The ventilation of the greenhouse in winter

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Regular ventilation of the greenhouse is quite important procedure at any time of the year whether it is hot summer or cold winter. However each of you will ask simple and natural question about necessity of airing the greenhouse in the autumn-winter period. Since the entry of a cold winter air into the greenhouse negates all the attempts to maintain a constant temperature in the greenhouse in winter period. This became even more critical if you use the so-called “cold greenhouse” which is basically the greenhouse without heating where certain crops are still growing in the winter season.

Ventilation of the greenhouse construction in winter season

However if you will not ventilate the greenhouse during winter at least from time to time this will also give negative impact on the growing crops inside the greenhouse. If your greenhouse is normally heated then without regular ventilation sessions inside the greenhouse there will be accumulated musty, warmed air and plants will be growing very slow and languidly and it can cause death of all plants inside the greenhouse. So, always remember that all plants like all living things need fresh air too. Warming up the greenhouse from artificial heat sources will also increase the relative humidity inside the greenhouse not as much as in the summer time but it can also be harmful to plants.

Therefore when ventilating the greenhouse in the winter time it is very important to balance the heating and ventilation of the greenhouse.  That means the balance between the intake of fresh air into the greenhouse and the maintenance of a sufficiently high temperature within it. There are two important things that you should know before you will start venting the greenhouse. Firstly (and this is quite important) the cold air which will be arriving inside the greenhouse from the outside freezing weather must be heated getting into the greenhouse otherwise it will freeze leaves and fruit bodies.

That is why the ventilation pans in the greenhouse are constructed enough high practically under the roof. This is also necessary in order for the air coming from outside to warm up in the winter before it reaches the plants directly. It is highly advisable to warm up the air entering the greenhouse with the help of artificial heating sources such as fan heaters.  This type of devices will not only raise the temperature of the air but also accelerate the natural flow of it through the greenhouse facilitating the circulation of air through the greenhouse. The same as fresh oxygen from the outside and heated air should circulate through the greenhouse filling the entire greenhouse. Air circulation will prevent stagnation of air with closed ventilation.

The next problem comes out – the energy consumption for heating. Firstly when you are ventilating the greenhouse you already lose the heat accumulated there which means that the money you have spent paying for heating are not coming back. Secondly in order to warm up the incoming air during ventilation sessions will also include heating process which means again losing money on energy consumption. It is logical that keeping the heating on permanently is completely inadvisable even if you have extra money to pay for this business. Therefore the best option would be to have a thermometer in the greenhouse to regularly monitor the temperature changes inside the greenhouse.

The heating will need to be turned on before the greenhouse will be ventilated. You should keep it on for a while then let the temperature in the greenhouse drop a little bit. According to the logic of the greenhouse design the construction holds heat well and that is mean it does not make any sense to keep the heating on 24 hours a day. To fix the problem  you have to regularly monitor the temperature and humidity level inside the greenhouse including heating only when necessary. And do not forget to do at least two or three ventilation sessions a day.

 

Please, look for some useful greenhouse accessories in our store.

 

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