Two nights ago , the temperature got down to about 27 degrees Fahrenheit .
Rachel and I button up the greenhouse ahead of the cold , tap over a few fiddling rips and loose pieces of plastic , and jamming pool noodles into the crack between the front and back double threshold .
When I opened the greenhouse to check on it yesterday , all the burnt umber , papayas and other tropicals were just fine , despite us having no supplementary heat other than the passive heat offer by the few 12 55 - gallon drums of water in the glasshouse .
Just that thermal mass was enough to keep the greenhouse warm enough to forbid frost . My java industrial plant are the main indicators of whether or not the greenhouse gets too cold . They suffer damage in the depleted thirties , yet all of them were immature and happy after that cold night .
Last night , it get even colder , with 24 point expected , so I also lit a single small propane tank car smoke localise in the front one-half of the nursery where the coffees are located .
When I checked on them this dayspring , they were all just fine , despite being on the story where the cold might have crept around them .
I bet they would have been fine even if I had n’t lit the heater , but I look at it to be cheap indemnity . We have something like seventy coffee tree plant to keep warm and they are quite worthful . Some of them are not big enough to bloom and fruit , and the idea of coffee produced in Lower Alabama is quite challenging to me . I would do it to see that fall out , so I ’m not taking too many chances . Knowing they already went through a 27 - degree night is encouraging , however .
The barrel really do make a large difference in keeping the greenhouse warm enough to avoid freezing on cold night . They also keep the flora in the glasshouse from overheat during the daytime , even if I forget to open it and the sun is blaze out overhead .
you’re able to read more about this method and many other simple ways to grow tropic plants outside the tropics in my bookPush the Zone .
Sometimes it ’s the simple thing that make a big difference . Not expensive heating systems , or climate - controlled vents or other technical solutions .
The barrels of water we place next our sensitive young Tree in the yard have the same effect , keeping them from immobilize on frosty nights . We put a barrel next to a tree , then cover it and the tree diagram with a sheet , and the frost plainly does n’t tinct them . Keep it simple !
