Here is the Greenhouse Growing forum.

How are you guys keeping your shade/greenhouses warm??

two heaters and one light that is mainly to let me know that the power is own out there.

sandy

Jim, how warm are you trying to keep your greenhouse?

dave- sorry about the delay-been real busy here lately...
Bernard Gephart(Gephart Greenhouse) out of Indiana told me that coleus do not like it any less than about 60 degrees, and at 55 the leaves will start to drop off. I have found this to be dead-on. This does not mean that they will die, but it will take just that much longer in the spring to get going on schedule. My shade house is just that--its for shade, and is not insulated very well. At present I have to layers of tarps over it, and a few blankets. I can keep the temp at 60-75 with the aid of a jet-heater. On really cold nights (24-32 degrees), the heater comes on about 4 times an hour for about 90 seconds. It heats the 10x20 area pretty quick, but it loses it pretty fast also. The price of kero is 4.59 a gallon!! A dollar and a half more than 93 octane gas----go figure---so, if its a cold night, and the temp during the day doesn't go above about 55, the heater runs a lot--5 gallons in a 24 hr. period--thats about 23 bucks in fuel a day. So if you got a week of cold temps, well lets just say it gets costly. I've probably spent about 250 dollars since the first week in Jan. on fuel.!!
That brings us to the discussion we had the other day about me building a real greenhouse so this doesn't happen again.
I'm also growing some queen palms and ferns. They only have to be kept above 32-no big deal. But the coleus is a different story. Had I known this last Nov. when I took the plunge for coleus--I would have just took cuttings like everyone else, and stored them in the house. Too late to turn back now. Hopefully not too much more cold...............

Jim, for my 12 x24 greenhouse, I can keep it 60 degrees with a oil filled radiator heater and a oscillating stand fan. The cost for me to run it on high for 24 hours would be $3.96
@ 11 cent per kwh. Instead of a tarp, I like to use a clear solar pool cover as an extra blanket when it gets real cold here. The kind with the bubbles works good for me.
Its heavy duty and uv resistant. I found mine on ebay, it was cheapest and had free delivery.

that figures--I had a pool cover/heater/solar thing a year or so back. It didn't work that well, and we were afraid one of the cats or grand-kids would get caught under it, so I ended up throwing it away!

Almost completed building our first greenhouse! Me and worm are very excited about it. We live in Tampa, Florida. Any suggestions for our new endeavor?

Prizzles,
First of all, welcome to our new group.

How big is it and what is the construction? What do you plan to use it for?

pictures??!!

I had no problem keeping mine above freezing but I did not need to keep in up to 60's so there was no problem with the small electric heaters.

One thing that might also help keep it warmer is large containers of water. The water collects heat during the day and releases it slowly at night. I heard that some orchid growers use large black containers. The black would heat up faster.

Sandy

I might acquire a existing 22x100 ft. greenhouse, with existing support tables, and temperature controlled fans; but no other equipment. If I were to use hydroponics to grow a variety of herbs, fruits, and vegetables; what would an estimated cost of starting, monthly utilities, and maintenance be? What kind of man-hours are required?