A modern summer resident is no longer just the owner of the plot on which he grows vegetables for personal consumption, but a real farmer on the scale of 6 acres of land. Many homeowners appreciated the profitability of greenhouses, especially polycarbonate.
Growing vegetables for sale at a time when they have the best price - these are the realities of today's summer residents. To get a really big crop all year round, there is nothing better than a heated greenhouse. The choice of heating method depends on the material of which it is made, and its location.
Benefits of heated greenhouses
Many gardeners come to the conclusion that it is better to invest time and money once to get year-round income than to depend on the changeable nature and a short warm period for planting and harvesting. The only question that confronts them is the more profitable it is to heat the greenhouse?
To answer it, you need to analyze what type of greenhouse will be the best for work at any time of the year.
- Firstly, you should consider what the frame will be made of - a cheaper version of wood will last only a few years, even if it is covered with special protective equipment. It is also less stable, which should be taken into account in areas where strong winter winds blow. A metal frame is more expensive, but it does not wear out, and the blow of any force does not matter to him.
- Secondly, the cover of the greenhouse. An increasing number of gardeners prefer polycarbonate, as it is lightweight, durable, well transmits sunlight, easy to assemble and affordable. Glass, although the best conductor of light, is more expensive and unreliable in places where a lot of snow falls. The film for the winter greenhouse is unsuitable at all.
- Thirdly, you should consider what to grow in a heated greenhouse. For crops such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, one temperature and humidity are needed, while for greens - another.
Before choosing a heating method, you need to think about a place. Today, many summer residents prefer to put greenhouses close to the wall of the house in order to use less energy for heating it in winter. This is advantageous not only because the heated wall will save costs, but also because from the house you can heat directly to the greenhouse.
There are several ways to heat the "roof garden", each of which has its drawbacks and advantages.
Natural "heating"
Such heating directly depends on the quality of the greenhouse coating and the number of sunny days in the winter. The more transparent the materials of which the roof and walls of the room are made, the higher the greenhouse effect that is created in it, which means that both the soil and the air are heated.
Such a heated greenhouse is unsuitable for year-round work in regions with snowy and cold winters, even if it is made of polycarbonate. Depending on what is grown in it, the air temperature should be from +17 to +25 degrees during the day and from +9 to +18 at night. Maintaining heat at the proper level in such a room is difficult, therefore, when the question arises, what is the best way to heat a greenhouse from polycarbonate, many summer residents prefer a mixed or technical type of heating. Solar energy is suitable for growing vegetables in greenhouses from March to autumn.
Air heating
Portable electric fan heaters are becoming increasingly popular among summer residents. Their main advantage is as follows:
- affordable price;
- the ability to install in any part of the room;
- not only produce heated air, but also distribute it throughout the room;
- allow you to adjust the internal temperature in the greenhouse using the built-in thermostat;
- evenly distribute warm air throughout the area;
- Do not allow moisture to settle on the walls and roof of the room.
This device has minor flaws, for example, uneven distribution of warm air, so it is recommended to use several devices. It is important that the plants do not fall under a stream of hot air, so it is better to install them under the shelves at different ends of the room.
Also, with this heating method, it is necessary to monitor humidity, since hot air creates a dry microclimate, which not all cultures like. In this way, a heated greenhouse is suitable even for the winter type, if additional lighting is installed in it.
Cable heating
For those business executives who prefer to do once, and then only manage the process, cable heating is suitable. Among its advantages:
- low cable laying costs;
- economical operation;
- simple operation;
- automatic temperature control;
- uniform heat distribution.
To lay the cable you will need:
- soil removal and coating the surface of the greenhouse with a layer of sand;
- laying heat-insulating material to maintain heat inside the system;
- cable distribution over the entire surface according to the "snake" principle at a distance of up to 15 cm between turns;
- To protect the cable from damage, either an asbestos-cement perforated sheet or a metal mesh with small cells is laid on it;
- fill everything with fertile soil with a layer of at least 40 cm.
For thermal insulation, durable materials are most often used that do not absorb moisture, such as polyethylene foam or expanded polystyrene. The greenhouse heated from below allows you to provide different temperature conditions suitable for a particular vegetable crop at different stages of its growth. This is an energy-saving and durable way to heat the greenhouse, providing high yields all year round.
