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Post by willc453 on Jan 9, 2023 14:45:50 GMT -6
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Post by kansasterri on Feb 3, 2023 11:09:14 GMT -6
It is VERY possible, if you can throw enough money at it!!!!!!!!!
I have a home made greenhouse, and I can usually extend the season for 2-3 months with it, but not this year. We started the winter with that arctic blast that was 6 below, and the very cold weather lasted for 4 days.
I do not own a heater that would even take the edge off of that kind of cold. And, covering the growing beds with 3 layers of transparent plastic is not enough either.
I am currently getting the greenhouse ready for spring planting. It is still far too cold, but there are weeds to be removed and I scored a live stock water tank that I am filling with soil whenever it is warm enough. As long as the sun is shining it will be 20-30 degrees warmer inside the greenhouse, at least until the sun goes down.
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Post by papaof2 on Feb 3, 2023 13:13:28 GMT -6
I have no idea what you may have tried, but do you have things that can be used for thermal mass in the greenhouse? Concrete blocks or bricks painted black and used as tables or flooring or sidewalls, or barrels of antifreeze-treated water (maybe even used cooking oil?) painted black to absorb heat when in the sun and release it slowly overnight? Any place you can put something to capture and retain heat should help.
My experience with "heat banks" is using a ceiling fan to warm ceramic tile floors when using a kerosene heater as backup heat (had power and plenty of natural gas but the furnace's controller board died) and letting the gas logs (no power needed) warm the ton of brick and masonry of the 1970's fireplace. It all helped a little...
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Post by kansasterri on Feb 3, 2023 16:32:10 GMT -6
I have found thermal mass to be hard, as the thermal mass touches the ground and the ground freezes. Water did not work for me.
That being said, I am in the process of filling a raised bed inside my greenhouse. IT is a heavy rubber? tub that is intended to water livestock and it is black. I figure that will collect heat from the black sides while being insulated from the ground. I can plant it in early spring and when it is cold I can throw a few clear tarps over it to try to keep the heat in.
I have not had any luck with thermal mass in the past, excepting when I use the floor of the greenhouse and that only works in the Fall. The greenhouse prevents the ground from getting as cold as fast
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Post by kansasterri on Feb 3, 2023 17:02:20 GMT -6
I got called away but I am back.
My greenhouse has a single cover, so there is no dead air space between layers to act as insulation. On a cold and sunny day the greenhouse will be 20 degrees warmer than it is outside, but as soon as the sun goes down the inside of the greenhouse will be as cold as it is outside. I have tried running a space heater overnight but that has never worked well for me. The commercial growers have big heaters and a huge electric bill
NOW! the ground inside the greenhouse is frozen right now but the rubber tub will insulate the soil in the raised bed from that. On a sunny day if it is 40 outside it will be 60 inside, and so the soil in the raised bed begins to warm. And when the sun goes down I can throw TWO or more clear tops over the top, which will leave a dead air space so that some insulation is provided to insulate the raised bed and trap the warmer air.
When I lived in Iowa I did something similar but on a smaller scale, and I got 4-ish more weeks of gardening in the spring and again in the Fall. That is 2 extra months tacked on to my growing season
Mind, I was raising frost hardy greens and not tomatos! Tomatos will be damaged at 55 degrees or less, while beets and cabbage are happy at 30 degrees!
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