overwintering Greenhouse Winter Garden

[Helldozer]

Hey all,

I'm already starting to think ahead to the winter, and I am wondering what it would take to grow peppers throughout the winter. I live in Concord, CA, about 40-45 minutes East of San Francisco. I don't think we really get too many freezing days, but we occasionally get nights that dip down into the low 30's. I would like to get away from having to use electricity to heat it, but I'm not sure if that is avoidable. I've read that barrels/jugs/containers of water can naturally heat your greenhouse, but I haven't seen how many degrees you might expect.

I'm looking at possibly getting a greenhouse, and I wanted to know if anyone has grown peppers in them over the winter. If so, what type of heating should I have and should I have supplemental light also?

Thanks!

 

[theghostpepperstore]

I grew superhots in my greenhouse this past winter. I am in a much colder climate than you are. Last winter was mild but we saw plenty of nights below 20. Some varieties are going to do better than others, the superhots didn't produce much, but a few other varieties did quite well.

I used natural gas to heat, keeping temperatures at least 60 degrees 99% of the time. I also used a 1000W HPS light to supplement light to give me around 12 hours of light per day.

What size greenhouse are you considering? If you are talking about something under 100 ft^2 then you can probably get by with just a bit of thermal mass if you have some decent insulation. If you are thinking larger, it starts to get a bit tricky.

The biggest factor in how well your greenhouse will perform is the building material. Mine is 8mm double wall polycarbonate. Without any heat it would probably sustain overwintered peppers and a few cold weather crops.

Really do your research before undertaking a greenhouse, there are a lot of things to take into account and it can be a huge investment of time and money.

Feel free to PM me with any questions, I have learned alot over the last few years about greenhouses. Also Potawie has some greenhouses and seems to really know alot about greenhouse growing.

 

[Helldozer]

I grew superhots in my greenhouse this past winter. I am in a much colder climate than you are. Last winter was mild but we saw plenty of nights below 20. Some varieties are going to do better than others, the superhots didn't produce much, but a few other varieties did quite well.

I used natural gas to heat, keeping temperatures at least 60 degrees 99% of the time. I also used a 1000W HPS light to supplement light to give me around 12 hours of light per day.

What size greenhouse are you considering? If you are talking about something under 100 ft^2 then you can probably get by with just a bit of thermal mass if you have some decent insulation. If you are thinking larger, it starts to get a bit tricky.

The biggest factor in how well your greenhouse will perform is the building material. Mine is 8mm double wall polycarbonate. Without any heat it would probably sustain overwintered peppers and a few cold weather crops.

Really do your research before undertaking a greenhouse, there are a lot of things to take into account and it can be a huge investment of time and money.

Feel free to PM me with any questions, I have learned alot over the last few years about greenhouses. Also Potawie has some greenhouses and seems to really know alot about greenhouse growing.

Excellent! Thanks GhostPepper, appreciate it. The size greenhouse I'm thinking about is either an 8'x10' or 12'x12'. I'm in Zone 8B, I believe. I'm guessing, if I want to actually grow through the winter I'll have to kick up the temperature about 30 degrees. My biggest think is that I don't want to be eating 10 dollar peppers. So, if it costs too much to heat, I'm probably not going to do it. The location I have picked out gets a ton of sun.

How much do you think the water method kicks up your temps; 5 to 10 degrees at most?

Thanks

 

[theghostpepperstore]

Thermal mass is scalable so it really depends on how much volume you put it. There is a math equation out there that will estimate how much thermal mass you need in order to attain a certain temperature gain. I am mobile right now so I will try to look it up when I get home. It ends up being a lot though. I think to get 10 degrees about 25% of the volume of your greenhouse has to be thermal mass.,