trends & technology
Water Storage
Another heat sink idea is to store water around
your greenhouse or hoop house. You want the
water storage to be placed in an area where it
can be heated by the sunlight during the day.
Then, during the night, the heat energy will be
released into the surrounding area as the water
cools off. This option offers the benefit of having
water on-hand for your garden, but
you have to make sure that you add
the water back in as you siphon it
off. Removing the water means that
you’re eliminating heat storage
space. A good starting place for this
method is a 55-gallon barrel, but
you can use whatever water storage
containers you have handy. To help
get the most heat absorption, use
dark materials for your tanks.
Circulation
“COMPOST
WILL HEAT
UP THANKS
Electric Room Heaters
to your daytime
temperatures and
will release this heat
later in the day.”
A popular option is an electrical room
heater. There are some horticultural
options that are made explicitly for
greenhouse heating, but others do
use regular room heaters. This type of heater
means that you’ll need eithe r an extension cord
or outlets in the area where you plan on using
the heater. Keep in mind that you have to use
these types of heaters appropriately; you don’t
want to create a fire hazard because your heater
was too close to flammable materials.
68
grow cycle
One thing that you need to keep in mind when
using any of these heat sources is to circulate
the heated air throughout your space. You
don’t want hot and cold spots popping up in
your greenhouse. Plus, this helps with the
condensation that can happen when heating
an area in which you’re watering or growing
plants hydroponically. Some heaters will have
a circulation method, such as a fan, built in, but
you’ll have to determine if you need additional
circulation for your set-up.
Insulation
While insulation is a passive heater, it can make
your efforts more worthwhile. Insulation may not
be appropriate in every situation—like covering
up greenhouse windows for insulation, as you’ll
then be blocking the sunlight from coming in—
but there are other areas where adding some
insulation can come in handy. Gardeners that
grow in basement areas or different rooms inside
of their homes may find that merely adding
insulation goes a long way towards keeping the
chill out of the room and the heat inside.
The temperature that you need in your growroom is going to
depend on what you’re growing and your current set-up. Once
you determine what temperature you need to try to reach,
you’ll be able to personalize your heating plan based on your
needs. You may find that you need to mix and match some of
these options to get the right level of heat in your growroom.