Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

Howdy everybody, I just got my new greenhouse done. Its 32 feet long by 12 feet wide and I cannot get the barrel stove to work right. Everytime I try to use it, creosote water runs down the new pipes. I think it has to do with the pipes cooling off too fast. Sooooo I have no heat in my greenhouse lol. So far the greenhouse stays 10 degrees warmer than outside with no heating, and I have kept things inside alive by laying down the tall stuff, and covering with a foot of leaves, then plastic. It got down to 15F outdoors and the stuff under the plastic and leaves in the greenhouse was not harmed. I am ordering frost cloth that is rated to keep things under it 10 degrees warmer or so. I am going to double or triple it, and put strings of small christmas lights under it, and on the coolest nights plastic, and then a pile of leaves over that lol. We can get down to zero here. What do you think, do they have a chance at survival? I was shocked that just a layer of leaves and plastic kept them alive when it was 15F outside, but if it drops another 15....phew lol. Of course, when it was 15 outside, it was 25 inside. It wont be like this all the time, on nights with lows of 25 or higher, I can just leave things uncovered, since it is ten degrees warmer in there. Sounds like a lot of work, but its actually better than getting up in the middle of the night to fuel the stove. I dont mind letting things go dormant as long as they live. Also for those of you with double layer pollytunnel, how much of a difference does the extra layer of cover make in degrees that you have noticed. I hate to spend another 200 dollars or more for an extra layer of cover and a inflation fan if it is not going to make that much difference. :2738:

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

I'm about to construct a plastic cold frame type thing for a bunch of my plants(and bananas). I'll put a light in there and that should keep it all warmed. If I get really enthused, I'll put a layer of something like blanket material or tarp to help keep heat in.

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

Should be fine in your zone, not sure how big yours will be but bigger makes them less likely to overheat and cool off too fast. My 12x12 would get 110 degrees if the sun came out and it was closed up, this one is much more stable. I found frost cover on greenhouse megastore that give up to 10 degrees more protection. I think 3 feet x 250 was like 63 dollars. You might try buying something like that and doubling it up. At 7 inches from the floor my pots covered with leaves, and plastic stayed at 43 degrees while outside it was 15, but it rapidly loses degrees the higher you get from the floor. I lay my taller stuff on the ground to take advantage of it. Anything close to the plastic cover wilted slightly

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

Hey, I recently wrapped my GH in some greyish (more grey than transparent) 4 Mil plastic... This against my polycarbonate panels created an air layer that is proving to slow escaping heat... My GH like yours stays about 10° warmer than outside BUT now I'm at least 15-25° warmer after I wrapped!! Got plastic from Lowes 20'-100' (I have enough for a second layer, just incase) I really wanted this much bubble wrap but oh well.

It got down to 25° last night and my GH stayed above 48° but I also have a heat mat... TODAY at 10am it was 38° outside but my GH was already 98° (my heat mat turns off 8am) Also, my GH is surrounded with more than 1' of mulch ;) Last year was bad...this year yippy. :drum:



Good luck.

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

Thanks for the great idea. I wrapped a Namwah that's fruting right now with Christmas lights and burlap around the trunk, and then a giant sheet of plastic around the whole thing. It has been down to 30 the last few nights and the flower and fruit are fine. Quite a bit of damage to the leaves though, mostly brown but some green left on the leaves. If it gets any colder, I will toss in a few water jugs at the base just inside where I staked the plastic. Not sure this will even save the fruit since I'm sure the plant is headed to dormancy with this cold weather :(

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

8B Myrtle Beach, SC

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

Good.. you are using greenhouse.. But i am not able to answer your question. But i am here to get info about these.
higher payline

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

Just a little info for Christmas light users, if you are using the big old fashioned lights you cannot allow them to touch the stem or it will cause severe damage and will get mushy and rot. 2 winters back I learned the hard way and had to cut 3ft off of a 7ft stem. I was very lucky that the flower was not forming yet and it grew back and flowered several months later. I think it would help to have some air circulation in enclosed heated spaces.

