Winter Protection: What do you think of this idea?

[GoggleboxUK]

I was looking at the weather forecast earlier today and saw that there's a 4 day spell forecast here where nights are freezing and days only just getting to 1c. This led me to think about alternative ways to protect plants and I had a thought that I figured I'd put up for discussion here.

I was thinking about potted palms but this might also work with planted out palms too.

When repotting/planting, take a length of hose and curl it around like a loose spring inside the pot or planting hole. Leave a few metres either end sticking out of the soil/potting mix when backfilling to cover the coiled hose.

In winter, wrap the trunk with these ends and tie them high on the trunk of the palm.

During cold spells, use a small funnem to fill the hose with hot water before wrapping with fleece and corking both ends of the hose to provide a close contact, maximum transfer type of hot water bottle which not only warms the trunk and growth point but also adds warmth to the root system which, in time will grow through the loose coils.

Corking and fleecing the hose should prevent heat loss and freezing and, when cool the water can be removed by unwrapping the hose and laying it flat to the ground and blowing the water through.

I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts and get some feedback/constructive criticism.

[Conifers]

Removing the water is going to be the problem, you'd have to blow very hard to blow out 2 or 3 kg of water (you'd need that much at least for it to be effective), and you'd need something to blow the water into so it doesn't saturate the ground at a time of the year when palms prefer drier soil.

You'll also run into big problems if the water in the hose freezes and splits the hose. Which is very likely to happen sooner or later.

[GoggleboxUK]

That's something I thought about Con. It wouldn't be a problem in a pot because you could lower one end of the hose to ground and gravity would do the rest apart from the small section where the hose runs from the vase of the pot to the iop of the pot rim which should come out with one good blast of air.

If buried beneath the ground it would require more effort but potentially that area would be less prone to freezing anyway, especially if the hose was lagged in some way before burying.

The question is, do you think it would give much help when temperatures get below -7? ie: when the palm needs help.

If it would give comparable results as a rope light then it would be cheaper to run.

[Yorkshire Kris]

Personally it seems like more trouble than it's worth and not convinced it would be that it would be that successful because I don't think hose is thick enough to keep water warm for that long. Of course you may prove me wrong.

I think it's easier to move potted plants under cover or at least bring them close to a south or east facing wall and wrap the pots with bubble wrap.

Or perhaps if you have a patio heater arrange the pots around it and give it a blast for an hour or so in the middle of the night on the very coldest of nights to stop the pots freezing through.

[Half Hardy]

I think your idea has massive potential,if you are willing to put some time & effort in to it.It could work in a similar way to underfloor heating,ie you could circulate warm water through the hose.There are lots of ideas on the web,for diy solar water heaters,using car radiators,sandwiched between sheets of glass and then stored in a reservoir for example.
Even a water container painted black,would absorb a decent amount of heat throughout most days,like solar showers used by campers.You wouldn't need anywhere near the high temps we humans like just enough to keep the plant above freezing.

[Leigh]

Any one ever looked into using Tyre Warmers on Potted Palms or even to protect trunks on planted ones ?
They have thermostat controls and are semi water proof and could be adapted to kick in on the coldest of weather
I know they are available in 240 and 110 volts and worth checking on Ebay for bargains though that seems to be full of motorbike ones but these tend to be quiet big anyway !
Just an Idea

[Kristen]

Length of soil-warming cable instead and "plug them in" perhaps? Dunno how easy it is to terminate soil warming cable, such that several could be wired in some sort of daisy-chain configuration

I would want to weight up a comparison (of "faff") comparing that to dragging them into the garage on cold nights ...

Also: sounds similar to the approach of putting a "hot water bottle" of some sort under a duvet/blanket/fleece cover.

[multim]

I too doubt that this idea will work at all as the water will freeze inside the hose very quickly at sub-zero temperatures.
Once that water freezes, then it's frozen for the duration of the cold spell.
Just see how little frost it takes to freeze water within a hosepipe.

[simon]

I agree and would add that the amount of fleece insulation required just to stop the hose freezing through would probably be enough to protect the plant on its own any way.

[GoggleboxUK]

Fair enough, that was one of my concerns too.

Any benefit to a root system do we think?