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It’s almost July, and that means it’s hot.  In a greenhouse, it’s even hotter.  We’ve been flying through shade cloth as if there were some kind of national shortage.  But chances are pretty good that, this time of year, a simple shade cloth may not cut it.  With some shade and no other form of ventilation or cooling, temps in your building can still soar above 100°F; more than enough to torch your precious plants.  Exhaust fans and shutters can help a ton, but even with fans, shutters, and shade your greenhouse can only reasonably attain the outside temperature +/- a few degrees.

For heavy duty cooling, you need to call in heavy artillery.  By that I mean evaporative cooling, called variously a water wall, cool cell, wet wall...

Contributed from Garden and Greenhouse Magazine
by Gini Coover

Choosing the Right Size, Location, and Type of Greenhouse

June is a good time to start planning your new greenhouse, so it can be completed and ready for use by the fall or winter. Whether it is your first greenhouse or an additional one, you will want to choose the right size, location, and type to reduce costs, create an efficient work environment, and make sure you don’t run out of space.

Choosing the Correct Size

Size is determined primarily by the quantity of plants you plan to grow during the period of cold weather when additional heat and protection from frost is required. Plants that prefer warmer climates can...

You may have noticed the lack of a post last week…well, that’s because I’m a new father for the second time.  My wife gave birth Monday night, and here I am back at work (at least in the office) a week later.  The vacation from kids, housework, and weary wife is welcome.

I just wanted to post an update on my garden.  I used seeds from the Greenhouse Megastore, and they have been in the ground for just over two weeks.  I can happily report that everything has sprouted.  Even some tomato seeds I had serious questions about ended up germinating.

Whether you are large scale commercial greenhouse grower with a multi-acre production facility, or a homeowner with a backyard greenhouse; increasing the efficiency of your greenhouse equipment is a must. Many growers, large and small, set the fate of their crops in the hands of little grey boxes set to control all of those sophisticated environmental systems. I'm talking of course about thermostats. Thermostats are an excellent and inexpensive way to control the environmental systems you choose to populate your greenhouse with

. There is, however, a significant downside to using them, particularly in a commercial setting.

"It is hard to think of that innocent looking device hanging on your greenhouse wall as the culprit that may be robbing you of hundreds, even thousands, of dollars in wasted greenhouse energy. But yes, that in fact is most likely what is happening."

Those words were written by Tom Piini, president of Micro Grow Systems. Micro Grow is our...