I am currently heating my greenhouse with a natural gas heater. This will be my first attempt at growing vegetables in the winter. As of right now, I am currently growing peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, kale, chard ect. We just had our first snow fall about a week ago here in Wisconsin. Temperatures stayed above 50!! I made a video on what I did to heat my greenhouse.
Has anyone else ever successfully grew vegetable all winter long in there greenhouse? If so, what did you heat with and did you have any problems?
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staffeldt89
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Siting for this greenhouse (like its state, province, and USDA zone) will be everything in regard to the cost of heating it.
usually folks list this in their profile or signature lines.
if you want a passively heated GH I'd go in search of one of Elliot Coleman's books. And even here where you are will define what you need for a building.
usually folks list this in their profile or signature lines.
if you want a passively heated GH I'd go in search of one of Elliot Coleman's books. And even here where you are will define what you need for a building.
Good show, staffeldt89!
I have a 180sqft greenhouse with a natural gas "garage heater." That heater hangs and is vented outdoors. It has 30,000 btu's and I believe that was what you said about your heater.
I had plans for thru-winter use but have never turned the heater on earlier than March. Before I had it installed, I talked to a couple of engineers at the local power company. They talked about solar-gain and things like that. Last thing they said was that it would increase my bill by about $20/winter month. This was nearly 20 years ago and I went right ahead and had it installed.
Go for the high-value crops! I know that they are pricing organic spinach by the ounce in some stores!!!
Steve
edited to add: I meant to say something about the "CO2 generators" that ran in the commercial greenhouses where I used to work. they were essentially natural gas furnaces, unvented. exhaust was simply blown down a long plastic tube so that it was moved through each greenhouse.
I have a 180sqft greenhouse with a natural gas "garage heater." That heater hangs and is vented outdoors. It has 30,000 btu's and I believe that was what you said about your heater.
I had plans for thru-winter use but have never turned the heater on earlier than March. Before I had it installed, I talked to a couple of engineers at the local power company. They talked about solar-gain and things like that. Last thing they said was that it would increase my bill by about $20/winter month. This was nearly 20 years ago and I went right ahead and had it installed.
Go for the high-value crops! I know that they are pricing organic spinach by the ounce in some stores!!!
Steve
edited to add: I meant to say something about the "CO2 generators" that ran in the commercial greenhouses where I used to work. they were essentially natural gas furnaces, unvented. exhaust was simply blown down a long plastic tube so that it was moved through each greenhouse.
Last edited by digitS' on Wed Nov 27, 2013 11:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
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rainbowgardener
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Lettuce, kale, chard, tomatoes and peppers is a very mixed bag of cool and warm weather stuff. The lettuce, kale, chard, likes it a lot cooler than the tomatoes and peppers. It will be lots less expensive to heat the greenhouse enough to grow all the cold weather stuff, which could also include broccoli, cabbage, spinach, carrots, beets, etc., than to try to grow summer crops through the winter. Even if you can keep your greenhouse warm enough for the tomatoes and peppers, it is very limited hours of daylight this time of year in Wisconsin. For the tomatoes and peppers to do well and blossom/ set fruit, you will likely need supplemental lighting as well, I.e. more power drain. Tomatoes will not set fruit if night time temps are below 55 deg F.
If it were me, I would focus on growing cold weather crops, which also handle the limited daylight a lot better. In the late winter, you can use your green house to get an early start on summer crops.
In the meantime, you can cut your heating costs by supplementing with passive heat - put in one or two 50 gallon drums of water painted black to absorb heat in the day and give it back at night, put down slate or stone on any floor/ path, with insulation between it and the cold ground, insulate any knee walls, use blanket shades at night to keep heat in.
(Sorry, the computer I am using right now, I can't see your video, so I don't know what you have done. I will try later when I am home. It always helps to include one or two regular photos, for people that don't / cant do video.)
If it were me, I would focus on growing cold weather crops, which also handle the limited daylight a lot better. In the late winter, you can use your green house to get an early start on summer crops.
In the meantime, you can cut your heating costs by supplementing with passive heat - put in one or two 50 gallon drums of water painted black to absorb heat in the day and give it back at night, put down slate or stone on any floor/ path, with insulation between it and the cold ground, insulate any knee walls, use blanket shades at night to keep heat in.
(Sorry, the computer I am using right now, I can't see your video, so I don't know what you have done. I will try later when I am home. It always helps to include one or two regular photos, for people that don't / cant do video.)
Last edited by rainbowgardener on Wed Nov 27, 2013 2:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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applestar
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OT -- on my iPad using native safari browser, I can't see these (flash based?) videos either, but there's a browser app called "photon" that can turn on flash by streaming it via their server (or something like that). I copy the thread/post link and paste into the photon browser after turning on the flash streaming and voilà ! 
At work, there might be other reasons like blocked access.
