Greenhouse heating

[lottielady]

I have a new 6x4 greenhouse and was wondering if I should be heating at the moment or whether my seedlings will pop up on their own. I did read yesterday that I should be heating it until June. Any advice would be gratefully received.

[Capsid]

Depends what you want to grow. I don't heat my greenhouse and grow tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, peppers and melons. I only need heat to get germination underway and this is done by placing the seed trays on a sunny windowsill indoors. Once the seedlings have established and got their first true leaves , I pot up into individual pots and then they go into the greenhouse.

Late frosts can be a problem but a greenhouse can usually keep the cold off. If you are worried then some bubble wrap may help, but again I don't bother.

I put everything else to germinate in the greenhouse. At the moment I have leeks, spring onions, broad beans, kohlrabi and sprouts in there without heat.

[markinessex]

We have a greenhouse heater, just to keep the frost off. We germinate seeds using heated propergators, once the seeds have germinated and got their first true leaves we just stick them on the bench.

[Flummery]

I do exactly what Mark (Capsid) has just said. I don't feel I can justify the carbon footprint of a heated greenhouse when I know I can do it without. Just don't put anything tender in there until well into May. Peas, broadies, cabbage family, leeks, onions salad leaves, chards etc. don't need heat anyway.

[SarzWix]

Tomatoes, chillis, peppers & cucumbers need at least 5°c to survive, and 10°c to grow. So if you're putting those in your greenhouse, they will need some kind of heat overnight.

[lottielady]

Thanks for the advice that helps greatly