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My Citrus trees are feeling the cold

foolishpleasure

11 years ago

We have been hit by miserable cold weather and snow lately. The temperature last night was 5 F . My trees are in unheated garage except for small heater. The maximium I can get the Temperature in the garage by using heater and strong grow lights (putting over 6000 lumen is that the right description) is 36 F.
My question are can I use warm water instead of cold water to water the trees and how about if I rap a heating pads around the pots. Can that help is it advisable?
Abe

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Comments (6)

Fascist_Nation
11 years ago
As long as it stays above freezing all citrus should survive. Putting a small fan in near the ceiling that blows air down (circulates the heat near the ceiling back down to where it does good) can help. Make sure the pots are on insulation and not directly on a concrete floor if it really is touch and go.
Fascist_Nation
11 years ago
You can also wrap the trunks with newspaper to help. Leave it on all winter.

While wet soil retains heat better than drier soil do not overwater your citrus.

Warm water can burn the roots...remember trees and their beneficial soil organisms are not used to temperatures much above 30-35C. They can be killed off. You can fill pots/barrels/containers with hot water for overnight release of heat.
But as long as it doesn't fall below freezing....
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I's good to hear you have a porch to winter store plants imagine if it gets to chilled at night you can simply open a door and share some inside heat or use a suplemental heater for a while With this in mind is it safe to assume your hot house is not attached to your house ? If you have a heater that works for you already I wouldn't suggest adding a lighting system (bulbs) to your hot house as the only sorce of heat simply because they wouldn't be on at night Emphisis on night: It gets to cold to often with colder temps at the minus (?) F degrees bulbs that are off aren't going to warm any area Some bennifits to a heater are it can turn on and off on an as needed basis by thermatic controls and timers helping maintain disired warmth though out the entire day and night. A draw back is loosing power for to long of time with out a second sorce on a colder day On a logical thought, a cold frame wont work for you but if it where to work you wouldn't need any added lighting to keep plants warmer I agree it's better and easier to grow some plants slower if ideal growing conditions cant be suplied with in a persons means if you dont push growth, it's not uncommon for a healthier plant to be seen in the future. Many compliments are read that are directed to Mike Mike Your doing something right
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foolishpleasure
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you. Your idea of fan to circulate the hot air is good. I will do just that.
Abe
arkberry
11 years ago
I can vouch for the wrapping of the trunk - it really helps. I protect my outdoor Satsuma by wrapping the trunk before a cold snap. I have been setting my containerized plants on a couple of old cardboard boxes to keep them out of direct contact with my concrete.
trianglejohn
11 years ago
I have a large hoophouse that I seal up and use like a greenhouse during the winter. Because it has only plastic sheeting for walls it doesn't hang on to any heat so it is hard to keep "tropical". One surprising thing I've tried is to build another smaller greenhouse inside the larger greenhouse, sort of a tent made out of this very thin clear plastic I had on hand. By placing the tiny electric space heater inside that tent I can keep those plants very warm. So I try to keep the large area just above freezing and never have to worry about the small area. You might be able to build such a temporary tent out of thin plastic (I just used ropes and clothespins to build mine) and put the heater inside it, instead of heating the entire garage.
2pinecones
11 years ago
We have our drier vented into our greenhouse. It has been below zero for weeks. At night we put a wet beach towel in the drier and the end result is a warm humid area that is above 50 much appreciated by our 13 citrus (2 avocado) trees that must live in the Utah Rocky Mountain high desert.

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