Right now, I am planning for the future, I am looking at reducing the volume in my greenhouse by double lining it with plastic to reduce the volume I need to heat. I also am looking at moving the plants closer together. I am also looking at solar heating methods I can implement to reduce my overall heating costs. In Iowa I normally, have only three months that are bad December, January and February. However in a year like last year I was heating from November through March. The big problem I have going to solar heating is that December and January can be very cloudy and the heat from solar input would be very low.
I use Natural Gas for my greenhouse the cost is going up, but not as bad as Propane. People who use Propane had better be contracting now to get enough at a more reasonable price. I have a friend who shut his greenhouse down as the Propane cost made him reduced his hobby. He has a few orchids under lights during the winter and moves them out to his unheated greenhouse in the warmer months. Tom /-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing In | [EMAIL PROTECTED] Paphs, Pleurothallids, & Epi's | http://www.orchids.iastate.edu --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |"There is always room for one more Orchid!!" On Jul 27, 2008, at 5:24 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > With the jump in the price of energy, supposedly there will be high > heating bills this winter, I was wondering what effect this maybe > having > on people who grow orchids especially in colder climates? Have energy > prices jumped up dramatically this year in Australia, Europe, and the > rest of the world? Changing how you will heat the greenhouse? Dropping > growing warm to intermediate orchids to grow more cool growers? Not > growing orchids? How have growers in the southern hemisphere done this > winter? > With oil prices looking like they will be going up for years to come, > growing warm growing orchids looks expensive in cold winter climates. > > Mark > > _______________________________________________ > the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) > [email protected] > http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
