Well, I’m smart enough to recognize good ideas, anyway. Our soil temps are pretty low here; groundwater is 38F (makes for a bracing shower!). But that’s still way warmer than the ambient winter air. I think my friends are boring 9” diameter holes around 10 feet deep. I’ve got a hydraulic auger to mount on my backhoe that will get me almost that deep. Should be an interesting experiment.
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38 degrees F meets citrus needs. Much of it can survive at that temp fine.
Yeah, but that’s just the ground temp. The air might be that far below zero!
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I would lay some pipe down 8 feet or more then circulate air through the pipe. If you have the south side exposed it will heat things up. I would add barrels of water and paint the containers black to absorb heat. Then as a backup add a wood stove. Once you stoke the wood stove you are piping the heat into the ground and water to use later.
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I’m only interested in passive systems, and as for citrus, I’m ruined–I grew up in Florida, and had my own orange tree when I was six. We lived right across the street from an abandoned grove, and would also poach fruit on the way to and from school. My main goal up here is to moderate the winter temps enough to get peaches, apricots, grapes, sweet cherries, European plums, and other stuff that’s not quite hardy enough to make it out in the open.
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