Real food? - Mini vent.

@DenimDeb, I've thought about painting the buckets flat black for more heat retention and am hoping that if i line them up side by side they will retain the heat better. going to have to experiment some and see what works best.
 
Guy that used to be on here did that sort of thing and it actually worked rather well. But, it's been several years since he's been on, and I don't know if I could find the old thread.
 
I had a little grow house in Wyoming. It was only 4x8 and 4 feet tall and had a 8" deep raised bed inside. The sides were panels that come off for access. The initial idea was to use it with plastic on the panels for spring and fall to extend the 60 day growing season, and then just have wire panels to keep the critters out during the summer. I never took off the plastic panels and had great luck growing stuff.
I saved up a bunch of plastic bottles and painted them flat black. Filled them with water and put the lid back on. Then I place them on the south side of the raised bed, still inside the growhouse, and buried them in pea-gravel covering the bottom 2 inches. It was amazing how much heat that little growhouse gathered during the winter. I hauled warm water out every week to water it and keep the spinach alive. I would get a nice steam facial opening the panel when it was cold out.

All that to say, you will be amazed at how much heat those buckets will gather. The only problem you may have is if the buckets are too small, they may run out of heat before the night is over.

The botanical garden in Cheyenne uses passive solar to heat their greenhouses. Passive solar being barrels of water along the front and back walls of the greenhouse.
 
I wonder how efficient that method would be if it's overcast 90% of the time? Thinking Ireland again. We did not see an awful lot of sun while we were there. I'm also looking into ways to keep the greenhouse warm, especially over night.

My DH just had an interesting idea, what about stones, paving slabs, stuff like that, painted black? It will release the heat slower than water. What do you all think? Anyone tried it?
 
If you don't get the sunlight you need, you can substitute light bulbs to extend the day. ;) Just make sure if you use florescent to use a cool light bulb and a warm light bulb to get the most complete spectrum of light.
Also important would be to keep the soil warm. A rocket heater with a vent that goes through the soil beds would do the trick.
If I had the funds, I would love to have a geodesic greenhouse.

http://geodesic-greenhouse-kits.com/home_greenhouse_kits/greenhouse_design/

They have some really neat features that can be used in other greenhouses.
 
well black paint and water buckets here i come. i have a portable propane heater i can use if i need to. the experiment will be on going. thanks for the info wyoDreamer and welcome to SS
 
Paving stones and such will work well as a heat sink.
Another idea for temperature control would be to sink the greenhouse into the ground. Doing that will help provide a more stable temperature - avoiding/minimizing the temp swings from day to night.
EarthShelteredGreenhouse.jpg

Are you the one thinking of a rocket stove? If you build the rocket stove and put venting through the benches that the planting beds are on, it will heat the soil from below and release heat into the greenhouse.
 
Rocket heater, rocket stove? I'm going to have to look those up :hide The light itself is not a big worry for me, but the heat... if there's little sun to warm the greenhouse, I'm going to have to make another plan. Preferably something that is either cheap to run, or free. My budget is going to be small.

What sort of materials is the best in your opinions for walls? (Glass, plastic, etc.) I've seen some basic plastic sheeting greenhouses for sale at garden centres in Ireland and was wondering how well they'd work.
 
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