If you want to save energy and understand the steps on how to heat a greenhouse without electricity. Then use compost, thermal mass objects, solar panels, and chickens, just to name a few.
Growers owning greenhouse mostly use devices that maintain the heat inside. Requiring electricity to do so, but you read it right. There are many ways on how to heat a greenhouse without electricity.
Did you know that you can also use water barrels or dark stone to heat a greenhouse? These objects are energy-saving alternatives that you’d want to use. Before we should understand how to generate heat, let’s first know why heat is needed by your greenhouse. Keep on reading to learn more.
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Why Heat Is Important
Greenhouses made of plastic or glass cannot retain heat for too long. With this, most growers would set-up heaters inside to replace the heat lost by the greenhouse. Having to do so will cost you a lot, not only in buying the device but also with your electricity bill.
“Why do I need to heat my greenhouse?” you may ask. Perhaps, by reading the next paragraph, your question will be answered.
Plants need light from the sun to grow healthy, so it’s heat. However, not every day, the sun shines brightly. The weather changes drastically, causing the heat intensity of the sun to vary, especially in winter.
That is why the greenhouse is very helpful in growing plants. Especially in colder regions, as you can control all the variables inside affecting your plants.
Plants need 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit to grow effectively. A greenhouse should maintain consistent moisture and temperature to avoid disturbing the plants’ natural processes, promoting healthy growth and abundant yield.
How To Maintain Heat In Your Greenhouse
Before heading on what you can use to heat your greenhouse , you’d want to learn about the factors required to maintain it. Here are the following:
Humidity
The humidity maintains heat that usually changes day and night. Think about it as a battery, the mass of the extra moisture stores heat during the day and releases it at night.
Therefore, you can say that more humidity would equal fewer temperature fluctuations, reducing the plants’ risk of death due to frequent temperature change.
However, keep in mind that too much of something can be harmful, especially for your plants. Too much humidity inside a greenhouse will make your plants susceptible to diseases.
To avoid this, you’ll need to ventilate your greenhouse. It doesn’t have to be 24/7. Only ventilate the greenhouse when the humidity level is about 80% to 90%; this will reduce the moisture present in your greenhouse.
Let the air move around to control the level of humidity and heat as well.
Insulation
Through insulating , you won’t need to use electricity to heat your greenhouse. Insulating your greenhouse will keep the heat it already has.
Here is a list of things you can use to insulate your greenhouse:
- bubble wrap – make sure to use greenhouse specific bubble wrap for it to be more effective and will last up to 3 years
- greenhouse plastic
- glass
If you don’t want to use plastic or artificial products, then straws would be the best choice.
Straw bales are organic and provide insulation fitted for your greenhouse.
Heating Your Greenhouse Without Electricity
Are you excited on the ways on how to heat a greenhouse without electricity? You should, so let’s jump straight right to the topic.
Compost
It consists of decomposed organic materials such as eggshells, leaves, tree barks, and even manure. The decomposition process produces an amount of heat that continues to do so until it fully is broken down into the soil.
Using compost will not only generate heat but will also fertilize your soil. A compost pile has a temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit; who could imagine it would be this hot?
A cost-effective way of heating a greenhouse can be done by any, but you should have a source of organic waste, as it may require you a large compost pile.
Using thermal mass objects
Who could have thought that a stone or water would come handy? Together with clay and bricks , these objects can absorb heat when air is warm and release it when air is cold.
You can now heat for free by placing brick walls in your greenhouse or make raised beds out of stones. As easy as that!
Solar panels
If you’re place tends to experience summer often times, then this process is the best for you. Solar panels are effective tool, given that the climate is hot all the time
It is a popular tool used for generating electricity out of a natural source, which will provide an adequate amount of heat for your greenhouse. With this, we’re sure it will make you feel grateful for that sizzling heat outside.
However, solar panels are expensive to install and would only be beneficial for areas with sunny days.
Chickens
Think of it as mutualism: both organism benefits from each other. Chickens share their body heat to the plants and release carbon dioxide as well. They would feed on pests from your plants for chickens, making them a free pest control service for you.
Conclusion
Electricity became an essential need for human beings. Without it, we can’t light up our bulbs, turn on our appliances, and worse: charge our phones! You don’t want to miss any trending topics, do you? Nevertheless, the electricity bill is a major concern, so we tend to use energy-saving products to reduce our payments.
Now adding greenhouses will add up to your electric bill, knowing that you would use products that require energy to work. Searching for cheaper alternatives that do not require you to use electricity will save you from the headache.
Hopefully, this article about how to heat a greenhouse without electricity added your knowledge and helped you out. Thank you for reading!