Greenhouses out of old windows!

I just want to over winter my summer plants. In summer i probably can dry fruit in there. My littel ceramic heater does kick on and off at a certain temp, but does not say what temp it is, so I would have to experiment with that. I don't know why hubby thinks it will cost so much. This won't last for 3 months just comes and goes. I am going to call Furniture stores today for Bubble wrap. Since I have the shelving in there, closet shelving I will have to fit it behind that. Can't really do a shower curtain type thing to pull around. I get full sun on the south 9 foot of windows all day. It is probably 60 or more in there now. It's a little overcast now. Now I am thinking we should have put the clear roof on, but we were waiting until next year. We did drop the shade cloth last night hoping it would help some. I am thinking of putting up bedspreads tonight if I have too, but what I lost already is just small stuff, if everything else is ok, then it probably might not be neccesary. I have two palms, which if I know what they are can go to 15 degrees and I did not know that. But can't say for sure they are the jelly palms. I have geraniums and most others are succulents. I did string another set of xmas lights in there last night, I will leave them on all day. I was tempted to run hot water and jugs out there last night. Someone said to paint my mild jugs black. Does that make sense and line them up on the south wall during the day on the floor? My greenhouse is small, only 6 by 9. So the plants are pretty close together, but I can move them closer for tonight.
Linda

I would just do the heater & perhaps the bedspread on the roof. For the amount of work and the amount of days you need the heat, the bubblewrap is a lot of work.

Joanne,
You should see the look in hubbies eyes when I mention that heater! You can tell he just does not want me to do that. Well cloud cover moved in and I think that saved us some, but I am going to put some bedspreads to good use. I found a coleus that survived and grouped the plants closer together. It is 61 in there now with very little sun out.

Re bubblewrap, I never thought of calling furniture stores for it -- would they save used bubblewrap for you and give it to you free, or would you buy it? If they want money for it, look up Staples online. I got a humongous roll of 1'' bubblewrap for $100, free shipping.

My 6x8 greenhouse is made of corrugated polycarbonate from Lowe's, but we fully lined it with the bubblewrap. I also cover the tomatoes & citrus these nights.

Just talked to DS and he (finally) agrees that bubblewrap needs to be put on the ceiling of the big greenhouse. He and DDIL will come over tomorrow, weather permitting. I expect a great improvement in temp control out there.

painting the water containers black will help them absorb more sun/heat IF the sun comes out. They need to be where the sun hits them to get the best heating. On days when they get sun, they keep the night time temps about 10 degrees higher than outside without extra heat, but when it is below about 35 outside, I have to use the heater.

Oh yes, over 80% of your heat loss is literally thru the roof. For tonight, put a bedspread over the roof and note the difference. I found that it made a difference of 10ºC or 18ºF with covering the roof from only bubblewrap & heater. I did have bubblewrap on all the inside, including the roof.

I bought a 200 foot roll of 1" bubblewrap for $43 from a Shipping Supply wholesaler call Lion's

joanna, I think you got a better buy on the bubblewrap than I got at Staples. Can't remember how many feet I got for $100. Re putting a bedspread over the roof, it is 10 feet high and I can't get up there, even with my tallest ladder! 8^)

"lower" the roof in the inside with a roll of heavy plastic. When we were first setting up the GH, before it was caulked, I ran a shower rod across the center, draped the plastic over it and then taped it around the edges.

Well we were busy today. Thank goodness for freecycle. I started our chapter here over 5 years ago with 3 members and now we have over 1,500. Someone offered me a large bag of bubble wrap. It did the most important walls. Two of them. The third wall is my shed and the other is protected by the house. It was 55 in there a little while ago. It is 45 outside. But we had little sun today. We had the heater in there while we were working but going in and out didn't help. We also put fiberglass batts in the ceiling , Only $18.00 for two rolls at Home Depot. A friend has a harbor freight green house and i asked her what her temps are, she didn't volunteer that info but said she has had a heater in there for two days. My hubby made the bubble wrap so it can come down when we don't need it. I figure if it gets too warm I will open the dutch door top. I will send some pics of the process hoping it helps others. I dont' know what I would have done without this forum.

