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Re: Tomato heating cable

Hi Stan... Why not place a mesh under your plant's roots and pass an
alternating current through the plant to an electode at the tip. In this
way the plant's resistance to electricity would express itself as heat
evenly distributed through the roots and stem. Simply increase or
decrease
the current until the desired temperature is reached.

Regards  Ian Gill   Westland  New Zealand. 


Isn't that the recipe for fried green tomatoes?  

OTOH, Here is what I think I am going to try.

Christmas tree lights!  Yes, you heard me right, Christmas tree lights.  
The ones that use the screw in bulbs create quite a lot of heat.  They
are cheap and supposedly weather resistant to some degree.  
1.  I am going to seal the bulbs to the sockets using a glue gun.  Also
smear some hot glue over any other part that looks like it may let
moisture in.
2.  I will cover each bulb with aluminum foil, to try to keep it from
cracking when it comes in contact with moisture.
3.  I will bury about 6 bulbs on the string in a circle, about 2 inches
deep,  then extend the line about 30 Inches and do the same thing again
until I run out of line.
4.  I will take six 2 liter plastic pop bottles filled with water and
place them in a circle above the buried lights, and using clear packaging
tape, tape them together.
5  I will then take a fifth 2 liter bottle, cut the top off, turn it
upside down and place it down the center of the other 6 water filled
bottles.  This bottle will be the green house.

     I am hoping that the heat from the Christmas tree lights will warm
the ground and warm the water in the 2 liter bottles.  Convection
currents in the water should work to my advantage.  The tomato plants
roots would also have plenty of room to avoid being hurt by touching the
bulbs.
     What do you think?  Where am I going wrong?  What have I missed?  I
figure at worst I will just blow some fuses until I get the moisture
problem solved.
     I think that I will try a different number of bulbs in each place to
see which will get me the right amount of heat.
     I figure that I had better ask for advice before I start and
probably save myself some headaches.
     Any body else wacko enough to try this along with me so we may
compare results?

     This whole thing should be very cheap to play with even if it fails
miserably.
(Hey, it's the off season and I am going into garden withdrawal.)

Stan.     The cheap and lazy gardener.

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