I received my Juniper for Christmas. It's been pretty warm the past two weeks so I've kept it outside without a cold frame. But this week it'll go under 32 F so I wanted to set up the cold frame. I live in central PA in a hardiness zone of 6b.

I live in a student apartment complex so I'm not able to bury my Juniper. I know I have to keep it outside anyway, so I tried researching how to make a proper cold frame. There is a LOT of conflicting information.

Many people won't even give advice on how to make a cold frame, they just say "Bury it." and that's it. Others say "insulate it with mulch or soil" but don't provide pictures or additional information.

So I was hoping someone could help me out..

I used materials I already had on hand, other than the mulch.

I used the Styrofoam that the Juniper arrived in because I read that Styrofoam provides a bit more insulation than mulch does.



My main questions are:

1. Is my cold frame going to keep my Juniper's roots insulated?
2. Do I need to scrap it and try again?
3. What would you change if this was your cold frame?
4. Should I remove the styrofoam and only use the mulch? (I was hoping to keep the pot separate from the mulch which is why I put packing foam on top of the pot between the top layer of mulch. I also thought this would make it easy to lift the foam to water the bonsai.)
5. How often should I water it during winter while it's in the cold frame? (I know I wouldn't have to water it if I buried it in the ground... and I don't think I have to water it as often in the cold frame during winter... but I assume at least once a week?)
6. This is a weird one, but does wet mulch cause fungal problems for trees if kept in a box like this? Because the mulch is quite damp.

Juniper procumbens is hardy to zone 4. I am in zone 7 and do not insulate the roots on my procumbens bonsai. That beeing said, I do not think your setup provides and negative impact on the tree.