Right now, we are attempting to grow plants in an external greenhouse with no auxiliary heating. During the last single digit freeze and cloudy days, that proved extremely difficult.
Here is a short video discussing the basics of solar collectors which can be used to heat water in heat storage barrels within the greenhouse.
Hope you enjoy this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=96WqrcK2OmM
you can also use hot manure to heat your greenhouse. . . if you have livestock poo readily available.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ehow.com/way_5628084_economical-ways-heat-greenhouse.html
There is an author, who lives in Maine, and uses unheated greenhouses through the winter for the cool crops. You might want to check into his info. Now granted, I don't believe that he is using the greenhouses for things in the winter like the tender crops; tomatoes, for example. But his info may be useful. The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses by Eliot Coleman (Apr 15, 2009) That is one book. If you look up on amazon, under books and type in unheated greenhouse, it will come up with other authors as well. Good luck. It is something I've been thinking about, too. I just don't have the greenhouse yet. :^)
ReplyDeleteA man I know of living up high in the mountains of California gets over 15 feet of snow and extreme cold each winter. He heats his greenhouse with rabbits. yes, I said rabbits. Their high metabolism and higher body temperature does an excellent job of heating the greenhouse, which has double paned windows and insulation.
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