You guys knew I would be back in a short amount of time. :-) You are the best! Whoosh....I am just so glad the roots didn't freeze and that my mother caught it in the knick of time. I guess there are some advantages to caring for our moms when in need, right? She called me as soon as she noticed and I think I broke the speed barrier to get home and get the heat going. Thank God I have her at home watching things for me while I am away! She even zips and unzips my hot house when it gets to hot in there, like 95 degrees, until I get home. I also just realized that in my attempt to warm it up in there this am, I totally forgot to water them, so she will do that too in a half hour thank God..:-) I bought her a huge coffee and I am going to take her out to eat for that. She is always keeping an eye on the temps for me..:-) By the way Jodik, she wnat you to know she cares for you so and prays for Larry to keep getting better and for you to stay as healthy as you can be despite your sickness. You are loved by us here! Mike...Thanks for the encouragement man! I bet your trees are just awesome about now in your mix, at your hands mercy, without the mites and longer days. Yahoo. Mike

Well, I finished my cold frame on Saturday. It was about 40 degrees outside. I put it out in my garden. It immediately went up to 80 degrees. I was shocked. Then Sunday I went out to see what it was doing. It was 30 degrees outside and it was 110 degrees in the cold frame. I figured it would heat up pretty well, but I had no idea it would get that hot in 30 degree weather. What is my cheapest option for keeping the cold frame cooler during the day(outside of me going out and opening it every morning of course :))? Would some sort of shade help? Would using window tint on the top piece of plexi help? Or should I go directly to shelling out the $50 for an automatic opener? Is there a cheaper automatic opener option than $50?

I was wondering about the same question about a month ago so I lifted up my palm protection and dug a little soil around the palm, and the soil wasnt frozen. It is possible that the soil is frozen farther down, but usually the soil doesnt freeze too deep here, but there is so much snow cover this year, that Im sure that it is pretty far down. My palms have lately been in the mid 50s in there protection during the day and the upper 30s at night. The sun is getting stronger now and the temperature is starting to reach the 60s in there on sunny days even when its cold. Im sure that with temperatures like that, the soil is unfrozen, and my protection isnt as strong a lot than others, its usually no more than 15F warmer in there than it is outside. Not sure about the surface soil temperature right now, but it is probably in the 40s and then a little farther down it might be in the mid 30s and then about 3 feet down, its probably back in the 40s (thats really just a very rough guess though) My protection is only x-mas lights wrapped around the plant, a frost cloth, and then a plastic garbage bin (turned upside down) on top. I usually only keep the lights on during cold nights, but I want them to start seeing the upper 50s and 60s so they get ready for spring (but they haven't seen anything warmer than that because rapid growth in the winter is a really bad thing since the new growth is tender). Also almost all of my palms (especially my pindo palm) has seen no moisture since November because I didn't want the soil to be wet which would make rot a lot more likely. As long as they are nice and dry, as well as above freezing as often as possible, they wont have problems. Mulch helps too espeically with larger palms. Jut put something (like a plastic tarp) over the mulch to keep it dry. I try to keep my palms from seeing below 20f because although they can handle much lower, I dont want too much damage. Dont worry too much about the soil, if temps are constantly above freezing in your protection, the soil will thaw out underneath it. Good luck!

I also have one of those coolers guaranteed to keep ice for 5 days. It works well when it's 80F or lower, but I can only get 2 or 3 days out of it when it's over 80F. Still, that's a pretty long time. I also use a styrofoam cooler that some of that online Omaha Steaks beef was sent to me in. The cooler is great, the beef was very underwhelming. So, I think either would work. My suggestion was baked beans, not something that could be easily overcooked, IMO. Annie