New Greenhouse

Looks great @JWK looks very much like mine but mine 8x10. The powdered coated finish makes a huge difference in appearances, especially if its noticeable from anywhere in the garden. My mum has a plain aluminium 8x12 in her garden and it draws the eye to much. I got mine Pcoated at a extra coat of £300-400 which seemed far to much but I am so glad I did.

 

JWK That is a beautiful greenhouse. Nice color too. Sort of blends in well...

 

Yes, louvers make a huge difference. I had to partially disassemble my greenhouses to add those and really feel that it was worth the effort. The increase in air circulation was significant. That, coupled with ceiling fans and automatic vent openers made shade cloth redundant. And that is truly a huge gain

I wish they had sold the smaller greenhouses I have with the powder coating. The green is so nice.

Does anyone over there (UK) need to heat their greenhouses or do they extend the growing season satisfactorily without doing so?

 

I have an electric fan heater to extend the season, I get my first toms, peppers and cucumbers planted in greenhouse in late April/early May. otherwise it would be late June before getting them out. I am usually picking my first toms late may (first tom last year 19th may) second sowings are planted in greenhouse late June so my season goes from May to November.
I rear all my plants in conservatory (never drops below 12 degrees C) until they are quite large as of writing my early toms have second truss on now.
Regds Sandy

 

Have three heated areas, a small seed tray sized propagator for starting the seeds or cuttings off, a heated cable bench at 10c for when the seedling and cuttings are potted on and the insulated greenhouse is kept a 4c to keep things like Fuchsias etc ticking over.

The only problem with extra heat is that things can grow so well that you soon run out of room , but its too cold to put outside. Toms being the classic example as they soon get way to high.

Also been experimenting with one of these little led bulbs and for its size its proven very beneficial for young cuttings etc.



Temperature monitor on a warmer day.

 

i have 3 automatic watering zones but I keep exotics and don't start veggie seeds. It's 16 ft by 26 ft and has 2 furnaces. One is for back up in case the main one shuts off, then the other one picks up when it gets below a certain temperature. Since we are in the north in the US we keep it on the warm side in winter. I also have a temperature monitor that calls me on my cell when it goes below or above a preset temperature. I just can't be more than 30 minutes away or most of my plants would die before I got home to start another source of heat.

 

Watts to lumens chart here John.
LED Lumens To Watts Conversion Chart - The Lightbulb Co.

 

@ricky101 your thermometer set up is quite nice- can you please share what brand it is? Many thanks,
Lori

 

Hi,

Just looked up that lamp, they state in the details -

28Watt Equivalent, Actual Power Consumption is about 8~10W,

but have just plugged it in to my power meter and its only shows 5W at 240v ac

I only used it to augment the darker winter days for the seedlings and cuttings; its about 6" above the plants which gives a usable 9" square coverage.

Though nothing to directly compare with, I'm sure it has given them a boost of healthy growth without getting drawn as they often do.

To say its cost so little its been very useful, the only downside is making it and the fittings safe for use in such a potentially wet area, but its only for me and the greenhouse is locked.

 

Hi Lori,

What you see is the remote monitor set up on my desk in the house so I can see whats going on in the greenhouse.

Its part of my own diy system built and programmed using an Arduino micro controller.
I put a few details of it in a post earlier, an interesting hobby generally for anyone who likes that kind of thing, helps keep the grey matter working

Just been helping a web friend make his reptile vivarium controller using the humble Arduino.

Greenhouse / Propagator heating control