We go back and forth about this every year Scot, so I won't dispute your own experiences. However, I've been told to mulch by substantial number of very experienced growers, some of whom have even harsher conditions than your own. I would take your opinion on mulching with more weight if I'd seen an account of how you mulched when you lost your plants; as it stands the only details I've seen are your how-to threads, and no explanations of how you did things before then. I strongly believe, based on your own testimonials, that you may have overlooked something in your previous mulching attempts; there is no conceptual reason why it shouldn't work.
Even in the coldest climes of the continental US (excluding high mountains I suppose,) the earth does not freeze below a shallow upper layer of the topsoil. If you go down about four feet, it never strays far from 60F. You should easily be able to keep your plants above freezing if you dig a foot-deep depression and cover it with mulch, a tarp, and a second layer of mulch (or snow for that matter) to hold it in place. Cleverly engineered homes in Alaska manage to store and reuse ambient heat so that virtually no additional heating is required; keeping some lumps of dirt above freezing shouldn't be that difficult.
I understand you lived in an apartment and had to use a porch, and that makes things different. But you can still use the thermal load of your home to prevent freezing if you're clever about it; a well-sealed tarp/cold frame against a wall (or even better, a low-insulation surface like a sliding glass door) will serve to keep average temperatures above ambient if the exposed surfaces are mulched or otherwise insulated. Bubble wrap works wonders in this application. In any case, simply putting a lump of bark on top of a lone pot on a drafty second-story deck is not really what growers are referring to when they talk about mulching.
The fridge method is a viable technique - I don't dispute it. But there are other ways. Can we agree to that? All I'm saying is that there are other options, and for some growers, they are easier and more reliable. Your mileage may vary.
This is nothing against you personally, or your instructions. When I was starting out I read your fridge method threads, and they're very useful; I refer people specifically to your info when they want details on it. But the fact that you report failures with mulching doesn't lead me to believe that you have any definitive knowledge on that technique. If you want to learn how to do something, you go learn from those that can and have done it - not somebody who tells you it doesn't work.
~Joe
I never said it doesnt work 100% of the time..
there are many confirmed cases here in "the north" where people have mulched bogs in the ground..it can work, I never said it cant..
but..
for newbies, its highly risky..
and its FAR safer to find a place that is above freezing..
the earth does not freeze below a shallow upper layer of the topsoil.
wrong..
it actually freezes down to 4 feet around here..probably not that deep every winter, but for things like fence posts and such, building codes say you have to go down to 4 feet to avoid frost heave..4 feet isnt exactly shallow!
(im sure the "code depth" is *maximum* frost depth..most winters it might be only 2 or 3 feet..not four..but still, its defiantly much deepr than a "shallow layer of topsoil"..)
http://www.charlesandhudson.com/archives/frost-line-depth-map.jpg
http://www.decks.com/images/Articles/US-frost-depth-map.jpg
If you go down about four feet, it never strays far from 60F.
also wrong..it can be easily below freezing at 4 feet under ground..see links above..
in the upper Mid-west and Canada, the frost depth can be 100 inches!
thats EIGHT feet!
One foot of mulch isnt enough to prevent freezing..
neither is two feet..or three feet..
maybe four feet will work..
(but even it does freeze, the mulch should be heavy enough to prevent freeze-thaw..
so even if it freezes, it might *stay* frozen..which could be helpful..but again, frozen solid for 3 or 4 months is simply beyond the endurance level of these plants)
as I have said before, the cold itself isnt the killer..its the duration of the cold.
there is a big difference between 25 degrees for 2 nights in South Carolina, then warming back into the 40's..
versus below freezing for 3 months straight..
mulching can work in zones 6, 5 and lower..its just highly risky..
I would put the risk of death at about 50/50..
while a "fridge method" location is about 99% odds of survival..
most winters I have 100%..
On my webpage, I wasnt referring to the deck where I used to live..
I had some sarracenia and VFT's growing in a pond down my parents house (near Elmira NY)
I put the pots (four pots of sarracenia and two of VFTs) ina tub of peat, buried the tub in a garden..top of the tub was at ground level, about two feet of leaves and pine needles on top..dug them up in late March..frozen solid..put them back in the pond..they never came back..So thats my one experience..maybe they would have lived with a deeper mulch layer?
maybe..all I know is winters around here are far too brutal for what these plants are used to..
if you want to try it, I cant say they will definitely die..but the odds are high..
I think people who dont live in in these climates have a hard time understanding just how cold it is!
and for how long...I have gotten into similar discussions with the guys over on the CPUK forum..CP growers in England just have no concept of how cold winters can be..One guy in England was attempting to ridicule my "extreme" suggestions, saying I go way too far, then he said something about "protecting from rain in the winter"..."RAIN??" (I said)
We dont see rain for 4 months..plenty of moisture falls from the sky however, but its all in the form of frozen water..if you regularly see rain in the winter, you dont know what winter is!
Scot