Grow your own permalink
Think before you heat
This discussion has been closed.
-
Message 1.Â
Posted by punpun (U14553477) on Sunday, 28th November 2010
Hi all,
Ive a greenhouse and i make good use of it both spring /summer times But i do read that a lot of people are talking about keeping their greenhouse heated throughout the winter,
As ive said many times before ive been gardening for a long time and i must have made just about every mistake going at one time or another and so i feel it's only a nice thing to point a few things out ref the heating through the winter.
It's only November and the weather has been very cold in the uk, plus the cost of heating has gone up "once again" for a lot of area's.
If your using electric heaters you've a chance of power cuts as the winter gets colder and more use is made of the national grid "hence" as i say powercuts
You only need one power cut for 8 hours and your greenhouse suffers and the plants as a norm dont make it and so all the care and heating already used has cost the user a small fortune.
It's a good idea to think if what you have in the greenhouse is worth the cost of all this heating, even oil/gaz bottles or paraffin are not as cheap as they once cost.
Question,
Would it not be cheaper to buy the plants from the garden centre (and let them use their heat, compost ect) in the spring And then use your own greenhouse to sow seed's and bring-on the plants you've bought?
I think if you sat down and worked out what you feel it's going to cost you to heat your grenhouse from now until the end of april?
You'll see what im talking about ( you could buy a lot of plants for the cost of heating)
I now use my greenhouse for the over wintering of shrubs in containers, that need to be frost free, but dont need heat.
I do this by bubble wrap all the greenhouse inside walls and also around the containers,
Any plants i cant put in the house i put in my workshop and during the winter im in there daily servicing the machines / tools etc and making bird feeders, troughs for the spring and summer and so any heat i do use is in the work shop for both myself and the plants in there,
Ive insulated the workshop walls/ceiling and the temp of an evening has never gone below 40,
I do cover all the plants in the workshop each night with fleece and this has done the trick for the past 3 years.
Having a greehouse is a very good gardentool to have But these days the cost of heating it can be high and its something worth thinking about "Now" before we get further into the winter and further into your wallet. -
Message 2
Posted by luckydavid (U14704974) on Monday, 29th November 2010
That's good, to have some info on insulation in the greenhouse!
Just recently I put up bubblewrap around the GH, on the allotment I share with a friend, using the plastic supports sold for this purpose. My problem with this method is that I can't do the same on the GH door! That, to me, seems to negate the BW around the rest of the GH! Anyone have any suggestions, please? Would BluTack suffice do you think to hold the BW on the glass during such cold, (freezing), weather?
The door slides open therefore there is no space for the supports used to hold up the BW in the rest of the GH. -
Message 3
Posted by Holbert (U3994703) on Monday, 29th November 2010
BW curtain attached to the door frame above the door, with a piece of dowel stapled along the bottom to weight it down a bit and hold it in place?
You could just push it to one side when you want to go in. Wouldn't be totally draught proof but better than nowt! -
Message 4
Posted by bogus the fungi man (U14705597) on Monday, 29th November 2010
Really sound advice, Punpun. I used to try and grow an early crop of toms by heating the house but just ended up with tall plants and no toms till the days got longer. It's not just heat that's needed but light too. Toms are long day plants and, without supplementary lighting, heating is just a waste of money. In other words, save time and money by following your advice.
-
Message 5
Posted by zoomer44 (U14019069) on Monday, 29th November 2010
I agree punpun, this is my first year with a GH and no doubt will live and learn even with advise we sometimes think we know best and I'll do things this year which I'll probably never do again. Growing Christmas spuds in the GH is one thing which springs to mind
.
I didn't need to work out how much it would cost to heat the GH just buying a heater and bubble wrap was more than replacing the plants. In fact just buying the bubble wrap would only have been slightly less than replacing the plants. I tried putting a small plastic GH inside and wrapping this with recycled bubble wrap packaging but had insufficent so have wrapped up some pots and covered with fleece those plants which I'd like to try and save.
