Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Design and Construction => Topic started by: JarHead on April 04, 2007, 01:19
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Hi all,
Can anyone help me? I have one of those 3 tier mini "greenhouses", the ones with the plastic cover and a pair of zips on the front. I want to provide some heat to protect against frost. Is it possible with these? I've seen a mini parafin heater that says it can be used in a cold frame but I don't know whether I can use this with my plastic covered one without burning it down. Any ideas?
Thanks :D
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Hello JH and welcome to the site. I can't see how you'd get away with a paraffin heater in one of those.
You can gain some protection against frost by placing plastic bottles full of water into any unused space (they warm up through the day and emit some heat through the night).
Also, positioning against a stone or brick wall will help a lot. Or cover the whole greenhouse nightly with an old blanket, tarp or black poly sheet - suitably weighed down of course.
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Hi, thanks for the reply. This is the heater I looked at, http://www.garden4less.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=C560
No good?
Thanks for the advice.
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Where are you based anyhow - good idea to put this in your Profile since you'll be asked time and time again for other questions?
Are you likely to get a severe frost now?
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I'm in London, the last frost date is late april. I also wanted to bring on some seeds in their as I am short of space in the house.
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Hi, thanks for the reply. This is the heater I looked at, http://www.garden4less.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=C560
No good?
Thanks for the advice.
No picture but I think my answer holds good. A picture of your greenhouse would help even more but, if I picture it correctly, then a paraffin heater is more likely to kill the plants.
... cue 15 replies from folks who swear by them ...
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Thanks, I guess I'll have to find some space for the seeds and cover the frame if we get frosts.
Thanks for the help :)
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... cue 15 replies from folks who swear by them ...
Swear at them !! get an electric one if you can Jarhead, if it's thermostatic it will only come on when it's needed and wont coat your plastic in soot etc. Don't like paraffin heaters at all they also increase the humidity in the air, increasing your chances of rot or mould and electric one will blow air around helping to stop stagnant spots.
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In London a plastic greenhouse will be fine without heat. I germinate stuff inside the flat and then put them out in the plastic prior to taking down the plot. I've got tomatoes in there now which are doing well.
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I have a mini greenhouse - one of the wooden framed ones. When it is really cold I put a layer or two of bubble wrap onto the shelves under the pots or lay it lightly on top of the seedlings. This seems to have worked throughout the winter :)
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if your cold frame is sat on concrete/paving slabs try to get a sheet of polystyrene to sit on the floor and put your trays/pots onto this
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Thanks for all the help everyone.
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I know this is a old thread, but hear is three ideas that someone might build on.
1. Use an aquarium heater.
2. You can get cheap off ebay USB powered cup heaters to keep your coffee warm - might be able to hook these up to a rechargeable battery with a trickle solar/wind charger - then you would only need to recharge the battery a 12 vlt car battery about once a month..
3. I use a thermostatic switch with a small Snake/Reptile heater/mat. Before that I used T lights (little candles) but they only burn for about 5 hours.
Hope this gives you some additional ideas.
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I should imagine the original poster doesn't even have the mini greenhouse now Tarak!
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I have heated a small mini greenhouse in the past with an old slow cooker in the bottom of it, and just leave it on if you have a possibility of frost.
Or you can use a 12v car windscreen heater which is controlled by a frost stat. it is always best to line it with an additional internal layer of material. you will halve half the heat loss.
Mark
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imagines 3 tier greenhouse cover rising up and floating off like those fire lantern things - followed by several ufo repports.
Grendel
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Frankly, the level of insulation on these greenhouses is so poor that I wouldn't waste my time and money in trying to do anything with them.
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I have a 4-tier one that sits in my greenhouse. I also bought a fleece cover for it from Wilko and sat it on some polystyrene sheeting, then put the clear cover on, then the fleece one. I also had some fleece sheeting which I threw over it. I used a max-min thermometer and found that the inside was about five degrees warmer than the greenhouse itself. I made sure to open both the zip doors on sunny days to give it an airing. This worked for getting a small but early start to veg plants that will germinate at lower temps like broad beans. For outside use, I would say treat it like a cold frame. Get some thick polystyrene "slabs" and set it on them, put some more slabs on edge around the outside of the bottom edges of the covers like a little wall to prevent the lower colder air getting in there, and secure them with something, then anchor it securely against the wind. You can remove the fleece covers when you need more light. If you really want heat, then make a hot bed of fresh horse manure and straw like the Victorians made, and set it on that. Might whiff a bit though :tongue2: and may not be suitable for such a small structure as it may cause damping-off due to condensation.
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imagines 3 tier greenhouse cover rising up and floating off like those fire lantern things - followed by several ufo repports.
Grendel
lolololol brilliant....