Freezing, Shading and Heating Your Greenhouse

Creating the perfect growing environment in your greenhouse to succeed in growing your choice vegetables, flowers, and plants is easy when you understand more about how to control the heat, the cool air, the water, and the pests in the greenhouse. In this topic I would like to discuss a little about your shade needs, your heat, and how to in the greenhouse.

So, here we go.  Let’s get started on understanding the heating and cooling needs for your hobby greenhouse. Generally speaking, no matter where you live the interior of your greenhouse will get hot during the summer months. This is why it is known as the summer months, the sun is at its brightest and hottest during this time of the year no matter where you live.

So, of course, you are going to find that the panels of your greenhouse will absorb the sunlight and the heat of sun will increase the temperature in your greenhouse. When the temperature is rising in your greenhouse you will find a need to use a shade cloth to help lower the temperature in your greenhouse. Combining the use of a shade cloth with vents and fans will keep your greenhouse cooler so that you can continue growing and starting plants in your hobby greenhouse during the summer months. This is particularly important when you want to start your winter greenhouse garden in the months of July and August when the heat is coming on strong.

Shade cloths will partially block the sun, which will decrease the temperature in your greenhouse. Shade cloths can lower your temperature inside the hobby greenhouse by as much as twenty percent. Using a shade cloth in combination with vents and with fans you can keep the environment optimal for a great growing season.

What about heat in the hobby greenhouse? When you use a greenhouse that is out in the open, you can acquire as much as 25 or 30 percent of your heat from the sun during the winter months. You can supplement this heat with a small space heater. The size of the heater you may need will depend on the actual size of your greenhouse and the glazing that you choose for your hobby greenhouse.

Choosing a greenhouse with double insulation or triple insulation is best. You can use solar power to add to your greenhouse heating system, but you should not be relying on solar heat alone unless you live in a situation where solar power is readily available all year round. Meaning, on cloudy days it is more difficult to heat the greenhouse with out the use of the sun in the middle of the winter season.

There are hobby greenhouse owners that experiment with heat collection to reduce the heat costs in their greenhouse. One such method being experimented with is to paint containers black to attract heat, and fill them with water to retain it. But because the greenhouse air temperature must be kept at plant growing temperature, the greenhouse itself is not a good solar-heat collector.