Night time greenhouse temps?

[RonCo]

I'm trying to get a handle on what might be a good target night temperature for my mini greenhouse. Right now I'm just watching and recording temperatures before I move the chids into their new home.

Currently the only heat source is borrowed heat from my shop which is heated to about 70f during the day and about 65 at night. Daytime temperatures in the greenhouse are running about 65f-68f and may go to 80f if the sun pops out. Right now with the shop set at 65f the greenhouse is about 58f with an outside temperature of about 38f.

I'm working on adding some bubble warp and other insulation to reduce the heat loss and stabilize the temperature.

My orchid collection is small at the moment with a few oncidiums and cattleyas and some other odd ball stuff.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Ron

[utah]

I'm a newbie at this too but I don't let it go below about 58 degrees at night (try to keep it at 62). I have a radiant heater out there (with a oscillating fan constantly circulating the air) and a backup forced air heater that kicks in at 62 degrees. I also have a back up to the back up (propane tank and heater if the power goes out).

I bought a remote temperature/humidity monitor with an alarm that I have set at 58 degrees. If that happens I run out there and see what needs to be adjusted (it's getting into the high 20s here some nights). The monitor runs off battery power so if the power in the greenhouse goes out I'll still be able to know if the temps are dropping too low.

I have everything out there but my paphs, phals, and masdes - the temp gets too high during the day for the Masdevallias and there is too much humidity dropping off the roof to safely keep my paphs and phals out there - too high a risk for crown rot.

Everything in the greenhouse is thriving under these conditions with tons of new roots , growths, spikes, and flowers.

[RonCo]

Thanks for the input Utah.

Glad to hear things are growing and blooming.

As soon as I get my insulation all installed I'll be moving the chids out to their new digs.

I have one of those remote thermometers too, but mine doesn't have an alarm. Something else to add to the wish list of new toys. Ya gotta love the remote gizmos, high tech and not too expensive these days.

I've got a backup generator if the juice goes off.

Ron

[utah]

Man, I'd take a generator over having to trudge through the snow and lighting the propane tank in the middle of a blizzard.

Dang, one more thing for the wish list for me too!

[RonCo]

No easy living for me even with a generator.

With mine I have to trudge through the snow and get it out of the shed and fill it with gas and hook it up in the middle of a blizzard.

Last winter we had a record snowfall of 20 inches here. I can just imagine the fun I'd had if the power had been off too. Let's hope we don't have to mess with that monkey business this winter.

Ron

[BikerDoc5968]

Ron, I have a stand-alone GH that I heat with natural gas and grow mostly phals. I allow the night temps to fall to about 56 to 58 depending how carefully I set the thermostat at night. Since the thermostat isn't like the home type, I have to adjust it manually. I also know another board member who lives much further north in Michigan allows his GH to drop even cooler; don't know just how cool but I know cooler and neither of us have a problem. Air circulation is important.

[cb977]

On the rare occasions (one is coming tonight! ) that the chids have to be protected from the cold and are all in their room, the thermostat on the heater is set for 49-50 degrees

[Tsuchibuta]

I have a small greenhouse 10x12 and I heat with a 220volt 12amp forced air garage heater set to come on at 59 degrees. I have another radiant heater on the north wall that is set to a programmable thermostat which goes up to 72 midday and down to 60 at night so if the sun isn't bright enough which is most of the time in winter where I am there is still a temp change. I insulate with bubble wrap and last year when it was -10 outside for a week I put another small space heater by the door during the night set at 55 as a backup, though It probably wasn't necessary as my remote thermometer never registered less than 56 all winter. The electric bill wasn't as much as I expected, it only went up about 100 bucks during the coldest month over what it normally cost me just to heat and power my house.

[Ross]

Ron, just a thought - since you can easily get to glass right now, can you cut blocks of blue styofoam insulation (or pink) in 2" thickness to fit between the structural members? The glass below the benches will serve no real purpose till you get orchids down on the gravel. If you reduce the square footage of the glass using the foam (on the inside of the structure) then that's less glass to pass heat. Just a thought.

[dounoharm]

hi ya'll...i have a freestanding gh thats 12x24 twin wall polycarb. i heat with a propane heater which costs an arm and leg but my babies need heat! i keep the thermostat set on 55 which does fine, even tho it gets to 52 by the door and front vents. the fans run for circulation but still i get the 3 degree variation with heat. i have an extensive collection of catts, cymb, paph, phrag, phal, ency, onc, brassias, vandas, stanhopeas, gongora, and god knows what else out there and they are all doing great, growing roots blooming and being generally happy orchids...i plan on putting up a solar pool blanket next week so we will see what that does to the temps. but i feel safe with a 55 degree setting and an ALARM which tells me should it drop below 50.