Insulation?

[CarolineW]

I have a cold greenhouse, in which I'm mainly overwintering tender plants, bringing on some early seeds (or at least, will be), and overwintering some seedlings (cauliflower, etc).

This is my very first year with a greenhouse, so I don't really know what I'm doing. However, I see in various places that I'm supposed to insulate with bubble wrap. Is this just for heated greenhouses, or should I do that with my cold greenhouse too?

thanks for any advice
Caroline

[bubblewrap]

I have a cold greenhouse, in which I'm mainly overwintering tender plants, bringing on some early seeds (or at least, will be), and overwintering some seedlings (cauliflower, etc).

This is my very first year with a greenhouse, so I don't really know what I'm doing. However, I see in various places that I'm supposed to insulate with bubble wrap. Is this just for heated greenhouses, or should I do that with my cold greenhouse too?

thanks for any advice
Caroline

Please don't take my name in vain!!
Only joking Bubblewrap

[bubblewrap]

I suppose I could always change my pen name to Clingfilm

[Snadger]

You can insulate an unheated or heated greenhouse. In both cases you will be able to maintain a higher temperature inside. It is a little bit of a trade off as by using insulation you are decreasing light levels at a time of year when light levels are at a premium.
The big bubble wrap is supposed to give superior insulation qualities to the normal bubblewrap.
An alternative is to insulate only part of the greenhouse and have a bubblewrap curtain across You can then only heat this area which will make a significant saving on heating the whole greenhouse!

[Madasafish]

I use a parafin heater for spring warmth. Insulate with bubblewrap.. heated or not. Protects from spring frosts and keeps temperature variations less..

[Alison]

I put polystyrene sheets against the bottom panels and then bubble wrap the rest of it. It definitely helps keep it a bit more protected and limits the amount I have to use the heater to keep the greenhouse frost free.

[bubblewrap]

So you want Bubblewrap?
Well here it is
http://www.virtual-bubblewrap.com/popnow.shtml

[Hazel at the Hill]

Ok is this dumb, or brilliant??

Now I know that I've been to the Slug and Lettuce tonight, but I did have a thought about this - if you only want a teeny bit of heat in your otherwise unheated GH, how effective would it be using those wheat bags jobbies which you heat up in the microwave?

YOu can use a number of them and put on the staging or floor of the gh - heat rises - and they would be super safe in that you dont have a flame which may blow out/gas plants/incererate house etc, and they hold their heat for hours.

So blooper or brilliance?

[Alison]

They wouldn't stay hot very long though, would have thought that after about an hour or so there wouldn't be any beneficial effect in the cold of the greenhouse. Also, you'd need an awful lot of them and as I remember when I bought one a few years ago, they're not cheap!

[Hazel at the Hill]

Oh well, back to the drawing board!

[Snadger]

One of the guys at the allotment insulates his cold greenhouse with bubblewrap but on a particularily cold night he lights two candles which he places on a saucer. He then puts a metal bucket over the top and this gives enough heat to keep the frost off. No danger from the candles falling over either as they are confined by the metal bucket!

[Alice]

Hello Caroline, I removed the bubblewrap from my greenhouse as I thought it did more harm than good. It cuts down the light and traps the condensation so that damp was always a problem - well that's what I found anyway.
Looking at what your growing, if you keep your plants on staging up off the ground (its colder down there) and cover them with fleece, you should be alright. The heavy duty fleece will protect from 7 degrees . I use the lighter stuff in several thicknesses and fluffed up. It does the job. You can leave it on day and might if the weather's cold.

[Forget-me-Not]

Hi,

I'm two year down the line but still finding feet. I know several people who use bubble wrap happily. I can't get to the walls of my green house without emptying everything, (which i should do for an annual clean but time issues) Therefore I wrapped tubs in fleece and made tents, I put polystyrene in grroves around sliding window and door, plus bottom edges. (Mine sits on a wooden moveable base on concrete). I've got the frame of an earlier zip up plastic greenhouse in there and I wrapped that in it. (looks like canary wharf.) So far it's worked ok for the last two winters.

[bubblewrap]

This may sound daft & is just something that came onto my mind
How about polycarbonate on the inside secured with blue tack.
Easy to remove in spring & can be reused time & time again.

[momol]

One of the guys at the allotment insulates his cold greenhouse with bubblewrap but on a particularily cold night he lights two candles which he places on a saucer. He then puts a metal bucket over the top and this gives enough heat to keep the frost off. No danger from the candles falling over either as they are confined by the metal bucket!

I can confirm about what Snadger has said. Early this year ( february) when it is still very cold at my place I have been setting up a small plastic greenhouse ( 1.2 meter H X 60 cm W X 40 cm D) to raise my seedlings. During those frost night, I usually lighted 1 candle in it, it was usually set in a small glass candle on the mini plastic green house floor. With this way I was actually able to raise a lot of seedlings of brassicas free from frost. I even raised my corn, tomato, and chillies seedlings in it from end of february / early of march.

Good luck,
Momol