We attached the bubble wrap to the wood to screw it in the top of the greenhouse. Taped it all together with packing tape, worked good, but then realized we had to cut it as the brackets and strips on the wall interefered with it going behind the shelves.

Now this is what the cealing was, hubby said we were losing most of our heat from there. It is sign material.

He bought insulation to put in the ceiling and here is a pick putting supports up to staple it too.

Here he is working on making the batts the right size. 24 inch batts were $40, this was only $9.00 a roll at Home Depot.

Here is the roofing with batts in it.

Here is a view of the end where it gables into my shed. The next step is to put more sign material up for the inside roof. But I am painting it , maybe like sky and clouds with lattice and a 3 part stencil with lattice and vines that is geraniums. I used it in a friends house and loved it, but no place to put it in my house.

Here is a picture of the greenhouse with the bubble wrap. I also had a piece of plastic looking lace I laid on a shelf, I use the tray for my tea and such and my wicker chair sits next to it. I thought it looked pretty. I might get more at Wal-Mart. I wanted valances up in there, but no point with the bubble wrap up.
Linda

I also wanted to say I got a digital thermoter at Wal-Mart for $10. One piece goes in the greenhouse and the other in your home. You can see what the temps are in your greenhouse without going out there and also the temps in your home. Well worth it. Because every time you open the door you loos heat.
It works up to 100 feet, but they had others to 300 feet and complete weather stations. Pretty neat.

Wow, busy busy busy. so what's the temperature in there now?

I think I am going to put a double layer of bubblewrap for the roof area this year to reduce the heat loss. I have a remote thermometer as well and is very helpful. It has a moisture probe, so it indicate if the plants need watering. It also has a low& high temp alarm, which gives piece of mind, should the heater go out in the middle of the night. I got it from Home Depot a few years ago for about $20. It has a range of 300', so my neighbor can babysit the GH when I'm gone.

Well the temp was 47 when it was 38 outside . This morning at dawn it was 33, but didn't check the temp then, hubby was up but didn't check. Right now it is 46 and it is 72 in the greenhouse. It's maintaining 10 degrees to 15 difference at night and more than 20 right now and it is a cloudy day. LOL So if I leave the bubble wrap up I may have to open the dutch door a bit on a warmer day. But most those plants took 100-105 temps or higher in the summer. I am working on the cealing today, Painted it white , then I am going to bring it in the house and stencil a trellis with geraniums on it. Always wanted to use this stencil and it wouldn't fit in my house anywhere.

My ceiling, when the rain stops, maybe we can put it up over the insulation. The temp in the greenhouse has been 50 all day today. It is 42 outside right now and the temp is 49. The cloud cover may keep things warmer, although the winds are making it feel very cold. It has rained all day and probably will tomorrow. AZGrammie has 2 feet of snow.

Just an update, the greehouse is doing great with the insulated roof and bubble wrap. Temps reach 85 on a nice 50 degree day. But the few nats is turning into more, so does anyone have any ideas for that. My plants have doubled in size, the geraniums especially and I have started , coleus, jade plants and Kalanchoe and marigolds. Some mint to. It is filling up. The tons of rain we have had has not helped though. All that beautiful work I did on the faux brick floor. Some is damaged. OSB even with the elastermeric on it hasn't worked well. The floor swelled so badly right near the door that hubby has had to shave the door off. I really have no answer for that. But another month and I will probably have to crack the doors open or at least the top dutch door.
I will have some great looking plants when I take them out. We are still hoping to close in the patio before next fall with my disability money if it goes through , I had the hearing and just have to have one more evalutaion for the judge to make a decision.
Any help on the nat situation would be appreciated. Also the Bubble wrap is still up and things are doing fine. But the shade screen on the south is down all the time.
Linda