ventilation vs temperature extremes

Well it was 40 here last night. When I want to heat up the greenhouse I throw a load of laundry in the dryer, my vent runs out there, and the greenhouse is cozy and warm now, with water on every exterior surface due to the outdoor temperature being cooler.

While this is not ventilation it does dry the air in the greenhouse until the temps come up enough to match. I have a fan I can put out there but my plants are just thriving. Please realize we have a drought and our outdoor humidity is much lower than it was a few years ago. I don't see any fungus or damping off, I did see one fly.

I do not want to vent all that lovely and hard earned humidity to the outdoors. Suggestions?

I think you're brilliant. If my greenhouse was closer to my dryer I'd follow your lead. I never heat my greenhouse, just close it up and let the sun heat it up. I put in one of those bubble vents last summer to get the heat out. I have found that if I leave the doors open and the fans on I get to many butterflies in there, the ceiling vent has helped move some of the hot air out without so many butterfly deaths. I am going to have to make a door so I can shut it . . . and soon, as the weather is starting to get cold here at night.

I agree! Brilliant, nothing needed in my opinion. I have cattle trough and fountain in mine for humidity. I do have windows all around, but an open door for 5 mins does the trick

well it was raining this evening INSIDE the greenhouse so I turned off the tank pump< worried about electrical too damp. maybe I'll put pump on a timer to slightly reduce humidity?

Are you measuring your humidity? Extended periods of over 80% might become problematic. Best to keep winter levels at around 60%. If you have just watered then higher levels would be expected.

well I had a pump in the stock tank continuously watering and with a spray bar so I'd guess it was at 80%. Going to put pump on a timer and experiment with it. Fish going in the tank are tolerant of inadequate or infrequent filtration

oh, I'm not brilliant - took me 5 years to design this greenhouse and it still has flaws. But I am VERY cheap

One thing is for sure: seeds on the seed starting mat are germinating faster than seeds in the trays with water. (elevated enough to keep pot soil wet but by no means flooded.

Added 47 goldfish to the tank in the greenhouse, as the tilapia had to come indoors and live in aquariums.

Chard and heritage tomatoes nearest the center of the seed starting mat are germinating. Ran the pump a couple of hours to get some humidity back in the air. Not sure where to get a device to measure humidity?

From Amazon - AcuRite 00613A1 Indoor Humidity Monitor -$9.98 - I used this inside my mini greenhouse for both temperature and humidity swings. It works.

Thank you Carol! Ordered

This message was edited Dec 12, 2014 10:38 AM

Well I have humidity down to about 40%, lighting on a timer, and spider mites that I need to attend to. Love the humidity/temp monitor Carol.

I think I saw a white fly though. Any suggestions? I think the humidity going DOWN contributed to the spider mites. Will mist my tomato plant in the morning

Gypsi I had white flies so I hung a No Pest Strip.. Seems to have done the trick. I have a ton of anoles living in there and it didn't harm them. My GH is 15x9 and I hung one strip. Doesn't seem to do anything for ants though :(

I love your dryer idea for heating.

Not exactly on the subject but 8 degrees outside now, minus 3 in early morning. Put the min/max temp/humidity gauge back in mini GH to see if location (southern exposure) and water filled soda bottles (heat sink) help heat the GH.

This message was edited Jan 7, 2015 8:51 PM

Bayou is your no pest strip like a flycatcher strip? I use those by my kitchen sink.

The best strips are those bright yellow ones. They do a really great job but certainly won't do anything about catching ants.

Ken

that's ok, I have some excellent antcatcher I got for my apiary when the raspberry crazy ants showed up. paint it on anything, it's called tanglefoot, but don't get your hair in it. or vice versa

Tanglefoot will catch and hold just about anything. I had to quit using this stuff out in my greenhouses. I cannot tell you the number of lizards that got caught. Prying them out of this sticky stuff was tedious to say the least.

Ken

oh yeah, I can see that. I don't know if I have lizards in the greenhouse, just rats that I have seen but all that gets in the trap are big rats.

by the beehive the tanglefoot got a couple of bees, but crazy ants are immune to a lot of poisons and they can kill a hive

I did not know that ants invaded bee hives. Never too old to learn, huh?

Ken

Not a sticky strip. It's a pesticide. You can get them at Home Depot or Lowes.

http://www.hotshot.com/products-and-solutions/all-products/no-pest-strip.aspx

I'll just hang a flycatch strip in their. I'm pretty organic. Get them at the feed store, cheap and effective.

Fire ants or crazy ants can kill a beehive. sugar ants tend to irritate them and the bees abscond

well no bugs in the greenhouse, temp outside got into the mid 20's here and not above freezing til today, just checked the greenhouse, temp OUTSIDE my seedling tent dropped to 36, humidity this afternoon 75% as the rising temps are creating rain with all the condensation that was trapped by the pool blanket and the walls/roof. Nothing froze and my repotted accidental squash seed is thinking about blooming think it's a yellow crookneck, lol

I caught lizards with fly strips, was too tempting for them.
Rats! Something chowed every green leaf off 30 papaya ft tall, and bigger ones. Nothing has gone after them before. Put a box trap but nothing. Still wondering

I didn't do any flystrips. I have caught 5 or 6 goodsized rats this winter. I think they killed my fancy Passionflower by chewing the stem, pulled it outside, watering, to see if it will come back from roots. My anise had a lot of rat damage and I lost full grown swiss chard plants in the interim. Everything is out now but a pot of mint, a pot of blueberries and some strawberry starts in 4 inch pots. It's warm and rainy here today, good to adapt plants to be outdoors as it is also cloudy