Well, I mighta figured out how I can heat my greenhouse for reasonably cheap without needing to resort the woodstove and elaborate set up.
I was visitting a friend and noticed thier greenhouse and we got to talking. They heat it starting in march and ending in mid november. The method is pretty damn simple and easily scaled up. Terra Cotta heaters is what they are using… 4 of them in a greenhouse a bit smaller than mine.
So I spent last night going down that rabbit hole and I think I’ve found the one that will work for me.
If I run 3 , or 4 of these down the middle of the greenhouse and keep the oscillating fans on low, the terra cotta “towers” would probably do the trick. Buddy hits it with a heat gun and it’s readin surface temps of 200+ farenhiet. I think the set up and fuel source in this video might just be the solution to fend of the frosty nights that are coming quick and keep ambient temps as close to 10C or above … will see.
check this video out.
Greenhouse HEATER Made from Stuff you have (youtube.com)
Thank you for posting this video as we just had a 5° overnight temp so i need to keep these plants warm. Great use of the crisco as well.
ya my friend’s that live a couple hundred feet elevation higher than me about 20 minute drive from here had frost this morning so it has me itchin to figure somethin out. Just need to find somewhere local or reasonably close to buy some terra cotta pots. The crisco shortening cans I can get at costco 2 hrs away so might be time for a quick road trip for supplies and snacks for my hunting trips and greenhouse heating.
My plants are alongside my house so the radiant heat will assist in this but the temp swing we’re seeing is telling whats coming sooner rather than later.
I wonder what type of timeline 1 could get from these cristco cans
ya I was wondering about how long a can would last as well.
If I could get 2 weeks or more heat from a can burning 12 to 14 hrs a day it might just be the ticket.
Thats huge for our northern climate truely. I got lucky last year with my photo periods out doors as I took them door 2nd week of Oct but really slowed down. You are in a more favorable zone then myself so will be good to see the difference we may encounter in the month + ahead
The method is pretty damn simple and easily scaled up. Terra Cotta heaters
Never heard of this terra cotta heater method for greenhouses, but it sounds excellent. Even more so with your oscillating fans blowing the heat around. Thanks for the video link 
ya I’m trying to find terra cotta pots around my town and coming up empty. Home Hardware had them but they are back in the warehouse till spring 
Gonna have to hit the internet and see what is in the big box stores a couple hours away.
Getting chilly here at night but the plants are doing fine so far.
Seems with not having a dog in the yard since Lucy passed away I have new friends moving in. This guy right here has been hanging around and does not seem to want to leave my property. He has made a well used bedding area behind my shop and yesterday when i was going to the greenhouse I took a pic of him peeking thru the weeds behind the shop.
Then I come out of the greenhouse and there he is waiting for me at the greenhouse door LOL I thought he would bolt when I came out the door but he stayed within 10 feet of me acting all goofy like he wanted to play … funny deer. Bet he;s the one that ate my friesland plants back in june 
No idea if any of these are close to you growmie:
BEST OF SUCCESS!!!
Had something similar when I lost Willie the Beagle. Geez. It’s been 9 years. Anyways, gophers. He was good. The cats would get them and he’d take them from them. Rats too. Come running in with the tail wiggling out of his mouth, then just toss it back like a shot. Now I seit with the pellet gun by me.
seen thier adds on tv n stuff but the closest one is still way to far away. Would be a two day trip there and back hehe
I love where I live but it can make it hard to aquire things on short notice.
i have seen vids on these types of heaters they work when there is fire but get cold quick is the down fall was a fella filling his with sand for thermal mass like those rocket stove heaters that are built with earth
guess it will depend on how long one of those big cans of crisco will burn for
I only need to provide the heat until mid october this year so quick simple solutions are what i’m willing to try.
This is the last season in this greenhouse if I can help it.
I need a pellet stove with an automated thermostat controlled feeder/ignitor.
Buddy has one in his shop and it’s my best solution for my needs. I would lay the chimney thru bricks and gravel in the floor of the greenhouse and up a flue at the far end with a small metal duct fan to ensure a steady draw. Seen this done by others so not a design I need to invent… just need to build it next spring. Light dep has worked so well for my the past years but I just can’t do it anymore LOL
Good luck sourcing your terra cotta pots…looks like it would work well if you can find them.
I just remembered by friends lived on a 29’ sailboat in the bay here. They had a floating dock which made all the difference. They had a wood stove about the size of a 3# can of coffee. It was frickin’ sweet! I think it was a Tiny Tot. Something like that…
We actually have a Winnerwell camping woodstove and I can order a water heating unit for it but the firebox is too small to keep burning for 12+hours a day and more into mid october.
Also have the woodstove from the shop but again… on 2 or 3 hours of burn time and it needs to be loaded up again. A pellet stove is the answer if sustained or continuous burn is required. That or do what the greenhouse nurseries here do and rig up natural gas furnace and ducting which I could do but am not going to LOL
I’ll figure it out. It’s a dilemna I face every year when september gets rolling. I seem to sneak by doing light deps so the garden this year is a roll of the dice for sure. If the Coastal Blueberries make it to harvest here at 52N it will certainly prove how hardy they are.
Stretch has noticeably stopped now so I peg them at right around the end of week 3… 5 weeks to go I suppose. Hopefully they finish before I have to leave for my epic adventure in the later part of october.
I swear they do ship. But no idea about terra cotta.
Hey buddy. I was thinking about you smoking with your GF. So it’s rare we smoke together. Driving we use her vape. I got her a nice one 4 years ago. I smoke mostly joints. Cones. She thinks they stink. I don’t smoke them in the house.
I smoke all day. Off and on. Get stoned. Stay stoned. She normally starts after lunch.
incase that wood stove in bricks cinder blocks or just plain old stones from the field our ancestors used to put a warm rock in their beds at night to keep jack frost at bay stuff that bad boy full when your out there farming heat that mass up
