Well its been a while since I have updated this blog, with recurrent training at work and then vacation it just has been too hard to do the updates, but here it is!
The hydroponics now rule the greenhouse, which is great as there is no way to have a watering system for soil based plants when its below freezing outside.
Today is was 8 F outside, there was snow on the greenhouse roof and it was 55 - 60 F inside (with the help of a fan heater set at 55 F )
These pepper plants came from the soil based garden and hae thrived since been washed and transfered to hydroponics. The tomatoes are grown from seed and are getting there
This is the little greenhouse that could as it sat today in the cold and snow, it was 5 F
Strawberries, who would have thought, these plants too came from the soil garden and started getting fruit on them within 1 week of being soilless
the ebb and flow system in operation, and just 1 month old
the lower level, still waiting for more plants to grow from seed ... which is the slowest stage of the growth
As a way to cheaply keeps the plants roots from freezing and keep the soil warm, I came across an article on using a ropelight to warm the soil.
The rope light uses just 5 watts of power, is totally waterproof and is flexible. We leave it on 24/7, the soil temp in punnets for seedlings stays at 70 F, and we fed it thru some planter boxes to help keep he soil warm, so far it seems to work.
My idea is to insulate the inside walls of the green house and cover the whole green house with a clear solar pool blanket, the one like bubble wrap.
So stage one was the internal walls.
Initially I thought I would just do 2 ft up the sides, and the wall that wont get the direct sun through it in the winter…. the northern wall. But after seeing how thin the plastic is on this greenhouse and the heat loss it already had I decided to try and cover all side walls and leave the roof open.
Using simple construction 2 inch polystyrene insulation panels I lined the inside of the walls.
So far it seems to be working well. The outside temp can be 40F (5C) and the inside temp is around 60 F (15C). There is a heater in there but at the moment it hardly comes on, it is set at 60F. The inner side is pure white, so it seems to work in reflecting the light around quite well , and the plants dont seem to suffer at all.
Have read on forums about people having luck with keeping the heat in with thermal blankets. Now I know there are real greenhouse thermal blankets that allow water to flow thru and heat to stay in…but I was too cheap for that and found on a forum a woman who keeps here greenhouse heat in with thermal blankets from a camping store.
So for a whopping $4.50 investment here we have the mountain thermal retention system by me. It comprises of 2 space blanket along the roof, one pulled closed from each end, suspended on wire runners and attached simply with duct tape for reinforcement and cable ties. Pull it closed as the sun sets and low and behold the heat does stay in, without the heater on, it was 34 F outside at 5.30am and inside was 50 F on the first night. Last night is was 47 F outside and 58 F inside. So it does actually work and is a cheap way to keep the heat in on a cold night.
The little greenhouse this fine morning
Our little Palam 6x8 conquering the Rocky mountains
The space blanket installation across the roof, this is in retract position
The mounting system - high tech... duct tape, cable ties and wire.
Installed and ready to use pulled across keeping the heat in
the other side...a little droopy but it works
In case you want to run out and make your own here are the ingredients:
Ok after the brief interlude of snow for a day and freezing temperatures its over .
This morning we awoke to find clear skies, but still a temperature or a mere 28 F ! brrrrrrr.
Sun after the storm
The greenhouse is the only thing not frozen
let there be sun, please melt the snow quickly
This mornings temp of 56F outside 28 F
The heater working hard
The greenhouse was heated to stop everything freezing, just a simple 1500w ceramic fan heater set at 55 F, it turned off and on a lot, so the greenhouse is holding some heat with its little thermal mass. We did try buckets of water in the green house to try and store some heat and absorb some heat, but frankly I am coming to think this idea is just a waste of space. Maybe the wall of water idea would work better . At least this method we used with water in buckets did supply some evaporation and moisture to the greenhouse in this dry climate.
Here is this mornings temperature being held mainly by the heater:
The heater working away..costing is money…(thankfully electricity is just 9.8 cents per kwh up here!)
Well woke up to the as predicted snow this morning (its May 13!) Luckily we already had rigged up a heater in there, its a ceramic heater with a fan and built in thermostat. Its been good keeping the temperature at 60 degrees for the last couple of nights as the temps dropped to around 30 degrees. With no insulation the heater is turning on and off getting the temp up and then turning off for up to 20 minutes before it starts hits reheat.
Today though we also awoke to a power outage. But luckily the greenhouse was still warm with 50 degree on the thermometers inside it.
Even though its May 11 we are still seeing early morning, pre dawn temperatures around freezing at 30 - 34 F, so started to think that even though full blown summer is just around the corner we better start experimenting with sealing this greenhouse for the winter if we want to keep it useful. So by searching the web I have come up with the best solution so far:
Solar Pool blanket, clear of course for insulation
+ Bubble wrap or insulation sheets of polystyrene for the sidewalls
and heat for the night from a ceramic heater , electric as the cost of propane and kerosene is stupid these days.