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

I am using non-LED but the small bulbs, which don't seem to put out much heat. They are right on the stem, I guess I will have to closely watch.

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

I wrapped those small non-LED lights around a banana one year, then wrapped blankets around it and didn't get any burns. The larger old style bulbs will burn anything.

I just cobbled together a cold frame and dug more bananas to throw into pots to put under the plastic. It's just going to freeze here, supposedly. I'm keeping an eye on it and I'll wrap up any bananas still in the ground. Since the freeze won't last long, I won't cut back anything yet.

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

It got down to 12F last night, and to my surprise, everything survived under just a layer of leaves, and leftover greenhouse plastic with small bulb christmas lights underneath in the single layer greenhouse. I was sure they were goners, It got close as the condensation was frozen under the leftover plastic except where the christmas lights were. Now that I know it can go so low and stuff stays alive, I am going to order the frost blanket, and a roll of reflective mylar (space blanket) to go over the lights to keep heat in. I think stuff might actually survive down to 0F outside while in the greenhouse with this extra protection. This might not work in a smaller greenhouse where the temperatures are less stable. I am also going to get more christmas lights, the thawed sections of the plastic proves the need for them. Also if you have naners in pots, you might try laying them down closer to the ground for warmth and covering. I will probably chop all my ornamental naners down to pot level to make covering easier next year.A thermometer I lay on the ground under the leaves shows the ground surface temps in the greenhouse stay about 44F even when it got down to 12F outside. C9 lights are a big no no under all that stuff, I can just see a fire.

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

I got my cold frame done and most of my potted plants and several newly potted bananas in there with a clamp light.

The bananas still in the ground are covered up, most with several leaves removed to make it easier to cover them. I can't cover them in a more permanent way, because the temps will be right back up in a couple of days. I wouldn't want them rotting under a layer of mulch after all.

In the meantime, I despise cold.

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

Cold really sucks lol

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

Well, I get too sleepy to do an hour by hour lol, but my thermometer records the lowest temps reached for that night. Also being unheated, I dont open the door very often to check, it lets out heat that is not getting replenished. Last night the thermometer got down to 32F a few inches under the leaves, so ice on some of the plastic from frozen condensation, but not where there were Christmas lights. But I got no leaf damage on a variety of plants. A few cannas, a dwarf cavendish(just to see what wil happen), lemon grass, mandevilla, bird of paradise, shell ginger, etc. But it got very, very close, must have been a bit warmer a few more inches down. I am sure the frost cover and mylar will do a much better job of insulation than the leaves, I cannot cover very well with them, and there are holes in the coverage. Still, around 20 degrees is a pretty good difference in temps with no heat, but I would not recommend trying it lol. Until I get this stove fixed, I am going to have to make the best of it. All my other bananas except for the basjoo (Sikkimensis, black thai, itinerans, velutina, zebrina, namwah are all crammed into one of my bedrooms until I can figure this out lol. I had dug them all because they were all about 3 or 4 feet tall, and I wanted to get some height on them over the winter in the greenhouse, bad mistake lol. All my Orinoco ranging from 6 to 10 feet of pstem , and my ensetes are under the house. And I am considering throwing the sikkimensis, and itinerans under there too, just worried about them being smaller, and not making it till warmer weather. I grew the sikki from seed, and I dont want to lose them, its too hard to get replacements.

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

I did just look at noaa's site and the history for lasts nights temps( not 100 percent accurate for here of course since I am not right at that sensor station) Says it went from 14 degrees to 12F at about 12:15 am and stayed at that temp till 7:15 am this morning except for one small spike back up to 14 at 1 am. So it had to maintain above freezing for about 6 1/2 to 7 hours under the leaves, with outside temps at around 12F.

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

Re: Christmas lights, frost cloth, how to keep them alive in unheated greenhouse.
 

Oops! lol:ha: