I see your point 😀

Luckily the X-mas lights I use are made for outdoor use,water Ice or snow
are not a problem and if one burns out
the others stay lit.

The lowest number I use is 3 in my small styrofoam containers and up to 24
in the Washy enclosures,they are cheep at $7 for a 25' strand of 25 lights..

I have 26 palms outside the little Cactus house that need protecting,
that's a lot of distance to lay wire down,I apply them where I need them
and unscrew the others to save electricity/watts.

🙂

Both Jim and Stefano have a lot more experience than I do keeping palms alive through winter. Climate-wise, I split the difference between you guys.
I don't need electric heating yet--it is 20 oC as I type this; the lowest in the weeks forecast is -6 oC--but this discussion prompted me to start installing the heat tape I use. I figure I have time to correct any errors I'm making and hope y'all will let me know. I make a lot of rookie mistakes and appreciate having them pointed out in advance of really cold weather!

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href=" http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/GNFWD8sdCWyjtwJL18qhjw?feat=embedwebsit e"><img src=" " height="383" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href=" http://picasaweb.google.com/terdalfarm/November2010?feat=embedwebsit e">November 2010</a></td></tr></table>

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Both Jim and Stefano have a lot more experience than I do keeping palms alive through winter. Climate-wise, I split the difference between you guys.
I don't need electric heating yet--it is 20 oC as I type this; the lowest in the weeks forecast is -6 oC--but this discussion prompted me to start installing the heat tape I use. I figure I have time to correct any errors I'm making and hope y'all will let me know. I make a lot of rookie mistakes and appreciate having them pointed out in advance of really cold weather!

When it will start freezeng protect the palms with a cage covered with some breathable tissue for plants (example of the tissue: ), as the snow could burn the leaves. Be sure all the connections are waterproof. In what climatic zone do you live?

Seba,
Nice cages.
With fronds touching the plastic as it gets cold, do you make the cages larger?

Barb

Seba,
Nice cages.
With fronds touching the plastic as it gets cold, do you make the cages larger?

Barb

It is better fronds never touch the garden tissue, so the cages should be of a good size. I prefer transpirant tissue rather than plastic as I know palms could suffer from fungi without a good areation and with too much humidity, in fact some years ago I lost a Washingtonia filifera from fungi as it was totally covered by transparent plastic...

My mistake, Seba, I thought the white stuff was plastic.

years ago I lost a Washingtonia filifera from fungi

What a shame you lost it...it's such a "balancing act" to keep plants dry and warm, and still provide air flow.

Hey Erik,
There's a picture of winter protection here (about the 10th or 11th pic down the page...two palms tightly wrapped in what appears to be waterproof canvas? that might be just the trick for you...without having to construct 15 shelters out of wood?

http://snowpalm.dyndns.org/eng/palm.html

Barb

Hey Erik,
There's a picture of winter protection here (about the 10th or 11th pic down the page...two palms tightly wrapped in what appears to be waterproof canvas? that might be just the trick for you...without having to construct 15 shelters out of wood?

http://snowpalm.dyndns.org/eng/palm.html

Barb

Dear Barb!
Thanks a lot for a such useful link!

Just my two cents, infra-red bulbs will incinerate any palm in a palm hut cycling on and off. Plus in a colder climate light bulbs work better dispersing heat then heat cables, there cheap too! They also work longer then you think if you don't smash them around 😆

Heat cables in your area are more then efficient, I'm not sure they'd do the the trick in a colder climate. I guess everyone has methods of their own 😆

Nice butia!

Bill

Wow, I missed a whole page 🙄 I'm done! Disregard anything I wrote 😆

Logging Off!!

Bill,
don't log off! I need your insight.

The 250 watt light (designed for chickens, don't ya know 😆 ) is in the palm hut (other thread, with photo).
Too much? It alone draws more current than all four heat tapes, by a lot. Good thing they are on different circuits.
Part of why I like the pipe heating cable is that it draws very little current, compared to heating with light bulbs which seems inefficient to me as so much of the juice gets wasted making "light." I just want heat, in moderate amounts. The heat tape seems the best way to do that. If I lived up north, I'd use more heaters--ceramic or oil--not lights.
I keep figuring I'm missing something, though, as everyone else uses the C-9 lights. I even bought a string of them but for the life of me I can't figure out how to use them usefully so they just sit there in their box.

--Erik

Erik,

I will tell you one thing... lose the GFCI 3-way. You do not want any circuits for your palm huts running on GFCIs. I made this mistake my first winter protecting palms and guess what happened! It rained then dropped from 35F to 5F and I woke up to no power in my palm huts. The moisture tripped the stupid thing. I went out there, clicked it on, come inside, 5 mins later it's off again!!!!! I replaced the outlet with a regular one right then and there. No more problems. Unless you plan on standing in a puddle with the power cord in the puddle with you, lose the GFCI and save yourself a huge headache.

Thanks for the tip. Rain showers started just as you wrote that. 😆
Keep the tips coming, everyone. --Erik

No problem, here to help. It's hard to think of abstract things like that. GFCI's work by sensing outgoing vs incoming current. If this varies EVER SO SLIGHTLY, they trip. Very touchy things...which means it doesn't take much moisture to have a permanent headache on your hands. Going to bed at night worrying about the GFCI tripping again was not on my favorite things to do list.

wxman, I'm puzzled by your comment:

I went out there, clicked it on, come inside, 5 mins later it's off again

My outdoor plugs are GFI-protected, or so I thought until you posted that.
If--and when--my outdoor plug bombs, I have to go to the circuit panel INDOORS and click it back ON after it tripped (but it hasn't yet).

Is that what you're talking about?
But you have to turn yours on OUTSIDE?

Or are you talking about the super-sensitive GFI's that are installed generally in bathrooms?

Barb