At work, there might be other reasons like blocked access.
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rainbowgardener
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So, I did watch your video. You said it was 47 deg inside the greenhouse; nowhere that I caught did you say what the outside temp was. Would be interesting to know.
Otherwise, I stand by everything I said. The 55 degrees for setting fruit is about the same for peppers as well as tomatoes. That means your peppers aren't likely to keep setting any new fruit if the temp inside the greenhouse goes below that. May or may not be able to ripen up the fruit it has, which depends partly on light, not just temp.
(Applestar was right, I was at work with blocked access to video
. I see clients, but in a community mental health center we have a pretty high no-show rate, so often I have time on my hands. )
Otherwise, I stand by everything I said. The 55 degrees for setting fruit is about the same for peppers as well as tomatoes. That means your peppers aren't likely to keep setting any new fruit if the temp inside the greenhouse goes below that. May or may not be able to ripen up the fruit it has, which depends partly on light, not just temp.
(Applestar was right, I was at work with blocked access to video
. I see clients, but in a community mental health center we have a pretty high no-show rate, so often I have time on my hands. )
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rainbowgardener
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rainbowgardener
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- Location: TN/GA 7b
John can best attest to the care of those fine looking plants but the responders here are linking together some ideas.
RainbowGardener, you have mentioned low-light conditions and that was one reason I did not run my greenhouse thru the winter. I actually purchased the lights - a couple I have used for other purposes. My greenhouse with the benches in there is really for growing plants in containers and my intent was to grow flowering plants in the winter. I had what I thought was a market for those plants at retail prices. That vanished before I could sow my first seed. I can gripe about that some other time .
Flowering is often directly connected to light duration and intensity not just the age of the plant or any other environmental factor like heat. Without light, and at a location further north than any point in Maine, I was probably just going to see some vegetative growth thru the winter.
Tom mentions Eliot Coleman's books. I have read one but recall that he was really talking about "harvesting" crops during winter, not really "growing" them. The plant growth was mostly taking place in the fall and the harvest continued right thru the winter.
Well, Great! It isn't winter yet but the first frosts here were in September. I removed one long bench from my greenhouse and transplanted late-sown bok choy out of the outdoor garden into the soil in the greenhouse. It worked wonderfully! I began harvesting those transplanted plants a week ago and, already, the remaining plants are filling in the extra room and are ready to be harvested. No heat.
A factor I'm sure is that outdoor temperatures haven't been below 15°f yet. Lucky. Coleman talks about covering the plants in the greenhouse: I've got pvc hoops and have covered the plants with another layer of plastic film on the coldest nights. It's worked! I've extended the season for greens by over a month.
Along with the transplants, I sowed some seeds in that greenhouse bed. The seedlings are growing. I didn't really think that they would get as far along as they have already. We will see if I can get a harvest from them over the next month. I can't really imagine that they will grow, covered or not, during January. In my location, I couldn't expect much growth from plants even if they were at 70°! Unless, I finally bring out those lights I bought 15 years ago .
Steve
attest to the care of those fine looking plants but the responders here are linking together some ideas.RainbowGardener, you have mentioned low-light conditions and that was one reason I did not run my greenhouse thru the winter. I actually purchased the lights - a couple I have used for other purposes. My greenhouse with the benches in there is really for growing plants in containers and my intent was to grow flowering plants in the winter. I had what I thought was a market for those plants at retail prices. That vanished before I could sow my first seed. I can gripe about that some other time
.Flowering is often directly connected to light duration and intensity not just the age of the plant or any other environmental factor like heat. Without light, and at a location further north than any point in Maine, I was probably just going to see some vegetative growth thru the winter.
Tom mentions Eliot Coleman's books. I have read one but recall that he was really talking about "harvesting" crops during winter, not really "growing" them. The plant growth was mostly taking place in the fall and the harvest continued right thru the winter.
Well, Great! It isn't winter yet but the first frosts here were in September. I removed one long bench from my greenhouse and transplanted late-sown bok choy out of the outdoor garden into the soil in the greenhouse. It worked wonderfully! I began harvesting those transplanted plants a week ago and, already, the remaining plants are filling in the extra room and are ready to be harvested. No heat.
A factor I'm sure is that outdoor temperatures haven't been below 15°f yet. Lucky. Coleman talks about covering the plants in the greenhouse: I've got pvc hoops and have covered the plants with another layer of plastic film on the coldest nights. It's worked! I've extended the season for greens by over a month.
Along with the transplants, I sowed some seeds in that greenhouse bed. The seedlings are growing. I didn't really think that they would get as far along as they have already. We will see if I can get a harvest from them over the next month. I can't really imagine that they will grow, covered or not, during January. In my location, I couldn't expect much growth from plants even if they were at 70°! Unless, I finally bring out those lights I bought 15 years ago
.Steve
