Infrared Heat for Palms

[Alicehunter2000]

Has anyone ever used infrared heat to warm their plants on a cold night. The area I am considering is the courtyard pool area where the D. cabadae and C. macrocarpa are planted. I have electric outlets close by and infrared is supposed to be much more energy efficient than either Gas or radiant electric heat. They are fairly cheap as well.

"Infrared type outdoor space heaters can also direct heat toward the bud area of a taller palm. As a last resort, if you can create a heat source close to the trunk this will create an updraft around the trunk and bud of the tree that may prevent frost from settling on the bud area of the palm."

[_Keith]

Sounds like an interesting plan. Can't say I know enough to know if it would work, but I love a good experiment.

[sarasota alex]

David I am very interested in your results. Please keep us updated.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

I have an entire arsenal of heaters and floating row covers for a record freeze event. I've not had to use the stuff yet for the last 14 years. But I did test it out on some low 30's nights, and it works pretty well. I can share what I know:

1) For super sensitive stuff, the best approach is floating row cover 8mm thick rated at 10F held up on stakes in such a way to have no physical contact with the plants. I leave the sides open and underneath I run a drywall fan+propane heater. The fan takes the heat and blows it across the entire area, giving several degrees of protection during a radiational freeze.

2) For stuff I can't protect because of hillsides and larger trees, I just place patio infrared heaters in the right places. These work very well to keep smaller, more enclosed areas above freezing.

3) For taller palms, I use regular drywall infrared heaters and point them up into the crown.

There is one great thing you can do for a homemade radiational freeze protector: buy an industrial electric fan, and mount the fan on a rack such that the fan blows vertically downward. This works very well to protect plants from freezing during a radiational freeze. It pulls warmer air from above and displaces colder air that accumulates lower. If you have a hillside, you put it at the lowest point on your property to accelerate the flow of air already coming down the hill.

[Axel Amsterdam]

i have used them in Amsterdam Holland to keep two bangalows alive through winter.

I had a timer connected and aimed the IR heater towards both trunks (horizontal and fairly closeby).

I didnt aim for the fronds so they were gone after the Dutch winter. But both palms survived. The most important thing is that IR doesnt do anything for airtemps unless you enclose the space or have some reflecting shield in place. So if you use it in the open air, only the parts that light up red in the dark will be protected to a certain extend. For smaller palms, the best imo would be if you aim from a high position downwards on the fronds and the soil. The warmed up soil will help to raise airtemps somewhat.

Axel

[mike2748]

Do not use patio heaters in the mid 20s on full

Heat the rapid expansion of the propane makes

The fuel freeze

The types that screw directly to the tanks

work well. Mr Heater I think was the name

[SueH_AZ]

I have a few brooder lights with infrared bulbs. They bailed me out of the unusual extended cold spell that we had last winter in Arizona.

I was just outside earlier wrapping the pseudophoenix sargentii in Christmas lights and frost cloth, as we're expecting some overnight temps in the 30's for the next week or so.

[Walt]

Over the past 15 winters I've tried all kinds of heating techniques. I've never tried infrared (light bulb) heat. Mainly, it's just not going to be that effective, at least on larger palms (too much area to cover). I can see where an infrared bulb(s) can be effective, but the kinds of palms and plantings i protect, this kind of heating wouldn't be enough.

I could see maybe heating foundation plantings with infrared bulbs radiating heat towards them and the house wall, which would re radiate heat back out.

Further, bulbs would have to be fairly close to the plants being protected to get sufficient radiant heat. Moving lights farther back diminishes the amount of radiation by the square of the distance. So, if a light was two feet away from a plant and you wanted to cover more area and then moved the light back to four feet away, the amount of radiation on the plant would be reduced inversely and only be one-fourth of what it was at two feet distance.

I have a propane infrared heater, but I use it to warm my greenhouse. There just isn't enough heat to do much good out in the open yard on a large palm (like my coconut). I use propane forced air heaters for this, and even then they aren't that effective, at least not in a hard freeze.In a light freeze it will mostly keep frost from forming. I must protect the trunk and grow bud using heating cables and insulative wraps.

[mary moore]

I live in Chicago. I grew up every summer on hilton head island and winters in chicago. I'm now stuck in chicago for work purposes but want palm trees around my pool year round. I'm looking into ways of heating the entire back yard including the ground to grow the. If I can't be on the island I'm gonna bring the island to me. Any ideas