Trachycarpus Protection in CT

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

If I wanted to protect my windmill palm Trachycarpus Fortunii , without lights or additional heat sources how would I do so?  i unfortunately do not have the option of using supplemental heat such as Christmas lights due to electricity bill.  how would you recomend protecting one of these?  I have many blankets and tarps so I doubt that would be a problem.  thanks in advance

[NorCalKing]

The problem without adding a heat source is, blankets, tarps, mulch, etc. provide no additional protection (other than wind and frost). Those coverings work best at keeping limited heat i.e Xmas lights in. I cover some of my banana's that are close to the house to protect from the frost, and to keep the heat from the building somewhat contained.

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

45 minutes ago, NorCalKing said:

The problem without adding a heat source is, blankets, tarps, mulch, etc. provide no additional protection (other than wind and frost). Those coverings work best at keeping limited heat i.e Xmas lights in. I cover some of my banana's that are close to the house to protect from the frost, and to keep the heat from the building somewhat contained.

That.   Heat sources in cold climates such as yours are your friend.  Xmas lights hardly add much cost to an electric bill.     Wrapping alone does very little in terms of keeping it warm.  It mostly just protects from winds and frosts as pointed out. 

[cm05]

Depending on where you are in CT they may only require Christmas lights on a couple of nights. Keeping them on all winter would be overkill.

[pin38]

20 hours ago, DCA_Palm_Fan said:

That.   Heat sources in cold climates such as yours are your friend.  Xmas lights hardly add much cost to an electric bill.     Wrapping alone does very little in terms of keeping it warm.  It mostly just protects from winds and frosts as pointed out. 

Wrapping along with an outer bucket or barrel could help for brief cold snaps, as it would trap previously-warmer ambient air around the plant for a short amount of time. Also if you have a sunny day such an outer covering could create a greenhouse effect which would heat up the inside and that heat could be retained better with blankets.  However I'm guessing that in the northeast minimum temps hang around for longer periods of time and are accompanied with more cloud cover than in western states, so it probably wouldn't be as effective. It still could help shorten the longevity of exposure to those minimum temps though.

[Joe NC]

18 hours ago, cm05 said:

Depending on where you are in CT they may only require Christmas lights on a couple of nights. Keeping them on all winter would be overkill.

A Thermo-cube is your best friend when using lights as a heat source.  For a Trachy, you could probably use a TC-2 (on at 20F, off at 30F).  It keeps the plant from cooking under the wrap. 

see link below.

  TC-2

If you wanted to be extra cautious, a TC-3 is on at 35F off at 40F.