When you are thinking about getting a greenhouse or if you already own one, one of the most important things you need to learn about is greenhouse heating. How do you decide what greenhouse heating will required for your greenhouse? Here is some information that should help you get started.

A good place to start is to calculate how many BTU’s it will take to heat your greenhouse. First figure out what type of plants you want in the greenhouse and research the temperature needed for growing them. Other questions you will need to answer to calculate your greenhouse heating requirements are: What is the surface area of the greenhouse? What is the heat loss factor in your greenhouse? What about the outside temperature at night and the highest temperature inside the greenhouse? The list goes on from here. You have to answer all these things in order to be able to calculate the right greenhouse heating settings.

Once you know your BTU requirements, you can select a heater for your greenhouse. Heaters either run on electricity or gas, and each have their own benefits. Electric heaters are generally less expensive to purchase and work well if you have electricity wired to your greenhouse site. Gas heaters run with either natural or propane gas. They are usually less costly to operate and require no electricity. So gas heaters are a great choice if you have no way to get electricity to your greenhouse.

You will find that your greenhouse heating has a lot to do with what you can grow in your greenhouse. You can choose to simply keep the frost at bay for wintering over your favorite plants, or you can fully heat your greenhouse for growing tropical and exotic plants all year. The most important thing is to decide what you want to grow and purchase a heater based on that decision.

Michelle Moore