That looks great...I'm trying to figure out a way to cover my greenhouse to hold in some extra heat withough costing a fortune...I'm getting a few more palms and also need to winter my brugs in there as well.

I'll keep checking back..I'm interested to see how it's coming along for you.

knotz

Thanks knotz,so this really is not step 2 but it is part of the process so I thought I'd add it anyway.Today I dug up the banana plants because it is suppoosed to rain the next 3 days and finally frost sometime over next weekend but more importantly I don't want to be digging in mud the day before it does freeze.I added another piece of the"hoophouse"-G/house,now I just need to wait for the castor bean to bite it and I can add last part,so,heres the new piece, a picture of a more barren yard without bananas and the nanars inside.

So skipping over to the washys,this is not how I intended to do this but since it was only 30F out the day I did this and got down to 18F that night,better to get it done and work out the bugs later,one problem that I have is the c7 x-mas light bulbs get up to 150F,more on this later-I started with 13 around each palm,I also decided to not wrap them directly on the palm but to wrap them first and build a little cage around them to create an air pocket and then wrap again and add some air holes,then I added some house insulation around the bottom and put these styrofoam covers on them,this lets in a little light and is also a very good insulater,so getting back to the 150F lights,as I was getting to the end of wrapping the last one I turned on the lights to make sure it worked and in about 15min the temp was up to 50F,cool,I went inside to warm up and in another 20-30min it was 72F,nice!,however within an hour it was 96F!great if you trying to get 3' of growth over the winter!but I just want to get them through,so I will need to lose some insulation or try cutting it down to 3 or so lights in each one,anyway I will let you guys know how it turns out.I finished the cover on the bigger g/house and will post a pic when the weather gets better,unfortunately we had rain before the 18F low we had and I may have already lost afew plants,live and learn!here are the pictures of the process as discribed above,thanks for looking-

Rock on jimhardy, looks great. Me thinks those C-7 lights get too hot and could possibly be a fire hazard. Try the mini lights in strands of 50 or 100 on each palm. Experiment with one palm to see which one is best. You are certainly on the right track you'll just have to tweak your methods until you find what works safely.

All I can say is, "Isn't it crazy.... the things we do to keep palms alive." Some probably think we are totally insane with the ideas we think up. But isn't it fun experimenting!

Kevin

Thanks guys!It is a little crazy,until it works,then its brilliant.Opp I tested the lights by putting a thermometer on them,each individual bulb heats up to 150F,this really is not hot enough to start a fire,they are made to go on dry x-mas trees but your point is taken!for sure,less would be better but I am not willing to dig all this up and rewire so,what I am going to do, actually just did it (speaking of tweaking) is reduce the # of lights that light up.Last night I went to play hockey for a few hours and left the stairway light on,which is connected to the lights on the palms,(I tried this last year and it worked well to remind me to turn the lights on)big mistake!?when I got home I ran upstairs to check the temp,it was 111F!now this would be great to get a few feet of growth over the winter but I just want them to make it!Each palm has approx,13 lights around it so,I have reduced it to 3 in on each palm and opened the top so I will try again and see what this does,the thing about using insulation or styrofoam is that you need very little heat which is great cuz who wants to use more electicity then you really need?!next year I will try thinner insulation and smaller lights like you originally mentioned Opp thanks for the feedback guys!
Arctic,I would love to see what your lights give you tempwise,those kind of lights are definitely not made to give off heat and this really speaks to how well insulated your palms are in styrofoam,its a good thing you did not use heatlamps in there are you would have baked those suckers!well done arctic -LOL

Here are the pics of the g/house inside and out,some of the styrofoam covers are temporary as I am trying to keep the moisture off these plants until I can get the last three little g/h's up.I also put some leaves over the needles to help keep moisture out of the crowns until I get them covered-

Here are some pics of leaf piles(supposed to be 10F-15F tomorrow morning!below avg temps continue,no more damage please)protecting Needle palms,these have sailed through upper teens with no damage so I am rewarding them,with protection-I wrapped them in burlap first then leaves then styrofoam covers with leaves inside and covered with mulch-

Looks good Jim. My protection method for my 2 Windmills is this... I first tied the fronds up and then wrapped it in a layer of burlap. I then ran a rope light on the ground around the base and around the trunk to the spear. I then wrapped them in several more layers of burlap. I then mulched them several inches deep and about 16 inches outward. When I expect precipitation i put a plastic bag over the crown and wrap the plant and cover the ground around it with tarp. I just turned the rope light on...19 here in town at 1230AM. Hope this winter is nothing like last.

I here ya on this winter not being like last!make sure you put a remote min/max thermometer near growth bud so you can keep track of heating

Heres a pic of the west side of the yard with"winter protection"on,kinda cool!,not,I did not realize it would be so bright,now I will find out if it's warm enough.I used 4 strands of C-9 x-mas lights on this side-