De tegminibus horticulturae

[Than]

So I covered my sensitive plants with horticultural fleece three days ago. It is a non-woven 70 g/m fleece I bought from amazon. I have temperature sensors inside and outside the fleeces, at the same height. I have noticed that the temperature inside the fleece is consistently lower than outside, by about 1 degree fahrenheit, half degree Celsius. Yesterday I made sure I did everything properly: I opened the fleece during the day and let the sun warm up the soil. I only put mulch on the periphery. Late afternoon I closed the fleece, made sure it touched the ground all around. I even included some concrete blocks inside which were under the sun during the day and a plastic bottle filled with hot water! 

What is your experience with fleece? I know it doesn't produce heat but I'd expect at least a degree higher inside, from retaining soil warmth maybe? Does it work?

[happypalms]

2 hours ago, Than said:

So I covered my sensitive plants with horticultural fleece three days ago. It is a non-woven 70 g/m fleece I bought from amazon. I have temperature sensors inside and outside the fleeces, at the same height. I have noticed that the temperature inside the fleece is consistently lower than outside, by about 1 degree fahrenheit, half degree Celsius. Yesterday I made sure I did everything properly: I opened the fleece during the day and let the sun warm up the soil. I only put mulch on the periphery. Late afternoon I closed the fleece, made sure it touched the ground all around. I even included some concrete blocks inside which were under the sun during the day and a plastic bottle filled with hot water! 

What is your experience with fleece? I know it doesn't produce heat but I'd expect at least a degree higher inside, from retaining soil warmth maybe? Does it work?

Use rocks instead of mulch, and place styrofoam orotund the outside of them to help insulate the cold night draughty night air.

[Harry’s Palms]

Others on this forum use incandescent lights on timers , along with what Richard suggests. The temp inside will go up with a heat source. I had a greenhouse at my old property and , in the winter , had to put a small boat heater in there for the uber tropical plants . The greenhouse alone wasn’t enough. Harry

[Than]

3 minutes ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Others on this forum use incandescent lights on timers , along with what Richard suggests. The temp inside will go up with a heat source. I had a greenhouse at my old property and , in the winter , had to put a small boat heater in there for the uber tropical plants . The greenhouse alone wasn’t enough. Harry

I've thought about it but the only socket I have outside is several yards away..