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Using Heating Cables for Tropical Fruit Trees?
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Posted by razarizvi 9a (My Page) on Fri, Feb 5, 10 at 13:14
| Hi,
I live in Houston, TX (zone 9a) and would like to get a mango tree (Mallika variety) for my backyard - 10ft+ high in a 25 gallon container. Houston gets annual freezes 1 - 5 times a year with temp dropping in the twenties.
Many growers suggest wrapping the tropical tree in Christmas lights or using a list bulb. I figured why not use a soil heating cable and wrap that around the tree? Is there a reason why this may not be a good idea and why people don't seem to use it?
Example of a soil heating cable (scroll down on link below):
http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/heaters3.shtml
Please advice. Really wanting to have a mango tree.
Thanks,
Raza |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Using Heating Cables for Tropical Fruit Trees?
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| hello, i grow 11 mango trees in the ground here and about a dozen citrus trees in 25 gallon containers. a 25 gallon container can really be brought inside. my temps dropped to 30 degrees this year and all my mango trees made it unscathed. this was the overnight air temperature and im in a small dooryard setting, so it wasnt a "hard freeze". wind protection is the most important. anyway i learned first hand mangos are more hardy then reading would suggest mallika is an excellent variety, i grow it myself. it can get 10 feet in container but can be pruned to 6 foot. anyway if you wander over into the tropical fruit forum you will meet several northerners growing container mangos. to answer your question, i dont even think investing in heat cables would even be necessary in your climate, they would only have to be protected for the coldest period. |
RE: Using Heating Cables for Tropical Fruit Trees?
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| I use heating cables buried under the soil of propagation tables. I think they'd get too warm to wrap around the plant but you could wrap them around the container. I agree with mango kush though. Why bother when you can just move the container when it's necessary. I'm in 7a and keep dwarf mangos in the greenhouse over the winter. |
RE: Using Heating Cables for Tropical Fruit Trees?
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| Hi Raza, I live in zone 9 in central FL and we had temps in the mid to upper 20's and a few 30's for appx. 8-10 nights in a row. I have several mango and lychee trees planted in the ground...Some of my trees had severe damages(some I'm not sure if its still alive) a couple of my mango trees only had minor damages. I protected them all pretty much the same...had lights or catalytic heaters underneath them and covered them with frost cloth and sheets, yet some were "severely damaged" any way. I'm thinking location had a major factor(micro climate) in my yard. I do have one Container mango. I have it in a 24" pot that I brought inside the garage, I used a "dolly" it weighs a ton, but all I did was bring it inside the garage and didn't have to cover it or anything and was completely fine for the 8-10 days I had it in there. I would open up the garage when the sun came out and it was above 40's and brought it back in at night. I would do what Mango kush suggest and just bring them inside for the 1-5 days a year that you need it. Check out the tropical fruit forum like he said, lots of people grow their mango trees inside. Good luck! Here's mine when it had fruits last summer.
I repotted and trimmed it in August...Its in a 24" pot now. |
RE: Using Heating Cables for Tropical Fruit Trees?
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| Houston winters can be long and cold unlike Florida where the cold weather lasts just a few days (most of the time!) and then nighst warm up into the 50's. You should have heating cables under ground AND be ready to wrap the tree in Xmas lights every November. During freezes you should cover the whole plant with freeze cloth. Heating cables will burn the bark and kill the tree. |
RE: Using Heating Cables for Tropical Fruit Trees?
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| Thank you all for the feedback. I'll probably end up keeping the mango tree potted. |
RE: Using Heating Cables for Tropical Fruit Trees?
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- Posted by jun_ 8a-9b (My Page) on
Sun, Oct 17, 10 at 17:59
| i'm also in houston, cagary is right, the winters here can last for weeks....but mangoes can survive. this past year when we had the bad freeze, my nam doc mai was damaged but survived. the year before that it didn't even have a blemished leaf. It was in the ground, about 12 ft tall, but in a protected location, next to my air conditioner unit. |
RE: Using Heating Cables for Tropical Fruit Trees?
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- Posted by rednofl 9b Goldenrod Fl hz (My Page) on
Sun, Oct 17, 10 at 21:46
I have been wanting to grow a mango in the ground and I have had the same thoughts only using a pipe heating cable as they already have a thermostat set at 38f so they would only operate when needed. They would only protect the trunk and bigger branches without some sort of cover. As far as getting to hot just find the lowest wattage per foot. and if that is too much use a cheap light dimmer as it is a resistive load same as a light bulb The ground heating cables you used as an example were almost 5 watts per foot here is a cable 2 watts per foot.
http://www.wrap-on.com/products/phc.html .
At 2w per foot a 30 ft cable would produce the same amount of heat as a 60 w light bulb |
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