I’m in 8b so I don’t have to worry about long, harsh winters, but we do have about a week or so of freezing temps. I’ll have a space heater out there also but just wondering if the xmas lights would put out enough heat to be helpful. Also any other tricks and ideas of ways to keep it warm would be great!
by beachblondeprincess
8 Comments
Not by a long shot. Even during a milder night the Christmas lights wouldn’t have any impact on heating the greenhouse. Unless you have many strands of lights hooked up, like dozens. Greenhouses lose heat like crazy after dark. Even the more efficient types, such as double layered polycarbonate clear panels and double layered and inflated plastic houses, will still lose tons of heat after dark. They will just lose it a bit slower. I’m not sure what type of material that is that you are using but it doesn’t look like it will hold much heat in after dark. You will have to have a heat source that is capable of replacing the heat at least as fast as it is lost to the environment. There is a calculation that you can use where you enter the type of covering the greenhouse has, then the size of the house in length and width. After entering that you can enter in the minimum expected temperature for your area and the temp you need to maintain inside the greenhouse and it will spit out the size heater you would need in btu per hour. Let me know if you would like for me to calculate that value for you. If so I need to know the length and width of the greenhouse and what temp you expect would be the lowest your area would see in a typical year.
The only way I could see heating a greenhouse with incandescent type lighting would be to use multiple heat lamps or multiple halogen lights, but if you go that route then you would be better off to install a resistive heater. It’s doing the same thing (using electrical resistance) as the incandescent and halogen lights, just without all of the light.
I own a small commercial greenhouse operation. Just wanted to let you know that I do have a substantial background in the greenhouse industry. I hope this helps you out somewhat.
You would have a more productive time heating this greenhouse by grilling packs of hotdogs and chucking them in there randomly occasionally than any type of Christmas tree lights
He might have a substantial background in the greenhouse industry but I have that same greenhouse. Last year (9b) was our coldest winter I’ve seen in a long time. Before the cold snap I put all my plants inside and sealed the greenhouse. After 3 days, when the snap was over, I opened it up and most of the plants were ok. Some leaves that were next to the plastic got burned but that was it.
During the day the sun heats the greenhouse and provides ambient heat that permeates through the pots into the roots and actually lasts through most of the night. The temps in the greenhouse only need to stay above 32 degrees to be effective and even then it’s only the roots you need to keep warm. Most plants will come back after a frost or freeze as long as their roots don’t freeze.
This year, if temps get that low again, I’ll put a space heater in it, seal my greenhouse and wait till the cold snap is over.
Christmas lights do not produce substantial heat.
Ok so I have a space heater that’s 9,000 BTUs and the greenhouse is approx. 200 sq ft so if I just seal it as well as I can and run that I should be good?
A greenhouse like this won’t hold much heat when it’s cold outside, and if it does it’ll be air temp during the night.
If you don’t mind the electricity bill to keep them on all the time when it is cold, imo the most bang for your buck (though they’re not cheap) would be a heating mat. It’ll keep the plant’s roots and body warm. If you do loose anything to the cold it’ll be the parts that are further away from them mat.
https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/products/redi-heat-hd-mats?
ETA: if you want to get extra crafty you can get some “heat batteries”, ie black barrels you fill with water. They heat in the sun (and possibly with the help of the mats) during the day and slowly (hopefully) emit heat at night.
No
Heating that thing would be a horrible waste of energy regardless of how you do it. If you could cover it with a blanket at night it would be much better.