2013 Tomato Growing

Oh, they work!

Yeah, good point. It's been working for the last four years, with no problem. Of course, I only use it when I have to, and since it only cost a tenner, it's no great loss if it were to pack in sometime soon. I'd be interested in seeing what heater you have though

 

Indeed. Not much incentive to buy a greenhouse-specific one eh?

http://www.greenhousepeople.co.uk/accessories/heaters/electric-heaters/bio_green_phoenix_28kw/

Their blurb says:

• Reliable, accurate thermostat with a range of 0-26 C
• Switch between three power outputs (1kW, 1.8kW and 2.8kW).
• Comes complete with kit for floor mounting or hanging from roof.
• Switch to fan only for summer air circulation. (uses only 53w).
• Very quiet smooth running motor.
• Spray waterproof IPX4.
• 3 Year Guarantee.
• Tough stainless steel construction.
• High rate of air circulation (450m3/hour) for even heat distribution.
• Long power lead (3m) for easy intallation.
• Sufficient to heat up to 8x14 greenhouse, or up to 12x20 frost free.

 

I have one of those 2kw Parasene heaters costing about £30 - that Kristen mentions - and it does the job just fine. Keeps the greenhouse temp just above 10 degrees if it suddenly decides to go Arctic during the night.

Kevin

 

Someone on another forum posted that the temperature that theirs oscillated between (the low/on temperature and the high/off temperature) was about 10 degrees - so either from 10C to 20C, or 0C to 10C ... or 5C to 15C - so do please beware of that in case yours does the same.

Bit late for this season, but I would like to obtain some logging data to demonstrate this fact (next winter)

 

I had to do a fair bit of experimenting (and several visits to the greenhouse during the night) when I got it first to establish where precisely to set the thermostat dial. I then put my own mark on the dial and according to my Max/Min guage it seems to be doing a reasonable job during the night. However if I was using it for anything more than just keeping sudden low temperatures at bay, I would invest in a separate and more accurate thermostat.

 

Can recommend one of these:

--
Not Cheap, not the easiest thing to setup, but accurate & seems well made.

 

I got a Gardman 2kw greenhouse heater (backup in case my propane heater fails) for £11 http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/heating.38773/#post-492116

 

I've had an eye on that model ... what problems did you have?

I think they have a remote "sensor" so that you can position that where the plants are? (rather than the sensor being where the control unit is - which seems a Good Thing to me)

 

Its one of those "Press button A for alteast 5 seconds then set the temperature & then press button A for atleast 5 seconds to save the change without a pause otherwise I will forget what you are trying to do & start again" kinda things - its all logical but I need to keep the instructions handy for every time I need to change it.

Yes - sensor is on a long wire, its handy for putting it where the tender plants are to get the temperature there.

Good bit of kit once you set it up!

 

Ah ... gotcha. Beats me why Engineers come up with complex solutions like that, I'm sure the electronics could be given a more user friendly "face".

I installed a plugin device to turn a light on at dusk. Remote sensor that I placed on the windowsill behind the curtain. Perfect Or so I thought .... "After putting a battery in the sensor please press Button A and gold for 5 seconds for the control unit to detect the sensor". Fair enough. "If you get a powercut for more than 5 minutes the system will need resetting again" Agggghhh! Renders it useless. I can only go away on holiday if I know there won't be any powercuts ... :(

(Fixed that by installing X10 Home Automation instead which can operate things like "security lights" based on sunset/rise times (which it calculates based on Latitude - neat!) and has a "ranodmise by up to 30 minutes" option too. Sensible use of technology IMHO.

 

I have grown toms for years - with varied success - Moneymaker - always get some - not loads, Garden Pearl - get lots and lots, Marmande/Super Marmande get lots (sown a bit earlier than the others) and Roma or San Marzano - Not lots but more than Moneymaker. This year for the first time I have Mountain Pride F1 as my beef ones.

My question is about Determinate or Indeterminate. Now I know the Garden Pearls are Determinate and grow as a bush as do the Roma/San Marzano and the Marmande were semi-determinate - so easily for me I just let them grow.

This year I would like more off my Moneymakers and the Mountain Pride is Indeterminate (didnt realise this when buying - just liked the smooth look as opposed to the mis-shapen Marmandes) - so with these two types do I pull out every side shoot ? let it grow to about 4 trusses then pinch the tops and that's it ? (have tried this unsuccessfully in the past with the Moneymakers) - what would happen if I just let them "do their thing" as with the bush varieties ? Would I get more ?

S

 

Perfect answers JWK - many thanks - now I understand - I have never been strict with the side shoot thing before - which probably explains why the Moneymakers have always yielded so poorly - (and not wanting the same thing to happen to my Beef ones prompted the question).

I am growing in pots outdoors - although towards the end, if there are too many unripe or nearly ripe ones I have put them in the greenhouse previously - but gh is shaded for the best part of the day so not the best - but better than nothing I think.

S