Colocasia bed, winter soil warming

Post Reply
User avatar
Dave Brown
Site Admin
Posts: 19742
Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:17 am
Location: Chalk, (Thames Estuary) Kent, England 51.5N 0.3E
Contact:

Colocasia bed, winter soil warming

Post by Dave Brown »

As an experiment I have left most of my Colocasia bed planted up over winter with a thick mulch, which has hopefully stopped the rhizomes from freezing. One of the problems we have in the UK is the late sprouting of any that do survive, so to help speed them up I have covered the bed with clear plastic. This warms up in the sun like a mini greenhouse and will hopefully see sprouting in March. The plastic is from a single bed mattress so cost nothing :wink:

Colocasia left planted are
Mammoth
Pink china
Hawaiian Eye
Hilo Bay
gaoligongensis.

Soil temp at 30cm was 6C when covered yesterday lunchtime... we'll see how it goes :wink:
Attachments
2013-02-05-13-52-34 Soil warming.jpg
2013-02-05-13-52-48 soil warming temp.jpg
Best regards
Dave
icon_thumright
_________________________________________________
Roll on summer.....
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk
tropicalwon

Re: Colocasia bed, winter soil warming

Post by tropicalwon »

Fingers crossed Dave......
Attachments
fingers.jpg
fingers.jpg (3.27 KiB) Viewed 2935 times
gabriel

Re: Colocasia bed, winter soil warming

Post by gabriel »

I have ordered some colocasias this year,with the intension of living them in situ in winter with mulch like You did Dave.
I will be watching Your experiment closely, please keep us updated!
User avatar
Yorkshire Kris
Posts: 10163
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 8:59 am
Location: Rural South Wakefield, Yorkshire Lat 53.64 Long-1.54

Re: Colocasia bed, winter soil warming

Post by Yorkshire Kris »

I was hoping to do the same but then moved house! Will keep an eye out for the results.
User avatar
Arlon Tishmarsh
Posts: 6957
Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2009 10:53 am
Location: Horizontal

Re: Colocasia bed, winter soil warming

Post by Arlon Tishmarsh »

If they don't need any light stimulus, black pvc would warm it up even better / quicker if you have some spare.
User avatar
Dave Brown
Site Admin
Posts: 19742
Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:17 am
Location: Chalk, (Thames Estuary) Kent, England 51.5N 0.3E
Contact:

Re: Colocasia bed, winter soil warming

Post by Dave Brown »

Arlon Tishmarsh wrote:If they don't need any light stimulus, black pvc would warm it up even better / quicker if you have some spare.
The mulch is pretty dark Arlon and the clear plastic gets the greenhouse effect. :wink: Solar water heaters use black under clear to maximise the heat and stops wind cooling off the black surface.
Best regards
Dave
icon_thumright
_________________________________________________
Roll on summer.....
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk
Palmer

Re: Colocasia bed, winter soil warming

Post by Palmer »

Looks good to me! Farmers have used a similar method to warm the soil up and give crops an early start.
Are you going to keep daily temperature readings Dave?
It would be interesting to hear about the difference in temps on a frosty night too.
User avatar
Dave Brown
Site Admin
Posts: 19742
Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:17 am
Location: Chalk, (Thames Estuary) Kent, England 51.5N 0.3E
Contact:

Re: Colocasia bed, winter soil warming

Post by Dave Brown »

I'm going to keep a record of the soil temps Tony. Yesterday was 6C, and today was just over 6, so no soil cooling even though mean air temps has only been 4.1C, with only a few short glimpses of the sun. :wink:

The 30cm depth soil temp under the Washingtonia yesterday was 8C.
Best regards
Dave
icon_thumright
_________________________________________________
Roll on summer.....
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk
tropicalwon

Re: Colocasia bed, winter soil warming

Post by tropicalwon »

Any update on your experiment Dave? or is it too early due to the, dare I say it, long, cold,gloomy,Winter?
User avatar
Dave Brown
Site Admin
Posts: 19742
Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:17 am
Location: Chalk, (Thames Estuary) Kent, England 51.5N 0.3E
Contact:

Re: Colocasia bed, winter soil warming

Post by Dave Brown »

tropicalwon wrote:Any update on your experiment Dave? or is it too early due to the, dare I say it, long, cold,gloomy,Winter?
Interesting, but a failure :roll: A complete failure of spring to materialise, with virtually no sun, so no greenhouse effect under the plastic.

30cm soil temp was 6C on 6th Feb, but over the 7.5 weeks has fallen to 4.5C by 31st March. :(
Best regards
Dave
icon_thumright
_________________________________________________
Roll on summer.....
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk
tropicalwon

Re: Colocasia bed, winter soil warming

Post by tropicalwon »

Sorry to hear that Dave... What about the Aroids planted, have they succumb to the weather as well?
User avatar
Dave Brown
Site Admin
Posts: 19742
Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:17 am
Location: Chalk, (Thames Estuary) Kent, England 51.5N 0.3E
Contact:

Re: Colocasia bed, winter soil warming

Post by Dave Brown »

tropicalwon wrote:Sorry to hear that Dave... What about the Aroids planted, have they succumb to the weather as well?
Some types the tops have mushed, but gaoligongensis, Mammoth, Fontanesii, and pink China are still firm :wink:

Temps now up to 9C so have risen markedly since the sun has been out :wink:
Best regards
Dave
icon_thumright
_________________________________________________
Roll on summer.....
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk
Post Reply