FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

A cold front rolled through my area on Christmas eve. Yesterday, it was unusually warm (about 64 F / 17 C) and rainy. Behind the front, it was cold, with snow flurries on the back end of the rain. Today, the temperature stuggled to reach 37 F (3 C), and tonight it's dropping down to 20 F (-7 C). That is way below normal for here. Now that my back patio is "carpeted" in plants
it's a nuisance to pick up everything and move it into the garage. A few weeks ago, I decided to find a way to leave them in place, and I hit on the idea of making a cold frame (like a greenhouse, but designed to keep the temperature a little bit less cold instead of really warm). I went to Home Depot and bought some 3/4-inch (19 mm) PVC pipes, connectors, and plastic sheeting. I went hunting online and bought a Palma Bio Green heater and thermostat.

This afternoon, I volunteered my younger son to help me assemble everything. It wasn't difficult to do, but the wind made it feel like 26 F (-3 C) while we were working.
I set the thermostat at 40 F (5 C). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this works as expected. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the temperature has already dropped to freezing, and it's supposed to stay that way until around 11 AM tomorrow. In 6 days, I'll be back at 64 F (17 C) again.... I plan to put up the cold frame only on those few days that really need it, then disassemble it and stash it in the garage.

The temperatures aren't that different here. I'm taking the cold frame down on Sunday. As long as the temperature is 28 F or higher, my plants will survive without any issues.

Nice solution to save some work!