Farmer Uses Passive Solar Greenhouse to Farm in Winter

[Wds83]

They did a news story on a local 4 season farmer here in NEPA last night. Some might find it interesting. Here is the video.


https://susquehannacounty.wnep.com/news/ ... power-save

[webmaster]

Thanks! That's a news article about a farmer who is using passive solar greenhouses to grow vegetables year round.

[quote]One farm in Susquehanna County is now growing vegetables year-round using solar greenhouses...

“During the winter, we’ll grow broccoli, and cauliflower, and cabbage, carrots and beets and radishes, and lots of greens,â€

[Bobberman]

That sounds familar! Maybe they have some other tricks that need mentioning. I would like to hear more like what are there coldest nights and the lowest inside temp? Do they have fans that blow air against the storage containers during the heat of the day? Are they double insulated?. How does the lower temp effec the growing time of the crops?How large are the greenhouses? What is the water storage per square feet inclosed?

[DoubleDogFarm]

The first question that always comes to mind, when did they start the vegetables. I'm thinking in most cases they are extended the harvest, not really growing new vegetables.

Eric

[4seasonsfarmmarket]

DoubleDogFarm-we are starting new vegetables all of the time. As the vegetables in the bed are harvested or as in case of lettuce as it runs out and we pull it up and start new. Any new plantings from November to January do grow very slowly. They take 2 to 3 times as long as during the peak growing season. We planted spinach and radishes today. They radishes will hopefully be harvested in about 45 days and spinach 50 days. During the shortest days and cloudiest days, radishes take about 50 days and spinach 60.

Bobberman-Lowest temps inside depend alot upon how much sun there has been in recent days. Last winter we had one morning with 4F outside, and it was 39F inside with no heat. However usually with alot of clouds this time of year, the temperature inside would only be 15-20 degrees warmer than outside. We do have backup heat. It kicks on in two of the buildings at 36F and one building at 45F. No fans blow against the water storage containers at any time. The greenhouses are not double insulated. They have 3" of spray foam insulation on the wall and 4" spray foam insulation on the ceilings. Combination of shorts day and lower temperature greatly reduces the speed of growth in the vegetables. We have three greenhouses. Greenhouse #1 is 20' x 56', Green
house #2 is 21' x 64' and Greenhouse #3 is 21' x 28' and is our seed starting greenhouse. We also a 26' x 96' high tunnel. We have small hoophouses under construction. Water storage ranges from 3.4 to 3.8 per square foot.

Any further questions, don't be afraid to ask. We started planting January 3rd of last year. We harvested our first tomatoes in Greenhouse #1 on May 9th. We harvested the first greens at the end of February.

[Wds83]

4seasonsfarmmarket I see you got my email welcome.
Love your website!

[Bobberman]

I assume that the day temp on sunny days goes up to above 80 degrees. I am wondering why you have no fans blowing the inside air at 70 or above against the water storage tanks! Alo what is the mid winter temp inside you water storage drums! I think my idea of pmping air bubbles into the drums with a aquarium type air pump can also add a few degrees to the water at 10 % of what heat backup would cost! very nice set up. Thanks for the info!

[4seasonsfarmmarket]

The temperature today since the sun came out late morning is 80 degrees. We use metal storage containers that are sealed and stacked. We do not open them to take water temps. This would be kind of hard to do the way that they are stacked. We really don't need to have an airflow on the barrels. The heat radiates off of them enough that it isn't necessary to do that.

[4seasonsfarmmarket]

Yes we got your email. Any way that we can spread the word is good with us. We are learning as we go and love doing it, so don't be afraid to ask questions. Thanks for contacting us.

[Bobberman]

The barrel temp probably is abut 50 or lower. The air blowing against the barrels when the nside day temp reaches 60 or above is to add heat to the barrels not take it away! They make a stick type thermonmeter that you can stick to a barrel and see the temp all; the time.
+++
I would take a guess and say that on three consective sunny days with the temp above 60 deggrees the air temp would add a few degrees to the water temp in the barreil but the warm air blowing on the barrels would probably raise the barrel temp double of that without the air movement! I have several small fans blowing against the 250 gallons of water storage barrels only when the inside temp reaches 55 or above! Just a suggestion. keep up the good work!

[Wds83]

The temperature today since the sun came out late morning is 80 degrees. .

That's impressive because the last 5 days here the temps have been in the teens at night. Today was the warmest got up to 32 today.