Barb..I heard that too about colder temps and this being an el nina year..?

Hopefully the experts are wrong!

Palmettoman Z6-Ajax, On

After this weekend, I am a believer. While we were gone it got down to -27*C, the second coldest temperature in the past 2 years. Added to this were windchills in the high -30s, something that we have not had in the past 5 years.

Despite the windchills the shelter only got down to -5.5*C.

Allen

Just to clarify ...
El Nino and La Nina are the correct terms. "el nina" contradicts the Spanish gender based vocabulary, but you knew that anyway 😆

Cheers, Barrie.

Allen,
It sounds like whatever you're using should be sufficient for me to get a Trachy and perhaps a Washintonia filifera through my zone 4b/5a winter... I can expect -24 every winter (well, almost every winter) and colder quite often.
Wht is it you are using exactly?
I was going to get a couple of those low wattage heat cables used to keep water pipes from freezing, and I was kind of hoping that that would be enough!
Cheers,
Paul

Hi Paul;

I am using 2 30' Heating cables that I bought from Canadian Tire. They do a pretty good job of keeping my shelter above -4*C. Check the 'Palm Shelter' thread below for the details.

Thanks again for the cacti. They both survived and are under cover for the winter.

Allen