I am a bit of a smart-device and automation obsessive. So while I am a newbie to bonsai, it pains me to see advanced practitioners on this forum lament avoidable winter damage on trees because, for example, a spouse left the garage door open.
So, I thought I would share my garage setup in the hopes of sparing even one or two people from needless branch dieback.
It starts with a smart garage door opener. I have a Chamberlain unit that can be controlled remotely using the MyQ app: https://www.chamberlain.com/durable-chain-drive-wi-fi-garage-door-opener-with-battery-backup/p/C870. You can set it up to alert you if the garage door is left open for longer than you want, and you can close it from your smartphone. For safety, it alerts anyone nearby before closing by flashing the garage lights and sounding an alarm—the neighbors will love it. This alone offers so much peace of mind, and in milder climates that might be all you need.
Here in polar vortex territory, it got down to 40 below zero in January. So I also have two electric space heaters coupled to Bayite thermostats: https://www.amazon.com/bayite-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat-Pre-wired/dp/B01KMA6EAM/. The thermostat is digital and precise to 0.1 degrees, unlike the terrible rotary dials that come on many space heaters with built in thermostats. The temperature probe is on a long wire and can be placed anywhere, so I can get temperature readings from right by my bonsai, but still position the space heaters far away so as not to blast them with hot dry air. And if you are worried about heat gain, you can also attach a fan or an AC unit to the thermostat to keep the temperature within a set lower and upper bound.
To track how I’m doing, I have a Temp Stick thermometer: https://tempstick.com/. This sends real-time temperature data to my phone, and can alert me if the temperature gets too low or too high. It also keeps a record of all the historical data, which you can output to Excel. This is useful for correlating your garage temperature with the weather, and to see how changes to your setup affect your performance.
For trees that do wake up early (as well as my tropicals indoors), I have LED grow lights attached to WeMo plugs (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JQ95L7J/ref=twister_B07GNZ5TVM) that automatically turn on and off. I didn't need to use them in the garage this year, but they kept my figs very happy inside. (I also provide bottom heat to the figs using heat mats: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F821DKQ/. This particular model only goes down to 50 degrees, but a similar configuration could be used in a garage to keep roots just above freezing.)
Finally, I have a backup generator. It came with the house and it has been a godsend. Highly recommend, 5 stars, would buy again.
This setup has worked very well, and gives me peace of mind. I may make some changes next winter, including unifying some or all of these components using a smarthub such as SmartThings. Using their platform I can create “routines” to automate all of the interventions I must now perform manually. For example, there is a garage door tilt sensor (https://discoverecolink.com/product/tiltzwave25-eco/) which can automatically trigger MyQ to close the garage door after a specified interval through the platform. There are also temperature and moisture sensors which can trigger outlets to turn on and power heaters, fans, vents, humidifiers, or any other device you want--though so far I have been very happy with the Bayite units and am in no rush to replace them.
I hope this helps inspire some tech-enabled solutions to any of you that are struggling with overwintering. If you have any other ideas please share them!
So, I thought I would share my garage setup in the hopes of sparing even one or two people from needless branch dieback.
It starts with a smart garage door opener. I have a Chamberlain unit that can be controlled remotely using the MyQ app: https://www.chamberlain.com/durable-chain-drive-wi-fi-garage-door-opener-with-battery-backup/p/C870. You can set it up to alert you if the garage door is left open for longer than you want, and you can close it from your smartphone. For safety, it alerts anyone nearby before closing by flashing the garage lights and sounding an alarm—the neighbors will love it. This alone offers so much peace of mind, and in milder climates that might be all you need.
Here in polar vortex territory, it got down to 40 below zero in January. So I also have two electric space heaters coupled to Bayite thermostats: https://www.amazon.com/bayite-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat-Pre-wired/dp/B01KMA6EAM/. The thermostat is digital and precise to 0.1 degrees, unlike the terrible rotary dials that come on many space heaters with built in thermostats. The temperature probe is on a long wire and can be placed anywhere, so I can get temperature readings from right by my bonsai, but still position the space heaters far away so as not to blast them with hot dry air. And if you are worried about heat gain, you can also attach a fan or an AC unit to the thermostat to keep the temperature within a set lower and upper bound.
To track how I’m doing, I have a Temp Stick thermometer: https://tempstick.com/. This sends real-time temperature data to my phone, and can alert me if the temperature gets too low or too high. It also keeps a record of all the historical data, which you can output to Excel. This is useful for correlating your garage temperature with the weather, and to see how changes to your setup affect your performance.
For trees that do wake up early (as well as my tropicals indoors), I have LED grow lights attached to WeMo plugs (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JQ95L7J/ref=twister_B07GNZ5TVM) that automatically turn on and off. I didn't need to use them in the garage this year, but they kept my figs very happy inside. (I also provide bottom heat to the figs using heat mats: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F821DKQ/. This particular model only goes down to 50 degrees, but a similar configuration could be used in a garage to keep roots just above freezing.)
Finally, I have a backup generator. It came with the house and it has been a godsend. Highly recommend, 5 stars, would buy again.
This setup has worked very well, and gives me peace of mind. I may make some changes next winter, including unifying some or all of these components using a smarthub such as SmartThings. Using their platform I can create “routines” to automate all of the interventions I must now perform manually. For example, there is a garage door tilt sensor (https://discoverecolink.com/product/tiltzwave25-eco/) which can automatically trigger MyQ to close the garage door after a specified interval through the platform. There are also temperature and moisture sensors which can trigger outlets to turn on and power heaters, fans, vents, humidifiers, or any other device you want--though so far I have been very happy with the Bayite units and am in no rush to replace them.
I hope this helps inspire some tech-enabled solutions to any of you that are struggling with overwintering. If you have any other ideas please share them!
