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THANK you for your patience and all the good information!
I have two of these 7.5w heater pads meant for aquariums so waterproof and will not be damaged if it runs "dry", ie not submerged in water. They only get warm to the touch, I can definitely take a temperature reading with a diode and tell you exactly how warm it gets. What I was thinking was to place either one or both of these pads, depending on how warm they get, directly under the pot, in between it and the mulch. Would that be a good idea or bad? With the temperature being below 40 and the amount of dirt in between, I don't think it will get TOO warm, but just keep it warm enough to not freeze. What do you think? Reading some of the Amazon reviews it seems they are strong enough to warm 2.5 gallons of water 8 degrees over room temperature, however my experience has been different. In a 70-degree room it barely managed to raise the temp to around 74 in a half gallon fish bowl. Again, I will do some tests, any suggestions on the "how" are more than welcome. I was thinking about simply filling a half-gallon bowl, set it in the garage, plug the thing in and see what the temperature difference is.

The tranzition to colder temperature may be an issue. The absolute coldest spot in my house is 69 degrees. I'll move it there and leave it for 3-4 days maybe, but then what? Should I wait for a warmer day, which I doubt will come or just take it in the garage a few hours at a time?

I am EXTREMELY busy this week but Thursday I should be able to get the insulation going. I already bought the mulch and I have a larger pot set aside. I will return with pictures of the two possible spots I was thinking about but after all that's been said here, it seems more and more that the unheated garage would be the way to go. The tree will even get direct sunlight for a good 3 hours or more.

26-Nov-2007	#13
fishbone A newbie in need Join Date: Nov-2007 Location: Lincoln, NE Country: USA USDA Zone: 5 AHS Heat Zone: 7 Posts: 49	THANK you for your patience and all the good information! I have two of these 7.5w heater pads meant for aquariums so waterproof and will not be damaged if it runs "dry", ie not submerged in water. They only get warm to the touch, I can definitely take a temperature reading with a diode and tell you exactly how warm it gets. What I was thinking was to place either one or both of these pads, depending on how warm they get, directly under the pot, in between it and the mulch. Would that be a good idea or bad? With the temperature being below 40 and the amount of dirt in between, I don't think it will get TOO warm, but just keep it warm enough to not freeze. What do you think? Reading some of the Amazon reviews it seems they are strong enough to warm 2.5 gallons of water 8 degrees over room temperature, however my experience has been different. In a 70-degree room it barely managed to raise the temp to around 74 in a half gallon fish bowl. Again, I will do some tests, any suggestions on the "how" are more than welcome. I was thinking about simply filling a half-gallon bowl, set it in the garage, plug the thing in and see what the temperature difference is. The tranzition to colder temperature may be an issue. The absolute coldest spot in my house is 69 degrees. I'll move it there and leave it for 3-4 days maybe, but then what? Should I wait for a warmer day, which I doubt will come or just take it in the garage a few hours at a time? I am EXTREMELY busy this week but Thursday I should be able to get the insulation going. I already bought the mulch and I have a larger pot set aside. I will return with pictures of the two possible spots I was thinking about but after all that's been said here, it seems more and more that the unheated garage would be the way to go. The tree will even get direct sunlight for a good 3 hours or more.