PalmsNorth.com

After quite a long winter

Looking at your palm you would never know there was winter.

Like Jim said, what winter? Not even the fronds are bent out of shape.

Like Jim said, what winter? Not even the fronds are bent out of shape.

Your palm looks amazing!

this winter I had three different systems in the box:
1. Christmas lights on a TC3 (35F/45F -2c/7c). They were mostly on the ground. Very unreliable, I think there were only 2-3 bulbs working when I opened the box. I will use roof deicing cables next year.
2. A pipe cable with it's own thermostat. The palm was covered in arbotex with heat cable wrapped around.
3. A small (200W) heater on a TC2 (20F/30F - -7C/-1C). The heater was on the ground.
I don't know if the heater was ever activated, as the temperature was alwasy around 5C inside.

Tavi

If I replace the Christmas lights, I will probably add a bulb of some kind just to see when it's on.

Next year I am looking at a 200watt heat lamp in a socket on a spike to stick in the ground and face upward in my barrel housings I'll be building. I've found I have no issues with freezing ground or the trunks getting damaged and it's all about keeping my foliage green and not letting those freeze. I figure a good heat lamp will warm things up quite nicely. Of course I'm looking at two lamps per box for redundancy.

I used this heater on a tc2:
www.homedepot.com/p/Lasko-MyHeat-200-Wa ... /202363459

The advantage is that it has a little fan to move the air around. I used them for the last 2-3 winters, and they are still working fine.

These cheaply "made in china" christmas lights and light bulbs now a days are totally unreliable. I like the tiny heater idea but would worry it would dry the air too much..and the fronds.

Nice job Tavi! Flawless... Things do grow better in Ontario! I agree about the xmas lights, half of mine were toast when i opened mine. All alive but 50% damage on my Palmetto.

and for the second year in a row it has flowers:

Just beautiful!

Hey Tavi,
Did you go back with the same method for this year (C9s), or did you go with the cable?
Cheers
Dan

I went with the cables, but I added one regular bulb on the ground. It's hard to find those old Christmas lights.

Tavi

Are you not using that little heater fan? I'm thinking I'll pick some of those up for next year. This past year I was using a couple spot lights and I'm noticing that my drums aren't warming up as much as I'd like. I think the crowns will be fine, and I may have some leaf burn but I've been looking at an efficient heater for a while. Then I'll just need the heater and a small low watt led to light up so I know the heaters are going on and off.

I still have that little fan, I'm just not sure if it ever kicks in as it's on a tc2, on at 20F (-7C). I don't have a thermometer this year, but last year I never seen the temperature going under 0C. And this year was not that cold anyway.

It's more of an insurance.

https://goo.gl/photos/2yj4UJompvpQqnqm6

2016 edition; I used only heat cables and I forgot to put inside the wireless thermometer, so I was not sure if it was working or not. I would say It came out OK. Just a few burnt leaves that were touching the box. I may have to move to the mummy method next year, it's getting big.

Tavi