Build your own frost guard – all you need is a clay pot and Advent candles
Created: 11/30/2022, 10:00 am
By: Anne Hund
Outdoor potted plants may be caught off guard by early night frosts.
But a clay pot and a few Advent wreath candles make for a surprisingly efficient heater.
Many potted plants in the garden and on the balcony are sensitive to cold and have to go into winter storage until spring.
The winter temperatures are often "ideally five to twelve degrees Celsius", as experts from the
Bavarian Garden Academy
inform in their blog.
Either bright basement rooms and cool living rooms are suitable.
For plants that are less sensitive to cold, you can also use garages and basement shafts, as well as small greenhouses with frost guards.
Build your own frost guard and place it on the terrace
It can get chilly again, especially at night.
© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa
With electric frost monitors in the greenhouse, most devices work in such a way that they switch on automatically at a frost limit of five degrees and heat the air up to the desired temperature.
If, on the other hand, the tubs are outside on the terrace or on the balcony in a windless niche, you can also use self-made, small frost guards, which you can place around them with a sufficient safety distance to the tubs so that they give them pleasant warmth.
Build Frost Guard yourself: You need a clay pot and Advent candles for this
For a self-made, small frost guard you need a large, clean clay pot without glaze with a hole in the bottom, a clay bowl to put it on (in any case a fireproof base) and a thick candle like the one from the Advent wreath.
How to proceed with the construction:
First place the clay bowl underneath (or use the stone floor on the terrace as a base) and place the Advent candle on it, which cannot tip over.
Then put the inverted clay pot with the hole over the lit candle and make sure that the candle gets enough air from below.
For example, you can use small stones to build a small elevation on which the inverted clay pot rests in places.
Also make sure that there is enough distance to the pot above the candle and that no soot forms.
You can also cover the hole at the top with a small piece of pottery so that it does not get too hot directly above the frost guard.
Because the purpose is that the heat is stored inside the pot and continuously released to the outside.
Check carefully that the pot heats up but does not get too hot.
You should also make sure that nothing flammable is nearby.
For pots with a diameter of more than 40 centimeters, you can also use two Advent candles.
It is also important here that the candles are not too high.
DIY frost guard for the balcony or terrace
DIY frost guards can serve their purpose well as a small "heater" on the terrace or balcony, but you should always keep an eye on them.
Electric versions are certainly more suitable for larger greenhouses.
A conservatory is also perfect for homeowners with enough space and offers plenty of sunlight for the plants.
