Greenhouse Heating Tips for Cold Winter Months

Heating your greenhouse during the coming cold winter months can be a challenge. Regulating temperatures, checking water supplies for freezing, ensuring proper ventilation without losing too much heat- it all adds up to extra care and time for the greenhouse gardeners. Fortunately, the love of gardening and the promise of gardening during winter months is enough motivation to endure the added work.

Winter Greenhouse Heating Tips
• Keep a log of all maintenance on the heating system, including dates of the first use for the season and all repairs
• Place greenhouse fans so they help circulate heat from the greenhouse ceiling to the floor during winter months.
• Install an alarm system to alert you of smoke, fire, and carbon monoxide build up in the greenhouse. Greenhouse heaters can give off toxic fumes or catch fire if they malfunction
• Most plants will continue to thrive at a minimal temperature of 44 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Clean all greenhouse glass (if you have glass covering) to allow for maximum sunlight penetration during winter months
• Always keep a back up heating plan in place incase of heater failure. This can be extremely useful should your heater go bad on a weekend or over the holidays when calling a repairman will be costly or impossible.
•Purchase a weather station with an ice alert to notify you if the temperature falls below freezing. It also is a convenient way to monitor the temperature of your greenhouse from the comfort of your home.
• Seal off any unused portions of the greenhouse during winter months to reduce heating costs.
• Using a thermostat to control your greenhouse heating will save you time and money by maintaining a constant minimal temperature in the greenhouse and avoid accidental freezing periods.
• Setting your greenhouse heater’s thermostat to the lowest temperature possible to avoid freezing will help you cut heating costs. You may have to bundle up to work in the greenhouse with this method, but you can always bring a long a space heater if you become too uncomfortable.
• Placing all your plants on greenhouse shelves will help you keep plants warm and away from the frozen earth.
• It may seem logical to seal your greenhouse tight in the winter, but without ventilation, your plants will suffer and condensation will be a huge problem in the greenhouse.
• Heat rises, so unless your ventilation system adequately moves air from the roof to the floor, you may experience cold spots and warmer areas. Spot checking temperatures can help you determine if you have a problem before your plants suffer.

Heating your greenhouse during winter months requires more effort than opening a few vents to allow summer heat to escape, but the beauty that winter gardening yields makes that effort worthwhile.

Be Sociable, Share!

•