Another important item to take care of so your plants will stay healthy is Heating (climate control) and Ventilation.
One way to know for sure what the temperature in your greenhouse is, put a thermometer in the middle of your greenhouse and take readings during the summer and winter. Keep a journal of the outside conditions in relation to the inside temperatures. That should give you a better idea of when you need to either turn on a heater or open your vents.
There are different types of heating for your greenhouse.
Solar which is glazing on the glass or plastic (the most preferred). The sun heats up heat storing material like concrete, rocks, bricks or water. These are the most common types of heat storing material. Which ever one you use it needs to be placed in the direct sunlight to absorb the most amount of heat possible. It will depend on where you live as to how much heat storing material you will need. In the southern or mid latitude locations you will not need as much as in the northern states. About 2 gallons of water or 80 pounds of rock for each square foot of glazing in your greenhouse. In the northern or colder regions you will need to have 5 gallons or more of water for each square foot of glazing. If you are using brick or cinder block you will need approximately three square feet of four inch thick brick or cinder block for each square foot of glazing in your greenhouse.
If you are using water then a dark painted 55 gallon drum filled with water will work fine. But if you live in an area where it is cloudier then using one gallon milk jugs are a better choice. They heat quicker and you can put them all along the southern side of the greenhouse and then move them to where you want them.
Then you have electric heaters which is a very easy to heat your greenhouse especially if you have an automatic shut off when it reaches a certain temperature. The temperature you want in your greenhouse is ideally seventy to seventy eight degrees. Of course it does depend what you want to grow as to what temperature you want it at.
Phase-change materials are a very efficient way of heating your greenhouse. They actually are five to fourteen times more effective at storing heat. Some of the phase-change material are: paraffin, Glauber's salt, calcium chloride hexahydrate and fatty acids. When they change from a solid to a liquid you know they are storing heat and as they slowly change from liquid to solid again they are releasing the heat back into your greenhouse. Some of these are in sealed tubes and it can take several tubes to heat your greenhouse but they do heat more efficiently because of the amount of heat they absorb.
These are a few ways to heat your greenhouse. There is more information on the Internet if you are interested.
Ventilation is very important to your greenhouse. Too hot can destroy your plants and too cold will inhibit their growth or even destroy them. So choosing your ventilation type is very important.
There should be vents in the roof and a window on the end of your greenhouse. You can either manually open and close your vents or you can have an automatic system where you don't have to worry at all about what temperature your greenhouse is because you already know. There are systems out there that have electric motors that will turn on to open and close vents when a thermometer reaches a certain temperature. There are beeswax ones that as the temperature rises the beeswax expands and when the temperature cools off the beeswax retracts which will activate a hydraulic arm to open and close your vent. There are many different and very good hydraulic systems to choose from. You can find more on the Internet and then decide which one suits your needs.
I am for anything that is automatic like the automatic heating, automatic ventilation systems and the automatic watering systems. I don't really have a lot of time so when I don't have to worry about any of these things I have more time for planting and gardening in my greenhouse. Choosing http://greenhouse-soil-and-irrigation.blogspot.com/ are up next on the list of things we need to think about.
One way to know for sure what the temperature in your greenhouse is, put a thermometer in the middle of your greenhouse and take readings during the summer and winter. Keep a journal of the outside conditions in relation to the inside temperatures. That should give you a better idea of when you need to either turn on a heater or open your vents.
There are different types of heating for your greenhouse.
Solar which is glazing on the glass or plastic (the most preferred). The sun heats up heat storing material like concrete, rocks, bricks or water. These are the most common types of heat storing material. Which ever one you use it needs to be placed in the direct sunlight to absorb the most amount of heat possible. It will depend on where you live as to how much heat storing material you will need. In the southern or mid latitude locations you will not need as much as in the northern states. About 2 gallons of water or 80 pounds of rock for each square foot of glazing in your greenhouse. In the northern or colder regions you will need to have 5 gallons or more of water for each square foot of glazing. If you are using brick or cinder block you will need approximately three square feet of four inch thick brick or cinder block for each square foot of glazing in your greenhouse.
If you are using water then a dark painted 55 gallon drum filled with water will work fine. But if you live in an area where it is cloudier then using one gallon milk jugs are a better choice. They heat quicker and you can put them all along the southern side of the greenhouse and then move them to where you want them.
Then you have electric heaters which is a very easy to heat your greenhouse especially if you have an automatic shut off when it reaches a certain temperature. The temperature you want in your greenhouse is ideally seventy to seventy eight degrees. Of course it does depend what you want to grow as to what temperature you want it at.
Phase-change materials are a very efficient way of heating your greenhouse. They actually are five to fourteen times more effective at storing heat. Some of the phase-change material are: paraffin, Glauber's salt, calcium chloride hexahydrate and fatty acids. When they change from a solid to a liquid you know they are storing heat and as they slowly change from liquid to solid again they are releasing the heat back into your greenhouse. Some of these are in sealed tubes and it can take several tubes to heat your greenhouse but they do heat more efficiently because of the amount of heat they absorb.
These are a few ways to heat your greenhouse. There is more information on the Internet if you are interested.
Ventilation is very important to your greenhouse. Too hot can destroy your plants and too cold will inhibit their growth or even destroy them. So choosing your ventilation type is very important.
There should be vents in the roof and a window on the end of your greenhouse. You can either manually open and close your vents or you can have an automatic system where you don't have to worry at all about what temperature your greenhouse is because you already know. There are systems out there that have electric motors that will turn on to open and close vents when a thermometer reaches a certain temperature. There are beeswax ones that as the temperature rises the beeswax expands and when the temperature cools off the beeswax retracts which will activate a hydraulic arm to open and close your vent. There are many different and very good hydraulic systems to choose from. You can find more on the Internet and then decide which one suits your needs.
I am for anything that is automatic like the automatic heating, automatic ventilation systems and the automatic watering systems. I don't really have a lot of time so when I don't have to worry about any of these things I have more time for planting and gardening in my greenhouse. Choosing http://greenhouse-soil-and-irrigation.blogspot.com/ are up next on the list of things we need to think about.
