The cool thing about that design is it really takes whats going on outside and eliminates it,warm cold does not matter I would imagine with this design the temp swings are not to great on a day to day basis.Artictropical has really set the standard for his true zone 4 area,he has baically taken the idea of a leaf cage and improved on the only flaw(assuming your keeping the pile dry)in this method,no light.I don't think you will need more heat as far as using a higher watt heat lamp because adding more covering(insulation) blankets etc,will raise the temp as much as your going to need.One thing to keep in mind is that the numbers I'm giving you are for an area that is protected on the southside of my house from wind out of the north.What are your normal lows and what is expected in your area during a "normal winter? "What town do you live in?I would say again that your trachy will be fine with this kind of protection,the washy will be more of a challenge.I think anyone growing palms north of zone 7b should read palms don't grow here,and read through the website,growing palms in colorado springs usda zone 5b-The former discuses many kinds of protection techniques and the latter water and carbohydrate function in palms grown in zone 5b,or wherever,they use little if any protection in their dry mountain climate and detail why it is important that palms are kept dry through periods of extreme cold.

Hi guys. Jimhardy... my Abyssinian Bananas are great! I haven't brought them out of dormancy yet, but they are starting to grow anyway, so I'm going to have to do something! But last week we had a new record low for that date. It got down to 14 degrees. Global warming? Yeah, right. Not here! We've had an extremely cold Spring. I have my 3 big ones in dormancy and 3 young ones I've kept growing upstairs in the heat and light all winter, so I've got 6 that I'll plant outside this year. Williamr, I'm not sure whether or not I cooked it to death or if it froze. All I know is it's "deader than a door nail". I won't dig it up quite yet. I'm too busy to deal with it. I'm definitely having better luck growing my ensete. But I'll replant the palms or move to southern Utah where palms don't need protection. Probably both!

I don't have a price differential, but the gypcrete way is the way to go if you can afford it. That's the way we are going. The radiant flooring is something my wife was passionate about in the design.

It is late November and I was just given about 50 Iris rhizomes. They all look great and were recently extracted from a garden. I clipped the leaves to fans, knocked off the dirt, and will either replant today and maybe they will bloom next year or can store them for next spring planting. I read that I should dip them in dilute bleach to disinfect them. I have had very good success with other Irises in the past but this is the first time that I have received them this late in the year. My usual method to plant them is to dig a deep hole place the plant in and fill the hole with dirt. I shake, life them as I fill and end up with the rhizome very near the top of the soil and partially exposed at the surface. This way the roots are nicely point down and the soil gets tamped in place to keep them in position. I read that another way is to dig the hole, make a cone to the height that the plant will live. Then distribute the roots over the cone and cover them with soil: no shaking to lifting. Still, I read to place them on the top of the soil and sprinkle a goodly amount of soil around them leaving the rhizome partially exposed. Then lightly tamp the soil to keep them in place. This effectively creates a mound. Is there really a difference in these methods? I figure I will plant about half of them now and save half over the winter. One source claims I should pot them in loose soil, water occasionally, and keep them in a dark/cool cellar. Another says to store them loosely in saw dust/ peat moss/ vermiculite. Dry storage is a lot less work than potting them and certainly takes up far less space in storage. Maybe someone here can tell me where to stick these plants for the winter... .