a timer on the thermocube defeat the thermocube's purpose?

Also, are you thinking of poking a little hole in the plastic at the top to let humidity escape?
I'm contemplating doing that but haven't yet.

You folks broke Canada's temperature records the other day!

Thanks for the video!
Barb

seedscanada · Post by **seedscanada** » Sat Dec 08, 2012 6:12 pm

Yeah Barb it was warm.
Have not thought of letting out some humidity but maybe I should.
The timer is a monitor it monitors duration and electricity consumption in watts. It has no control of when the electricity comes on. It does however calculate the cost of using what is plugged in to it.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sat Dec 08, 2012 8:20 pm

I'm still undecided whether to poke a "humidity release" hole in my protection.
But I know that 5 months of sweating isn't good.

Thanks for the timer explanation.
Good to know the thermocube can still do its job...if and when you guys ever get winter

Barb

RyanNiagara · Post by **RyanNiagara** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 5:51 am

Quite the setup you have there. I've never had much luck with thermocubes.

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 6:06 am

lucky1 wrote:I'm still undecided whether to poke a "humidity release" hole in my protection.
But I know that 5 months of sweating isn't good.

Barb

Barb

You could put a little tube in there and uncork it when it
is warm enough out or do so,I have thought of doing something
like this if I mummy wrap the taller palms...make a little elbow
bend in it and then wrap the rest with a red ribbon-presto instant candy cane.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 9:01 am

a little tube in there and uncork it when it
is warm enough

Good idea Jim.
And then next year we can buy one of those "sewer line cameras" to insert in the candy cane so we can see our palms all winter.

Gonna need H's help to hold me at top of ladder as I lean over the "A frame".
So I don't crash onto the palm.

Your idea is actually what's recommended for fish ponds to let toxic gasses escape through ice cover.

Barb

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 1:16 am

looks good Adam. Keep us updated on their progress this winter and in spring. I still have not protected my T. nainital yet.

sashaeffer · Post by **sashaeffer** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:47 pm

Last year I suffered through humidity buildup in the plastic "tent" I had built around the Windmill palm I was protecting. I just took a razor blade and made a 2/3 inch slit in the plastic and it seemed to make all the difference in the world as far as letting moisture out, but didn't affect warmth inside.

This year, I just didn't wrap them(have 3 now) air tight like I did last year. No real issues with humidity so far.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:03 am

humidity buildup in the plastic "tent" I had built around the Windmill

Many of us have layers of protection, versus just plastic.
This year my 2 Washies have fiberglass batt insulation on top of leaf-filled bags (where I was afraid leafbags might fall on top of the palms).
And that batt stuff seems to soak up some moisture.
This was last winter's pic:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/6385592557/" title="DSC05112 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6041/6385 ... 3755f0.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DSC05112"></a>

Temporary cover this year before it got really cold, only had plastic:
Huge moisture problem with ONLY plastic.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/8168357915/" title="001 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8348/8168 ... c42e92.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="001"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/6833144998/" title="022 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7040/6833 ... b66907.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="022"></a>

So far so good, thermocube has only kicked on once I think.
But there's definitely more moisture inside with those leaf-filled bags sweating.

Anything that soaks up extra moisture inside is good...keeps it off the palm.

Barb

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:51 am

I like having a transparent layer that warms up during the day and lids on top
that I can pop on warm days to let the plants breath/get some fresh air and dry out a little.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 8:22 am

a transparent layer that warms up during the day and lids on top
that I can pop on warm days to let the plants breath/get some fresh air and dry out a little.

That's the BEST method, Jim.
I'm still working on achieving that.
Next year...