what to grow in heated green house?

[poohpouri]

what can i grow now in my heated greenhouse please? this is my 1st year(proper) atempting to grow in

[Kristen]

How heated is it? (i.e. what minimum temperature will you be able to maintain)

Frost free will enable you to start some things off early but not Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Melons, Peppers which will need a minimum of 10C to grow [and more than that to germinate, but germination could perhaps be done in the house?]

[Alison]

As Kristen says, what do you mean by heated. Mine is unheated but insulated (I don't want to spend the money heating it and so utilise the scruffy conservatory on the back of the house for more tender stuff) and I currently have broad beans, shallots, cabbage, cauliflower and onions in there getting ready to go to the plot. Will be putting some peas and mange tout out there later now that they have germinated in the conservatory. However, some of those things would be too hot if your greenhouse is properly heated rather than just frost free. Even if you have the heat, it can be difficult at this time of year to grow tender stuff well as there isn't enough light so I'd be inclined to stick with frost free but it's your call What are you wanting to grow?

[radioactive]

what can i grow now in my heated greenhouse please? this is my 1st year(proper) atempting to grow in

Well its my first year for heated greenhouse as well. In it I have made - a heated thermostatically controlled wired sowing bench using sand as the medium for the bed this I place the seed boxes onto, and also I have a fan type electric heater in there and also a parrafin heater just in case ( I used it a little bit last year when we expected a sudden frost)

Now onto what I am growing in there so far Tomato, Cucumber, Chillies, Celery
Herbs, Onions, Lettuce,

I also have a 400 watt metal halide grow light set up about 20 inches above the seedlings and run it for 16-18 hours a day well all through the night in fact
I believe as long as you can keep an evening temperature no lower than 50 degree F that's 10C you can pretty much grow what you want keep it legal
hope this helps you

[Aberdeenplotter]

You sound as though you mean business, Radioactive. A couple of words of caution though. Remember to keep the sand in your heated bench moist. I have polythene under and over the sand in my heated bench and that really helps.

With your growlamp so close to the surface of your bench, you will fry anything that germinates.

Final word of caution. 400watt lamp burning 18 hours a day will also burn a hole in your wallet.

[Kristen]

I also have a 400 watt metal halide grow light ... and run it for 16-18 hours a day well all through the night in fact

I don't think you need it on for that long, particularly for seedlings - although it may given them some extra boost the longer it is on

If you are on ecconomy-7 then obviously best to run it midnight-to-7 (or whatever time your cheap rate is) - and running it during the night will generate heat at the coldest time of the 24 hour cycle

But I reckon other than that (given that the plants are in a greenhouse and getting some light) then 8 - 12 hours ought to be plenty, which will save some money.

1 watt running 24/7 is about £1.50 a year (not allowing for cheap rate).

Thus 400 watts running 12 hours a day is about £25 a month, and 8 hours is £16 a month.

But I expect you are only going to use the lamp for 3 months at the most, so its horses-for-courses.