My brother has a plastic GH and swears by t-candles. He's found some which burn for 9hrs, I'm not convinced they keep off the chill at -4 which was the temp here last night , come spring we'll see if this works
We haven't even had the worst of the winter yet and tonight my GH had a layer of ice on the roof. I'd pushed off the snow yesterday but there's little you can do with ice. -
Message 6
Posted by luckydavid (U14704974) on Tuesday, 30th November 2010
Thanks, Holbert for that piece of info! I had thought of a curtain but it hadn't occurred to me that you would need to weigh it down, but now that seems like pure, common sense, so thanks for that!
-
Message 7
Posted by Papa Nopsis (U14479902) on Thursday, 2nd December 2010
Looking at the question of GH for my south facing front walls ( a lean to) I always think of the amazing crop yields that the Dutch tomato growers get from their hundreds of hectares of glass. Is it 8 crops a year from the one GH?
There must be somebody somewhere on the web who analyses these costs exactly for the garden accounts, and what his profits are in terms of yield or retail value, or similar.
It is easy to be impressed by consumerism even in gardening and seed plant, growing, and they have impressed me with their scientific skills.
I would like to grow plenty of tomatoes throughout the year in a hot house.
I expect everybody else would too! -
Message 8
Posted by bogus the fungi man (U14705597) on Thursday, 2nd December 2010
Hello gardda. We touched on the topic of Dutch tomato growers when I was at Pershore College back in the '80s. It's actually a single crop they grow with the tomato vines being layered as they grow, replacing them a section at a time. They reach considerable lengths. At that time they were the only AYR (All Year Round) producers. Mainly because fuel costs were low in those days and the Dutch had the privilege of government subsidies. We do produce AYR crops in the UK but with the high fuel prices, no subsidies and lower light levels growers have had to rely on power from waste (from power station cooling towers and biomass) Also, as I found out myself, without supplementary lighting long day plants such as toms won't fruit. For the home grower it just isn't worth the expense unless there's waste heat to hand. Here's one grower that's using biomass:
It is actually better for the environment to import toms from Spain during the winter months when UK Growers would have to heat their houses.
If you're interested in a rough idea of how much money can be saved from GYO and foraging I have put a spread sheet on my web site for this year so far from April:
Hope this helps, Pip. -
Message 9
Posted by yellowcat (U218155) on Friday, 3rd December 2010
A friend accidentally ended up with a very good greenhouse.
He had an old half brick greenhouse but the timber structure on top was rotten, he was intending to build a new top but then saw an ex-display aluminium greenhouse at a garden centre, this was a few inches bigger all round than the brick structure so was able to be assembled around it.
The inner brick wall gets heated by the sun and acts as a storage heater keeping the greenhouse warmer at night and extending its usefulness.
No other heating is used. -
Message 10
Posted by As_Iff (U13951957) on Friday, 3rd December 2010
The tips given on this thread are so helpful, all of them.
It`s this kind of sharing of information that draws me to gardeners, makes them seem a bit special.
Gardeners hand out information "on a plate" that has probably taken years to learn - the hard way!
I can think of other professionals who would charge a fortune before they`d impart their hard-won knowledge.
Thanks to every one. -
Message 11
Posted by bogus the fungi man (U14705597) on Friday, 3rd December 2010
What a brilliant accidental discovery! Kind of solar economy 7.
-
Message 12
Posted by yellowcat (U218155) on Sunday, 5th December 2010
It was very effective, I think it was possible to start seedlings about four weeks earlier than in a standard unheated greenhouse.
Were I still living in the UK I would build a greenhouse to the same design. -
Message 13
Posted by bogus the fungi man (U14705597) on Sunday, 5th December 2010
My house is south facing and I have plenty of bricks. Perhaps I could loose four inches from the inside of the house by stacking some bricks and then removing them a little later in the season when the weather warms up? Food for thought. Thank you.
-
Message 14
Posted by Papa Nopsis (U14479902) on Sunday, 5th December 2010
I now realize that I have all the foundation for a lean to greenhouse!
Now for the framework., but the tieing to the house walls takes some thinking about too. Is it wise?
About this Board
Welcome to the new Gardening Board. If this is your first time, then make sure you check out the
or  to take part in a discussion.
The message board is currently closed for posting.
Weekdays 09:00-00:00
Weekends 10:00-00:00
This messageboard is .
Find out more about this board's
Search this Board
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú iD
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú navigation
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú links
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú © 2014 The Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.