stevelau1911

I've tried them when the soil temperature was in the 45-50F range, and withing the same area of those heating cables, lets say 2-5 inches away, the soil only heats up by around 2 degrees.

I think mine is a 24watt heating cable so it is fairly weak, but even if you have a 400watt heating cable, it won't really make a huge difference, and it will cost you a lot of electricity in the process. Something more economical such as mounding compost, or a tarp cover may be a better investment.

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I'm in zone 6 upstate NY, specialize in growing temperate cold hardy bamboos(mainly phyllostachys) and starting to get into bananas.

my picture website is http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/