The warming weather is a reminder to greenhouse owners to examine climate control strategies inside the structure. This helps ensure crops grow strong and healthy throughout the warmer days and nights ahead. Without such consistency, plant damage and even death can occur. The experts at Gothic Arch Greenhouses, can partner particular circumstance with quality, affordable, easy to use equipment needed to help ensure optimum climate control in your greenhouse.
Considerations for Maintaining Climate Control in Your Greenhouse
William H. “Buzz” Sierke is a third generation president of Gothic Arch Greenhouses based on the Gulf Coast. “It boils down to three things,” says Sierke. “Correct lighting, temperature and humidity. To know those, you first must know what conditions are needed for the particular plants being grown in the greenhouse.” Sierke encourages all growers, commercial or hobbyist, to think about where a particular plant originates. Take ornamentals and tropicals for example. Ornamentals can tolerate nighttime temps as low as the mid-50’s. But, that temperature can damage tender tropicals that don’t want it below 60 degrees. On the other hand, temperature needs for successful seed germination varies as do those of cool or warm weather vegetables. “It all depends on what you’re trying to grow, and under what circumstances,” Sierke says.
Air Flow
Rising temps means higher humidity which, for some crops is good. For others it could be deadly. If the circumstance calls for decreasing humidity levels inside the greenhouse, venting or exhausting the humid air is in order. That means air movement. A closed greenhouse needs a fan to blow hot stale air out of the structure and bring fresh cooler air inside via intake shutters mounted on the opposite end of the structure, thereby creating consistent environmental control.
Ventilation
Ventilation fans like our favorite, the Air Flow HAF fan, a specialized greenhouse fan that allows adjustable air patterns to create a uniform temperature throughout the structure to suit any growing need. According to Sierke, the Air Flow HAF is by far, the most versatile, energy efficient, best valued HAF fan available.
Cooling
For larger greenhouses, Sierke recommends an Evaporative Cooling System to mainatin lower temperatures. These systems utilize the hot air inside the greenhouse to evaporate the moisture from plant surfaces thus cooling the inside temps by up to 20 degrees.
No matter what you are growing, your plants will benefit from climate control in your greenhouse. We can help you choose from a wide selection of the most reliable instruments. Choose from our automatic one, two, or manual variable speed thermostat controls designed especially for greenhouses. And no environmental control plan would be complete without a timer to give you freedom over how much or how little light your plants get and when. The right automatic timer allows you control over automated watering and mist systems, fans, heaters, and other equipment too, keeping you free to do other things.
So, as the days grow longer and warmer, take the time to plan how to create and maintain optimum growing conditions for your plants. For help choosing the right products for your greenhouse, call us today at 1-800-531-4769.