Watering in the greenhouse

I use the well water right from the hose during the spring and summer months,it's cool but not ice cold like it is right now. Our ground doesn't freeze here and the teen to low twenty temps we have had the past 2 nights and are expecting again tonight usually don't last long before it warms up again.

When I first began gh growing a few years ago,i had a major problem with some of my hoyas getting yellow leaves and then dropping them. A friend asked if I was watering with cold water and I said yes. Her response was for me to stop using cold water and find some way of getting heated water to use during the cold months. After racking my brain for a while I finally came up with the idea of using an aquarium heater submerged in a large bucket. It doesn't take it long at all to heat up and I always have plenty of warm water for my plants. The cold water obviously was the problem because once I began using heated water the yellowing of the leaves stopped.

I know that they also make tankless water heaters that can be used in a gh but the method i'm using was easiest for me and it works so that's what i'll continue doing.

Tropicman a 20 gallon is far bigger, takes more space to store and there would still be the problem of filling it! I can haul 2 one gallon jugs at a time but I could not even budge a 20 gallon. My plants would use that water up in less than two weeks time. Once all my plants are in there they take about 10 gallons per watering.

MollyD

Molly here takes about 10 gallons at every watering,if the weather gets above freezing,I fill it up with a hose right away,so It can can warm by the heater,,that 20 gallon tub is only 2 ft across and 2 ft tall.
What ever works for you by all means keep using it,I'm just suggesting ideas,and will be glad to lean more myself,always looking for a way to water with a easier method.
I'm hoping more people from further up north would share there methods with others with the same problems.

Sure would be nice not to have to lug water all winter. Maybe someday the funds will be there to dig a trench deep enough to run a water line out there. I wouldn't mind if it were just cold water cause I could let the water sit in jugs to warm up to room temp.

MollyD

I hear you!
Gets worse the older we get too!

LOL somehow those jugs get heavier each year!

MollyD

Yep,water must be weighing more!!!!LOL
I don't think those plastic jugs are getting any thicker!!!!

LOL must be the water. I had heard about 'heavy water' but didn't know they were referring to it's weight ;-)

MollyD

Hello, I have a small greenhouse plumbed for water. last year the hose spent most of the time on the ground when not in use. Does anyone have an idea on how to hang the hose on the wall? I'm not looking for a reel, but for a place to hand the trigger and nozzle without having it swing and smack the glass. My greenhouse is glass with metal channels for attaching shelves or hooks. Thanks, Cathy.

Hmm,can you run the hose up the side of a metal post,and have someone build you a swing arm,where you can attach your hose and water all the areas of your greenhouse,and it will keep the hose up off the ground!

I carry water out to the greenhouse in buckets, but I don't need to water very often because I have most of the plants in clay pots sunk up to their rims in damp sand. I've decided to put hardy cactus in the greenhouse next winter, as I don't think they will need much watering. Winter temperatures in the greenhouse fluctuate greatly. On a clear night it can drop to a few degrees below freezing (if I leave a bucket of water in there, it forms ice), and the next morning when the sun comes out the interior heats up to 65 if I don't open the vents right away. Perfect for desert plants!

June ,
Are you saying your greenhouse is unheated and it only drops a few degrees below freezing,is that is wonderful,what is your secret?

I keep 3 trashcans in the greenhouse. 2 with plain water, 1 with fertilizer. Use a submersible with the wand, chapin tubes for hanging baskets or drip irrigation on the tables for pots. Most of the time I can water 150 h. baskets, 400 -4 1/2s and 50 flats of market packs in about 45 minutes. I fill the trashcans back up when weather permits.

Wow you have a system down,45 minutes,pretty good!!!
Takes me about half a day or more to get my watering done,and thats if I don't get interrupted!!!LOL

Tropicman, in answer to your question about heating - the greenhouse has a small electric heater that comes on when the temperature drops to 34F. In addition, there are two 30-gallon black plastic bins full of water, that warm up during the day and radiate at night. The north wall of the greenhouse is covered with insulated board, most of the glass has bubblewrap glued to the inside, and there is polystyrene board buried in the floor. On a night like last night, when the outside temp dropped to minus 10F, the best the heater can do is keep the greenhouse interior a few degrees below freezing. It would not be possible to have running water in the greenhouse during the winter, as the faucet would freeze, even if we put in a water line 3 ft down.

Zone 4 ,is really tough when it comes to green housing,but it seems to me you have all the bases pretty much covered.
I salute you people who have the dedication,to even attempt to keep a working greenhouse
in those type of winterly conditions!
It has reached down to zero here this winter,but the ground has not really frozen here,and are frost line is 18 inches,but we do run water lines down to 3ft to be safe.
When I had my sunroom built on to the south side of my home,it enclosed my water well,so I do have running water to my sunroom and one greenhouse that is 16x32 and another greenhouse 8x10 .
But like you I have to fill a 20gallon container in my north greenhouse when the days are above freezing with the outside hose,although there has been days I had to carry water out there in a 5 gallon drinking water container from Gulligans!