Infrared heating
In connection with the rise in price of energy, many summer residents are wondering how to heat a greenhouse from polycarbonate inexpensively. They refuse electric heaters, preferring to them small-power infrared lamps, which have such advantages:
- provide seed germination up to 40%;
- the heat coming from such a heater extends to the soil or plants, which allows you to create different climatic zones in one greenhouse;
- the soil, when heated, gives off heat to the air;
- easy installation anywhere in the room;
- energy savings from 40% to 60%;
- the built-in regulator allows you to create the temperature necessary for each particular culture;
- minimum life is 10 years.
Such lamps do not shine, but only warm the room, which makes them cheaper compared to other electric heaters. To obtain the maximum effect, installation in a checkerboard pattern is recommended, which will avoid the formation of cold zones.
Water heating
Most greenhouses are heated in the old fashion in this way. The use of pipes with water, which is heated using a boiler, is the cheapest type of heating. Most often these are solid fuel boilers, which have a significant drawback - even with a thermostat, they cannot provide the required air temperature. In such boilers, charcoal, peat or firewood is used, which when heated, heat water.
Systems on liquid fuel began to be in great demand, in which it was easier to set the required temperature, but today gas boilers are replacing them. They are fully automated and do not require constant human attention - just set the required temperature. The only requirement for this type of heating is the outlet of the pipe so that the gas does not leak into the greenhouse.
If the place allows, practical owners put a greenhouse in the immediate vicinity of the wall of the house and from there put pipes with water into it. With such heating, it is important to calculate that the boiler “pulls” the heating of both the housing and the greenhouse.
Stove heating
There are craftsmen whose heated greenhouse contains a solid fuel stove (peat, firewood, coal), a riser and a chimney. This is one of the most economical and simple types of heating, but not the cleanest. It is important that the firebox of such a furnace "looks" towards the vestibule. It is impossible to regulate the temperature in such a design, therefore it is not suitable for year-round use.
Some owners of greenhouses install gas boilers, but for long-term use they are only suitable if they are connected to a common gas system, otherwise an additional tank will be required. Due to the fact that this type of heating requires constant monitoring by humans, stove heating is obsolete, and it has been replaced by unusual greenhouses heated by biogas.
Biofuel
When urgent heating of the greenhouse is required or for a while, until natural warming occurs, it is advantageous to use an improvised tool such as biofuel. It is easy to cook it yourself, knowing exactly how long this method should “work”, and with what ingredients:
- so, cow dung will raise the temperature from 12 to 20 degrees for about 100 days;
- horse - at + 32-38 for 70-90 days;
- pig manure - 16 degrees to 70 days;
- sawdust will warm up to +20 for two weeks;
- rotted bark will provide a uniform soil temperature of 20-25 degrees for 120 days.
You can combine the ingredients only in the ratio:
- dung with straw;
- sawdust with bark;
- sawdust with manure and bark.
When using this type of heating of the greenhouse, it should be borne in mind that the room should be well ventilated and have a humidity of 65-70%. For a quick effect, you can add nitrogen fertilizers and water the soil with hot water.
Solar "furnace"
Some craftsmen have learned to use the laws of physics and what nature gives away for free. They put inside the greenhouse at the level of the roof of the tank in which the stones are placed. During the day, the sun's rays, penetrating the room through the transparent walls and the roof, heat the soil, warm air rises and, in turn, heats the stones. With the onset of night, they begin to return the temperature obtained during the day back.
It is important for a summer resident not only to know how to heat, but also what to grow in a heated greenhouse. Thanks to breeders, there are varieties, for example, cucumbers and tomatoes, which bear fruit all year round.
Tomatoes in a heated room
Planting and growing tomatoes in heated greenhouses depends on the lighting. If it is natural, then sowing should occur in January. In the presence of additional lighting, they are sown at the end of September so that a strong seedlings have already risen in a couple of weeks.
For better and faster growth, plants in such a greenhouse can be watered with warm water with the addition of mineral fertilizers.
Cucumbers in a heated greenhouse
Growing cucumbers in a heated greenhouse should begin with the choice of variety. For this, frost-resistant and shade-resistant hybrids that are resistant to diseases are better suited. For faster growth of cucumbers, they must be watered with warm water and fed every 10 days with mineral fertilizers or chicken droppings at the rate of 1 part to 15 parts of water.